As the saying goes, all things in moderation. However, what about when you decide to throw caution to the wind and just go ahead and forget that whole moderation thing? Well, it turns out that the saying is there for a reason and that when you totally ignore it and start consuming without thought, strange things can happen to your body and mind. Many of these things are perfectly safe if you take them in small amounts, but they should be treated with care so as not to overdose and have any of these things happen to you.
10Too Much Fiber Can Actually Block You Up
Many people have heard that the majority of people around the globe are not getting enough fiber in their diets. This leads to constipation and all kinds of other unpleasant bowel irregularities. Some people, in an effort to fix the problem with their intestines not having enough fiber to move things through, start taking extremely excessive amounts, thinking you can never have too much fiber. Some people will even take fiber supplements on top of eating high-fiber foods.
However, it is important to be careful about this kind of thing, as it turns out you actually can have too much fiber in your diet. Making sure you get enough is good, but overdoing it can actually lead to the opposite of the intended effect. That is to say, you can actually obstruct your bowels by consuming too much fiber.
MIld cases of this will lead to constipation, cramps, bloating, and the like. The reason for this is that while fiber does help move things through and is good for our gut health, it can create a mass called a phytobezoar if you take too much in a short time. An obstruction of this kind can get bad enough that you could end up needing surgery to have the mass removed.[1]
9Consuming Colloidal Silver Can Make You a Smurf
There have been multiple cases of people who took colloidal silver, a liquid form of silver that some people think of as a kind of miracle cure, and have turned permanently blue as a side effect. These people have often used their new, permanent skin color as a way to entertain people and make some money. While some people may find it entertaining to watch these people, it isn’t really that funny for them at the end of the day.
You see, many of the people who this happened to started out believing the medical claims that this stuff was actually going to help you with their sinusitis, allergies, or other health problems. However, as these types of claims often turn out, they actually don’t help any of that or for any disease at all.
The claims have been evaluated by health authorities, and their conclusion is that colloidal silver is not effective for treating, preventing, or curing any disease or illness. On top of that, it is a metal we do not need in our bodies and is toxic to us. It can cause neurological problems if taken over time, which would also make the cures not worth it even if they did work.[2]
8Drinking Too Much Soy Milk Could Cause You to Lactate
The controversy over soy is pretty well known, and it all comes down to the belief that soy can affect estrogen levels in your body. Some people argue the effect is so pronounced that just by having a little bit of soy on a regular basis, you will basically turn into a woman, breasts and all. Others argue there is literally no effect at all. You could inject yourself with soy for blood every day, and apart from the fact that it would be bad for your bloodstream, it wouldn’t make you any more of a woman. Now, as it often turns out in cases of extremes, both sides are wrong.
Soy can affect your estrogen levels, but it takes an extremely excessive amount of soy to get there in any seriously noticeable way. The proof is in a bizarre case study of a middle-aged man who had grown breasts and started lactating. After ruling out all other causes, they found out that the reason was his excessive soy milk intake. However, before you start throwing out your soy products for fear of knocking your estrogen levels out of balance, understand that this man’s intake was truly staggering. He was drinking three quarts of soy milk (12 cups) every single day.[3]
7Beta Carotene Overconsumption Can Make You an Oompa Loompa
Some people have been told that beta carotene is good for your eyes, so they consume a large amount of carrots, carrot juice, or other such items in the hopes of improving their vision. They argue that the vitamins in it are not likely to cause overdose problems, and thus, drinking away with reckless abandon is perfectly safe. This is all well and good until they start to turn orange. The culprit here is actually the beta carotene itself, which, in excessive amounts, can give your skin an orange hue.
This also includes products that add it to give an orange hue and extra vitamins to their products, such as Sunny Delight. In fact, several years back, the UK saw a public scandal surrounding the Sunny D company when several kids were reported as turning orange due to consumption of their product.
To make matters worse for the Sunny Delight company, at the same time as the public worry started, they released a commercial of a snowman drinking Sunny Delight until it turned orange. The good thing here is that, in time, if you stop taking large amounts of beta carotene, your skin will eventually turn back to its normal color.[4]
6Too Much Melatonin Can Give You Nightmares and Insomnia
Melatonin is a natural supplement that is something we naturally form in our own brains in order to signal our bodies to sleep. It is, as far as science knows, about as safe as anything can get. There is no known toxic effect that will kill you or cause a medical emergency if you take too much, and many people rely on it for sleep. However, just because it is completely safe does not mean that it is without potential problems if you take too much.
Many people who use it report some negative side effects from taking more than they usually do, which often includes feeling drowsy the next day and being lethargic. However, even worse, taking too much can cause headaches, dizziness, and nightmares. You can also cause a much worse side effect, which is that taking too much can actually confuse your brain and cause insomnia. And, as for the potential drowsiness, some formulations include other herbs meant to help you be more alert the next day, but caution should still be taken if you are going to have to drive the next morning.[5]
5Too Much Caffeine Can Make You Hallucinate Sounds
Most of us drink caffeine every day, and many of us rely on it to keep us alert and going as we work and go about our daily lives. As far as drugs go, if someone told you that you could get high on caffeine, you would probably laugh. It is known for being addictive, but in terms of drugs of abuse, no one really ever thinks about caffeine. However, if you take a really large amount of caffeine over the regular recommended dose, which a lot of people do, strange things can happen to you.
For starters, if you keep drinking coffee, you can trigger the adrenaline receptors in your body, which can put a serious strain on everything. Worse, however, you can actually hallucinate. Those who drink too much coffee—or anything containing caffeine—are three times more likely to have auditory hallucinations.
It can also cause psychosis at high enough levels in even normally mentally healthy individuals. The recommendation is to have no more than four regular cups of coffee a day—or the equivalent—from other caffeine sources.[6]
4Overdose on Aspirin by Using Too Much Wintergreen Essential Oil
Essential oils have become extremely popular in recent years, and some people are now using them instead of more traditional medicines. Some people are also using them as supplements to regular treatments. Many of their proponents love them because they are natural and believe it makes them safer and better than the stuff they get at the store. Others laugh at essential oils, claiming they are a joke that does basically nothing.
Now, this is one of those things where both extremes are wrong, and the answer is somewhere in the middle. Essential oils are very real in the helpful effects they can have, but the reason they have these effects is they basically are real medicine.
In the case of wintergreen oil, this is especially true. It has become a popular way of dealing with things like arthritis, and some people are taking aspirin as well with it. Worryingly, this can be dangerous because the active ingredient in wintergreen oil is methyl salicylate, which is very similar to aspirin. Due to this relation, it can also cause toxic overdoses and can combine with aspirin to make overdoses of either one more likely.[7]
3Consuming Too Much Vitamin C Could Cause Kidney Stones in Men
Vitamin C is something that many people take on a regular basis, and some people even overdose purposely on a regular basis in the hopes of trying to stave off colds or eliminate them once they get them. This is understandable, as it is an antioxidant and has not been known to be a vitamin you can overdose on. However, while it is not a bad idea to take your vitamins and make sure you get enough vitamin C, taking too much on a regular basis may not necessarily be such a great idea—at least for men.
A survey of 1,000 men found that those who regularly took supplement products containing one gram or more of vitamin C a day were twice as likely to develop kidney stones as men who did not. Interestingly, those who took supplements for vitamin C above the daily dose but did not take the insanely high dose of one gram a day or more did not have this problem.
As for whether it can affect women, it gets a lot more unclear. There is not yet any direct evidence that it affects women, and no studies have been done. Still, the scientific rationale for it is there. You see, as vitamin C breaks down, it turns into something called oxalate—which are basically calcified crystals.[8]
2Too Much Beef Jerky and Nitrate-Containing Products Can Worsen Mania Symptoms
Now, we want to be clear that beef jerky products are not the only things that are the problem here. Nitrates are a form of salts that are used for preservation in a lot of cured meat products and are found in the majority of them. It is also important to be clear that there is no evidence that suggests that consuming too many products that contain nitrates will make you mentally ill if you are not already.
A clear link has been established between the consumption of nitrate-containing products and an increase in symptoms for those with mental health disorders. Furthermore, a recent analysis of 1,000 people found that high consumption of beef jerky and other similar products caused an increase in manifestations of mania.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that you should put away all beef jerky in fear of triggering a latent mental disorder or that you should stop even if you have one. However, if you have a mental health disorder and you eat a lot of nitrate-containing products, it may be a good idea to discuss it with your doctor.[9]
1Taking Too Much of a Popular Anti-Diarrheal Can Trigger Opioid Receptors
Loperamide is a popular anti-diarrhea OTC medication, but in recent years, it has come under fire from medical groups, who are worried it could become a drug of abuse. Now, it might be hard to imagine how an anti-diarrheal could be a drug of abuse, but it comes down to how it works.
You see, back in the day, Arabic doctors in ancient Iraq used to treat loose stools with opioids as they slow down the movement of the gut. Loperamide is designed to do the opposite by being a synthetic opioid agonist that basically blocks the opioid receptors in the stomach by taking them up with itself instead. Since opioids slow down the gut, blocking them from acting speeds the gut up.
However, if taken at extremely large doses, it can cross the blood-brain barrier and actually get people high on opioids by latching on to the rectors in their brain. This is not advisable, however, as it is extremely dangerous to take too much of this drug.
Unlike regular opioids, where someone can be brought back with Narcan, this drug can also cause dangerous cardiac arrhythmias and a whole host of other cardiovascular dysfunctions. If you have an opioid addiction and you are looking for synectics to help wean you off, there are safer ones that can be prescribed under medical supervision by a doctor—save the anti-diarrheal for those too-loose stools.[10]
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