be cautious about fiber

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apfei
apfei Posts: 20 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Just a quick note to remind everyone to be cautious about adding fiber to your diet. I wasn't and ate 33 grams on Wednesday and wound up in the ER with vomiting and diarrhea. Yuck! It was pretty grim and i don't want anyone else to have to go thru it. The Canadian guidelines call for only 15g of fiber and i will be going by this from now on. The American number of 25g seem excessive. Be safe everyone!
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  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
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    What makes you think it was the fiber that made you vomit and not something else?
  • PeachyCarol
    PeachyCarol Posts: 8,029 Member
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    Um, no. I eat way more than that. Fiber does not make you vomit.
  • Alyssa_Is_LosingIt
    Alyssa_Is_LosingIt Posts: 4,696 Member
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    I went over my fiber yesterday. Am I going to die?!?!
  • PeachyCarol
    PeachyCarol Posts: 8,029 Member
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    Alyssa_Is_LosingIt wrote: »
    I went over my fiber yesterday. Am I going to die?!?!

    Are you sure you're not already dead?

    I think I have to be. I routinely get at least 30-50g.

  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    edited March 2015
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    What?

    A healthy daily fibre amount, for those without medical conditions is 25-35g although it does change per country recommendations

    Perhaps it was something else?
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    LOL...I eat between 30 and 40 grams per day and this has never happened to me...I don't think it was the fiber. That's *kitten* hilarious...guess you should lay off the veggies huh?
  • Arliah
    Arliah Posts: 266 Member
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    I try to get 30g a day, and it had only positive effects ... the OP's condition sounds more like a severe allergic reaction or food poisoning to me (had both before, not pleasant!). OP, feel better!
  • asdowe13
    asdowe13 Posts: 1,951 Member
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    apfei wrote: »
    Just a quick note to remind everyone to be cautious about adding fiber to your diet. I wasn't and ate 33 grams on Wednesday and wound up in the ER with vomiting and diarrhea. Yuck! It was pretty grim and i don't want anyone else to have to go thru it. The Canadian guidelines call for only 15g of fiber and i will be going by this from now on. The American number of 25g seem excessive. Be safe everyone!

    Can you prove that this was caused by fibre?

    What else was different in your diet?
    Do you have a medical condition that would cause high fibre to do this?

  • monikker
    monikker Posts: 322 Member
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    I'm kinda suspicious of super high fiber intake but 33 grams isn't that big of a deal, at least not for my body.
  • onelonelysocknoble
    onelonelysocknoble Posts: 27 Member
    edited March 2015
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    I think most of us have issues with getting enough fibre and water, let's not worry folks by scaremongering.
    As fibre helps move waste through your system, how does it trigger a backwards vomiting movement? Agree with MamaPeach that it doesn't
  • TheVirgoddess
    TheVirgoddess Posts: 4,535 Member
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    I eat between 30-50g a day. I've never gotten sick from it. I'd guess something else caused your illness.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    onelonelysocknoble wrote: »
    I think most of us have issues with getting enough fibre and water....

    I wouldn't say "most". There are quite a lot of people on MFP who rock it nutritionally speaking and fitness wise.
  • Timorous_Beastie
    Timorous_Beastie Posts: 595 Member
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    If it was 33g of fiber mostly from Fiber One type bars, I could see being in pain. Those things turn me into a Fart Factory. It's the sugar alcohols in them that upset my stomach.

    I've had way more than 33g of fiber from fruits and veg that didn't cause any digestive upset.
  • JPW1990
    JPW1990 Posts: 2,424 Member
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    33g of Metamucil?
  • LoupGarouTFTs
    LoupGarouTFTs Posts: 916 Member
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    Hmmmm . . . I generally get between 10 and 15g of fiber a day and have gone as high as 45g, but I've never gotten sick from it. Am I immune to fiber?
  • AmazonMayan
    AmazonMayan Posts: 1,168 Member
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    I've never heard of it causing vomiting...sounds like something else caused that.

    It does make things move along faster and that is why increasing fiber intake slowly is better if you aren't used to much. I almost always take in 30 to 50g daily with no ill effects. Lots of water is a good idea too.
  • LaurenAOK
    LaurenAOK Posts: 2,475 Member
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    OP could be sensitive to fiber but it still seems really unlikely that fiber alone caused vomiting and an ER trip.

    Per my Dr's orders I'm supposed to stay under 20g of fiber per day - my stomach is really sensitive to it. I get bloating and horrible stomach aches easily, and limiting fiber helps prevent that. However, I've never had anything like what OP described.
  • Jgasmic
    Jgasmic Posts: 219 Member
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    When I add too much fiber too quickly I would generally have the opposite problem-nothing coming out at all, but that was almost always when I bought a super fiber cereal or snack bar or something. I don't regularly track fiber, just assume that as long as everything is moving along regularly I'm doing ok.
  • TheVirgoddess
    TheVirgoddess Posts: 4,535 Member
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    Timorous_Beastie wrote: »
    If it was 33g of fiber mostly from Fiber One type bars, I could see being in pain. Those things turn me into a Fart Factory. It's the sugar alcohols in them that upset my stomach.

    I've had way more than 33g of fiber from fruits and veg that didn't cause any digestive upset.

    Oh those things tear my stomach up. Which sucks because I really love the cinnamon bars.

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