Question:
Severe adverse reaction to liquid vitamin - has anyone had this?

Hello. I am 14 mos post op open rny and got tired of Flintstones chewables and the One-a-Day's were hard to swallow so i tried "Millennium Tonic Liquid Vitamins with Amino Acids" (no sugar) i only took 1/2 capful and this was my reaction: within 5 minutes i felt super super hot (like a furnace inside of me), my face and hands felt hot and swollen, my heart was racing and pounding, i was sweaty and clammy, and my throat felt like it was closing up, i had a really hard time breathing. after about 10 minutes i had to use the bathroom and after about 15 minutes of liquid stools my body temp returned to normal, my face and hands felt normal, my heart rate normalized, i could breath again and i was left with a slight headache. i've had dumping syndrome before but not like this -- this was almost like dumping with anaphalyctic shock but i didn't know anaphyalactic shock could pass without medication such as epinephrine... any ideas?? thanks!    — jkb (posted on August 22, 2002)

August 22, 2002
I am also 14 months post-op and I had a similar reaction to an oral prescription cough medicine from my doc. I thought I was going to have to go to the emergency room! I didn't know what was wrong..heart attack, whatever? The next day upon speaking to 3 medical folks this was their responses: pharmacist felt it was the codeine in the med hitting my system too quick due to being an RNY, the WLS office said they had not heard of this kind of reaction, and the PCP said "Don't take it anymore" (ha!). I have read in the library of a few others having strong and scary reactions to meds, but not many and none to vitamins. I wonder also if now that I have become almost lactose intolerant and allergic to MSG if maybe I developed an allergy to something in the cold med. I had taken some tablets from Advil for cold/flu without any problems the previous week to this reaction. Good Luck!
   — Molly S.

August 22, 2002
Sounds to me like you were dumping. If I didn't throw up or have diahrrea, my heart would pound very hard and I would have to go lay down, even if I was sitting up. I would break out in a cold sweat and feel nausiated. It was very draining and each time I did that I wound up taking a long nap.
   — Betty Todd