Kombucha difficulties
After drinking 4-6oz. of [tag]kombucha[/tag] tea three times a day for three days, Ibecame very ill. Fever, chills, diarrhea, body aches… I have susbsequentlyread that kombucha is a powerful detoxifier, and that some people need tostart drinking it very slowly or they will have major healing crises. I believethat drinking too much too fast has caused my illness (if so, that’s somepowerful drink!). I am recovering from CFS and long term high dosePrednisone use, and I believe my body released pockets of Epstein Barr viruswhich proceeded to cause a flu-like immune reaction. Interestingly enough, Ialso experiened some of the effects I had on steroids (muscle tremors, headshaking, moaning and crying). The fact that the illness hit quickly and theworst was over in 24 hrs. (though I have lingering queasiness and weakness),I believe supports my theory that this isn’t an outside flu virus I just pickedup.
Has anyone else had such strong reactions to kombucha? I really loved thetaste, and plan on drinking it again when I feel better. But this time I’mtakingit SLOWLY. One book mentioned that some people need to start with as littleas a teaspoon a day. If I’m one of them, then I REALLY overdid it!
Does anyone know what would make kombucha such a powerful detoxifier?I’ve had healing crises before… but nothing like this.
May 13th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
I started out on a recommended 2 oz/dose, 2 doses/day and had animmediate reaction–mostly stomach cramping. I lowered the dose to 1oz/2x daily and within a couple of days it resolved. My husband had thesame reaction. We both felt better afterwards, though!
May 14th, 2007 at 2:17 am
I guess 12-18 oz. per day to start with was a bit much for me! I likekombucha so much I would like to get to the point some day where I can drinka glass of it, like a regular beverage. I know some people drink tons of it,andhave no problems at all.
May 15th, 2007 at 10:29 pm
I can drink as much as a 16 oz bottle a day in doses, butI try to keep it to half that, usually in two 4 oz doses. It’s hardbecause it is so tasty!
May 16th, 2007 at 11:22 pm
dosedoses, but
kombucha-ful days are in my future!
May 17th, 2007 at 7:29 pm
This discussion is interesting because I drink kombucha freely andhaven’t experienced any major detox symptoms.
It’s worth considering that, while very unlikely, there aredocumented cases of peope getting severely sick from kombucha. Thereis a SUPPOSED fatality but from the abstract I saw it seemed quite atenuous connection.
Kombucha can offer some major benefits, including drasticallyreducing lipid peroxidation in rats fed pufa which is quiteinteresting considering the studies DMM posted showing vitamin E didNOT do this. In any case it is a great antibiotic against gut bugsUNLESS it happens to be contaminted with candida or anthrax or avariety of other oranisms it VERY RARELY but sometimes iscontaminated with.
I’d watch the symptoms closely just to make sure.
May 17th, 2007 at 8:04 pm
The CDC tested 50 or so household kombuchas and didn’tfind contamination — they felt the acidity made it safe.Which is really something for the CDC to say! But I didreact to kefir when I first had it, in a similar way. I thinkthere was a war and the Borg (kefir) won. Any time your gutgets “new bugs” it can react with something like the stomachflu. This happens when you go to a new country commonly,even if the food is “ok”.
I think when you take a strong Borgish bacteria (as kefir andkombucha both have to be, to survive without coddling)and add it to your gut, anyone might have a “crisis”. Howeverkombucha also has some interesting chemicals in it whichmight react with some medications (or maybe somepeople) so it’s worth being careful with.