Hard apple cider causing digestive issues?
Frustratingly, just thinking about Googling "cider" and "digestion" returns so much new-age holistic nonsense that it's darn near impossible to find what I'm looking for. I figured just straight up asking the people might yield some better results.
Over the past five-ish years, my whole digestive system would just randomly grind to a near total halt. Out of nowhere I'd become constipated, feel bloated all the time, and have mild heartburn for days to weeks until the "attack" passed. About two years ago, I ordered some wild-fermented hard apple cider beverages from a local cidery. After consuming one particularly difficult-to-drink-for-me beverage, I had my worst attack to date the very next day. I naturally made an association.
I went to see my doctor and she said to cut the offending foods out of my diet and so I did, but not before consuming the rest of ciders I had. I mean, these were specialty ciders and I didn't want them to go to waste. I'd get somewhat better, drink one and make things worse. Yeah, that was dumb, but it certainly cemented a link for me. Since then, I've basically stayed away from ciders. I'd like to do something a little more controlled, but this condition is not exactly fun and lasts for days to weeks so it's not something I want to intentionally repeat. That said, I also want to know what exactly is triggering this. I can eat apples, drink apple juice, and soft cider with no issues. And nothing else in my diet seems to trigger it. Well, that's not entirely true, eating too much fresh salsa used to give me mild cramps for a couple hours, but I seemed to haven't gotten over that particular affliction. The bottom line is, as of typing this, I can't think of anything else in my diet that triggers this whole system shutdown reaction.
After the big attack two years ago, I've mostly sworn off ciders, but I like them and occasionally indulge and sample ciders I've never had before. I don't have an attack every time I drink a cider, but whenever I do have an attack, a cider is involved. Anecdotally, I want to say the offending ciders have been, as I mentioned before, a little difficult-to-drink-for-me. I "think" the taste that I'm objecting to is acidity. I don't know if this makes sense. I've done some quick reading about the acidity (and alkalinity) of various foods and it does seem like I consume lots of acidic foods (typical if western diets apparently), but perhaps nothing near the order of acidity when consuming a whole pint of cider in one sitting.
I don't know what kind of answer I'm looking for here. Obviously, I could see a gastroenterologist and systematically work it out maybe, but I don't particularly feel like doing that if simply not drinking cider in large quantities is working for me right now. Maybe that is the answer, but I feel unsatisfied by that. I want to know why this is happening if at all possible. Maybe other people's experiences can shed some light on this for me. Or maybe someone has some advice I haven't thought of yet. Thanks.
Over the past five-ish years, my whole digestive system would just randomly grind to a near total halt. Out of nowhere I'd become constipated, feel bloated all the time, and have mild heartburn for days to weeks until the "attack" passed. About two years ago, I ordered some wild-fermented hard apple cider beverages from a local cidery. After consuming one particularly difficult-to-drink-for-me beverage, I had my worst attack to date the very next day. I naturally made an association.
I went to see my doctor and she said to cut the offending foods out of my diet and so I did, but not before consuming the rest of ciders I had. I mean, these were specialty ciders and I didn't want them to go to waste. I'd get somewhat better, drink one and make things worse. Yeah, that was dumb, but it certainly cemented a link for me. Since then, I've basically stayed away from ciders. I'd like to do something a little more controlled, but this condition is not exactly fun and lasts for days to weeks so it's not something I want to intentionally repeat. That said, I also want to know what exactly is triggering this. I can eat apples, drink apple juice, and soft cider with no issues. And nothing else in my diet seems to trigger it. Well, that's not entirely true, eating too much fresh salsa used to give me mild cramps for a couple hours, but I seemed to haven't gotten over that particular affliction. The bottom line is, as of typing this, I can't think of anything else in my diet that triggers this whole system shutdown reaction.
After the big attack two years ago, I've mostly sworn off ciders, but I like them and occasionally indulge and sample ciders I've never had before. I don't have an attack every time I drink a cider, but whenever I do have an attack, a cider is involved. Anecdotally, I want to say the offending ciders have been, as I mentioned before, a little difficult-to-drink-for-me. I "think" the taste that I'm objecting to is acidity. I don't know if this makes sense. I've done some quick reading about the acidity (and alkalinity) of various foods and it does seem like I consume lots of acidic foods (typical if western diets apparently), but perhaps nothing near the order of acidity when consuming a whole pint of cider in one sitting.
I don't know what kind of answer I'm looking for here. Obviously, I could see a gastroenterologist and systematically work it out maybe, but I don't particularly feel like doing that if simply not drinking cider in large quantities is working for me right now. Maybe that is the answer, but I feel unsatisfied by that. I want to know why this is happening if at all possible. Maybe other people's experiences can shed some light on this for me. Or maybe someone has some advice I haven't thought of yet. Thanks.