Huel and Nausea

Experiences
1

I’m a new Huel-er, my package of V2.2 Huel GF U&U arrived on Friday morning, with the flavour sachets to try too. I was interested in Huel as I absolutely hate cooking and food shopping, and have little time do so anyway. I’m also trying to lose a stone that ‘appeared’ in the last year. I exercise most days, sometimes a couple of classes (a variety of yoga, pilates, bootcamp, spin and solo gym routines) but nothing is shifting the weight! I’m a vegetarian so Huel sounded ideal! I ordered the GF Huel as I read about some people having issues with cramps/IBS etc. I thought it safer, and hoped the pro biotics I already take would help too.

I excitedly prepared 3 scoops to 500ml of water, plus a sachet of rhubarb & custard for my lunch. I found it easy to drink, although tastes like dusty old oats, but I was satisfied and sipped the remaining 3rd throughout the afternoon. No hunger or sugar cravings (yet). I thought it best to have a normal dinner and ease my way into Huel, so I had small wholemeal pasta and veg dish. So far, so good. I went to bed feeling excited that I might have found an answer to my never ending food conundrum. Unfortunately, I woke up at 11pm later that evening with horrible nausea. I felt so unbelievably sick! I didn’t actually vomit, drank some water and managed to get back to sleep. I then woke up at 1.30am, 3am, 5.30am with the same awful sick feeling and some feverish feelings.

The next morning I got up and drank 4 big mugs of fresh ginger in boiling water over a couple of hours, and felt a little bit less sick. I made my way to the gym for a light workout but as soon as I started stretching I got feverish, and my lower back began to ache. I promptly left, buying a cup of peppermint tea for my walk home, and came back to bed.

I spent the rest of the day in bed, drinking ginger and peppermint teas or plain water, with ice packs on my lower back. I was feverish off and on, had a cracking headache and my lower back ached so much. I had no issues with cramps, or the toilet - although my pee was bright orange! The thought of food was disgusting though, and I could easily have vomited if I saw or smelt any. So I have spent over 36hours without food or Huel, and this morning still feel slightly queasy.

There is a preprepared Huel with mocha flavouring in the fridge, that I had intended to have for Saturday morning breakfast after the gym, I just had a couple of sips and felt sick again. Has anyone had this issue? I was wondering if the increase in protein had given my kidneys a hard time, resulting in the lower back pain and bright orange pee. I am really sad as I don’t think Huel is going to work for me given this experience. Would love to know if anyone has soldiered on with it and it’s worked out after intense nausea?

2

DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL

Honestly, that sounds like a possible medical issue.

Unless you’re severely intolerant to one of the ingredients, I would be VERY surprised to see that kind of reaction to any food, let alone one that is reasonably low in allergens.
The level of protein in Huel is not high enough to cause issues in the kidneys, again unless there is a genuine medical condition that you were unaware of somehow.

Without knowing what your normal diet consists of, and all medical conditions, it’s hard to absolutely rule out Huel as causing this, but I would be tempted to say that it is coincidental.

Check the list of Huel ingredients to make sure that there is nothing there that you’re intolerant to (that you’re aware of) and beyond that, perhaps see a doctor?

Sorry if that wasn’t all too helpful!

2 Likes
3

Thanks for your reply.

I have never noticed an intolerance or allergy to anything previously but I’ll definitely look into it. I thought the protein/kidneys was a long shot! Hopefully it was a coincidental bug and I can try Huel again, still feeling queasy and not at all hungry this evening although I have managed to eat dry rye toast. Very strange!

Thanks again for your thoughts :blush:

1 Like
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Also not a medical pro. (or am.) but this sounds a heck of a lot like Norovirus, the very common, easily transmitted “stomach flu” bug.

The principal symptom is acute gastroenteritis that develops between 12 and 48 hours after exposure, and lasts for 24–72 hours… characterized by nausea, forceful vomiting, watery diarrhea, and abdominal pain, and in some cases, loss of taste. General lethargy, weakness, muscle aches, headache, coughs, and low-grade fever may occur.

Ticks all your boxes, no? Talk to people you’ve been in contact with in the past 72 hours, see if any of them have “flu”.

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Thanks @fernly! Not sure it’s this as I dont have the forceful vomiting etc symptoms - but you never know. I’m booked into the docs for tomorrow (still feeling queasy today) so hopefully they will tell me what it is.

Fingers crossed I can try Huel again later this week, thanks for your reply :slight_smile:

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Hi Suz,

I got my first shipment of Huel last week and started by swapping out breakfast this morning (Vanilla v2.2). I have to admit that I found myself with a similar sort of problem, about a couple of hours in to my first beaker, I started to feel quite nauseated. In addition, my teeth have begun to ache and I’m dizzy and got lots of stomach pain. Given that I ate well yesterday (i.e. it’s not starvation) and don’t normally have this issue, I’m wondering if there’s something in my batch of Huel that might have triggered this. Or, alternatively, that whatever’s in Huel normally doesn’t agree with something in my system.

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Hi Daniel,

How are you getting on? The GP said I must have had a bug or mild food poisoning. I felt fine enough to try Huel this morning for breakfast about 8.30am.

I changed the consistency, doing only 2 scoops of Huel plus toffee flavour plus half a scoop of decaf ground coffee in 500ml of water/ice and it was actually quite nice tasting compared to my first shake which was just bland. I have had hunger cravings since 11.30am (but I used less Huel in the mixture). So far no nausea, fingers crossed it lasts!

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I’m going to try it again later this week when my teeth have stopped hurting, but I have a horrible feeling that I may have an intolerance to sucralose. If so, I fear I’ll have to find a friend to move my leftover portions onto at a discount.

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Hi @suz - sorry you were not feeling well and glad you’re getting on better now.

Tip: although ginger and peppermint sound like the ideal thing to do when you’re feeling nauseous, having hot beverages is the worsed thing you can do! Hot drinks empty from the stomach alot slower than cooler drinks, so they will prolong symptoms. If you make your ginger and peppermint infusions in hot water then let them cool before drinking, that would be preferable (although not as nice,maybe!)

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My personal un professional opinion on many bad effects people get from huel. Is that maybe they don’t realise how much chemical junk is added to pretty much all available foods from shops.
And all the ill effects from huel is simply the body finally has a chance to clear it all out.
That’s my opinion for what it’s worth.

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Thanks for the tip @Jamescollier! I never knew that about hot beverages. I feel fine now, just a coincidental bug :slight_smile:

1 Like
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Hi @chrisyt I’m sure you’re right! I haven’t had any further problems apart from mixing one that tasted very boring when I ran out of flavour sachets. Purchased some toffee so back to enjoying Huel for breakfast every day :slight_smile:

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I started on Huel about 3 weeks ago, started to build up then got very sick. Thought it was a bug, took 10 days off, had my first Huel again today, same symptoms. Nausea, cold sweats, bloating, feverish. Time to give up on it. Can I get a refund?