The hazards of...NUTMEG???

[VibinOnLife!]

:confused: Greetings everyone,

I am truly hoping that someone can help me with this. So yesterday I'm sitting around and just out of the blue noticed that I was having heart palpitations. I don't have any chest pain and arm tingling or anything like that, it's just that I am fully aware of my heart beating in my chest and that it is beating harder and/or faster than usual.

I sat there...terrified I might add...and tried to think of what could have caused this. I hadn't eaten all day except for a smoothie in the morning. I had just had a cup of tea with stevia.

So I got up this morning after limited sleep from fear that I wouldn't wake up again, and the palpitations were pretty much 90% gone. I had my smoothie, went to work, and they started up again! And my body hurts like I was working out or something.

At that time, I knew it had to be my smoothie. I've been doing a ph balance type of cleanse for the past week, and so I've been trying out new ways of making green smoothies without fruit. So for the past few days I've been drinking a smoothie twice a day that contains:

8 oz. almond milk
2-4 oz coconut milk
1 tsp wheatgrass powder
1 tsp barley grass powder
1 tsp of ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp spirulina powder
4 packets of stevia extract powder
2 cubes of ice

NUTMEG!!! This is new for me. And so I researched, only to find that kids are using this stuff to get high!!! Nutmeg is being used by teens as a "cheap replacement" for Ecstacy! Unreal.

So in all of my research I found out that nutmeg...in high doses (which can be as little as 1-2 teaspoons) is capable of causing hallucinations, psychosis, heart arithmias, body aches, a sense of impending death, and severe liver damage.

Needless to say I won't be having my smoothies anymore. And to make it worse, the effects do not kick in immediately and can last for up to about 3 days. So the reaction is delayed.

Wow.

Has anyone else ever experienced anything like this? I've detoxed before so I know it's not that. Also, I'm not having a heart or panic attack. I just want to know if anyone else has had any reactions to nutmeg.

I think that generally people don't use this stuff in high amounts, maybe just pinches here and there or teaspoons of it in big batches of things. However, the taste seemed to disappear in my coconut milk and that's why I was using so much.

Anyway, be warned. You must be careful with this stuff. Go easy. :o

[Zaphirah]

oh great. now we are going to be having megheads runnin' illegal meg-labs. sheesh. ;)

[Rawkinlocs]

I use nutmeg a lot and I've never had any problems with it.

[VibinOnLife!]

oh great. now we are going to be having megheads runnin' illegal meg-labs. sheesh. ;)

That's too funny. It's sad what people will resort to to escape reality.

rawkinlocs: Do you use large amounts of it at a time. I mean, if you put a teaspoon of it in a pie for instance, even though it's a teaspoon you're not going to eat the whole pie at once...most likely. *smile*

I've been doing a teaspoon twice a day, and think that's where my situation will differ from most.

I had the last smoothie this morning, so hopefully it will all wear off again by morning.

Thanks!

[Rawkinlocs]

Yeah, it's not large amounts like that...probably 1-2 tsp. in an entire recipe...but also I've made raw "egg" nog and used nutmeg and I also use it in the Donut Holes recipe and it's never given me any problems in that capacity. I guess two teaspoons, twice a day, in smoothies you drink the entire contents of could be considered a lot.

[lily]

I think you need to ingest a lot of nutmeg to have any serious problems; I believe it's about 5 whole nutmegs which would be really difficult to get down, so no need to worry about the amount that you'd normally use in a recipe.

[RawMistress]

Very interesting.
Does it have any natural caffeine?:confused:

[GypsiAnsara]

Ummm :o
Waaaay back when, in HS, my friends and I heard about the so called high one could get off of nutmeg. We tried it. Nothing happened. We ate a LOT of it. I felt so ridiculous afterwards I never did try smoking banana peels.

:D

Just saying, although none of my 5 friends or I felt anything, I know that some people will be sensitive to it, just like any other food.
If you like the flavor of nutmeg, but are afraid of the reaction when you use so much, you may wish to try using FRESHLY ground nutmeg and combining it with something that you can let it soak into for a while, perhaps overnight (like your nutmilk). I always find that the flavor expands that way, and you can use a lot less - probably just a pinch!

Also, it sounded like you weren't going to have your smoothies anymore. Why not just cut out the nutmeg and have the rest of your smoothie?

Are you new to the green powders? You usually need to start with small amounts of the concentrated stuff and work your way up. That could possibly cause a reaction like that. But it was probably the overdose of nutmeg.

Good luck :)

[dalimeindacoconut]

Ahhh Chew! Ooooppppssss sorry...was that a line of nutmeg?

[VibinOnLife!]

Actually, after doing more research last night I was reminded of the movie Malcolm X with Denzel Washington. In that movie, while he's in jail and taking a shower, a guy comes in and starts talking to him about the Nation of Islam. So the guy knows that Malcolm was a junkie, and he gives him 1 whole nutmeg placed in a cup of water and he says "that's the last fix you're ever going to get from me." So there has been some knowledge of this stuff out there for quite some time.

GypsiAnsara I'm definitely not going to stop my smoothies and I had a fabulous one this morning! Also I've been doing grasses and green drinks for a few years now, so it wasn't that. I feel much much better today, so I can only attribute it to the nutmeg.

So anyway, my new fruit-free, high pH smoothie is:

10 oz almond milk
4 oz coconut milk
1 tsp wheatgrass powder
1 tsp barley grass powder
1/2 tsp spirulina powder
1/2 tsp chlorella powder
1 tbsp flax oil
1 tbsp hemp oil
4 packs of stevia
peppermint essential oil to taste (I used about 4 drops, maybe a little more)
1 ice cube (I don't like my smoothies cold and frosty, I like them a little cooler than room temp, creamy, and frothy)

This was soooooooooooooooo good! It reminded me of the Baskin & Robbins Mint Chocolate Chip shakes that I used to guzzle in the summer. I don't know where the chocolate taste came from, maybe the hemp and flax. But please try it. I can't wait to have my evening smoothie!

[Yana]

Hehe, I forgot about that part!

I hope you are feeling much better.

I agree, your effect is definitely the nutmeg. I remember reading that to get the high from it one must make a sort of tea and steep the nutmeg to best activiate it, something along those line. I think if was getting additional processing/heating from blending may have given it a little assistance in messing with you. oh, and that new smoothie looks amazing!!

Yana :)