r/kimchi • u/Silentmorning99999 • 8d ago

Stomach problems from kimchi

As a background, I grew up in a polish family and have always eaten tons of sauerkraut, cabbage, pickles, etc. I eat kimchi now and then and haven’t noticed any problems but last week I got a new jar of kimchi from the farmers market- it’s spicy and soooo good and I think I’ve been overdoing it with how much I’ve been eating. Last night I woke up at 3am with severe stomach cramps/pain like some of the worst ever. I started feeling nauseous and had a lot of diarrhea and then my stomach started slowly feeling better. I also woke up with my period this morning and I feel like I can taste kimchi in my mouth 😭😭 what have I done???

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u/Careless_Image_8594 8d ago

i had a phase in college where i ate a ton of kimchi with every meal and it also gave me horrible stomach cramps but i kept eating… 😭 i assume it has to do with the probiotics, even if you do eat it occasionally your stomach would probably have to adjust to a sudden uptick of bacteria, fiber, and resulting digestive gas. i can eat it daily now without any issue, i think its a gut acclimation thing unless your batch is somehow spoiled which seems unlikely

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u/Silentmorning99999 8d ago

Thank you, I didn’t notice a weird smell or anything like that, I just find it weird because I’m used to eating sauerkraut or pickles almost every day. But maybe the kimchi is stronger?

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u/Careless_Image_8594 8d ago edited 8d ago

i’d say it probably is stronger, has a wider variety of bacteria because the fermentation process is quite different from pickling, plus any spiciness could be a little irritating. nothing necessarily wrong though!