Hacker News Reader

Comment by sfjailbird | Hacker News Reader

I went to the doctor with acute high blood pressure that appeared out of nowhere. Symptoms were an untreatable headache and swelling in the facial region, lasting for a few days.

In the end, I figured out that the cause was eating a big package of the same soft sweet black licorice. I even kept eating it during symptoms, making the condition worse.

My main reaction, after learning that the licorice could cause this, was how the hell is there not a huge warning on the packaging? I can only imagine how bad it could get if I had been already suffering from hypertension when eating it.

View on HN

I had a similar issue with the acute HBP out of nowhere and constant headaches. My liver levels were also all out of whack. I never figure out what caused it but it did resolve after several weeks. My BP and liver are completely normal now. The best I could do was narrow it down to recently starting to drink a ton of green tea or some supplements that I had started taking. I just cut it all out and it went away.

That reminds me of the time I learned that dates are diuretic while in Morocco. They were so delicious I would eat a bag per day. Even while swearing I must have dysentery.

I seriously doubt it. "Diuretic" means peeing, not pooping. Watermelon is a diuretic. Dates are high in fiber, potassium, sugar, and might cause a bowel obstruction.

I would have killed somebody for an obstruction in my state.

Not sure about how they would cause a bowel obstruction. More likely to cause [osmotic diarrhea](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diarrhea#Osmotic), which would be consistent with the original comment. But you’re right, they probably meant “laxative”, not “diuretic”

Fiber can help form stool if you have chronic diarrhea, but it can also help relieve constipation.

You are correct that diuretic refers to peeing; what the poster was probably trying to say was "laxative." And foods high in fiber and sugar can certainly work as laxatives!

> Dates are high in fiber, potassium, sugar, and might cause a bowel obstruction

They also contain sorbitol.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorbitol#Laxative

On a similar note, I used to not smoke anything but gladly partake in a hookah pipe while out, I liked the different flavors and assumed the “fog” was benign.

I stopped AS SOON AS I heard about how much worse hookah was. I had no clue and am completely appalled at the lack of warnings.

I’ve met many other people that say the same thing.

I still don't smoke anything, and also cut hookah out.

What did you think a hookah was?

A more healthy form of smoking, clearly. I was under the same impression until this message.

Flavored relatively benign smoke that makes you feel light headed that I did once every blue moon, until I did it more often with better connected party friends

Even with knowing of a tobacco and nicotine component I thought the frequency of my own use once a quarter made up for it

But once I found out it was way worse than cigarettes and way unfiltered, I stopped accepting and stopped being in circumstances where it was prevalent

I didn’t have any dependence so that was easy, just a reversion to a mean for me

It was odd that American cities banished indoor smokers to Mars but indoor hookah was A-OK, no disclaimers on the things served to you, no disclosures, servers not required to say anything

Odd. I like personal responsibility as much as the next person so I stopped as soon as I found out

Modern hookah is soaked in glycerin which produces the majority of the vapor, while the tobacco is ideally vaporized instead of combusted as well (although usually it's a combination of burning and vaporization). So if done properly arguably better than a cig. The real issue with hookah is the chemicals and co2 released from the coals imo.

The CO2? What’s the issue with that? CO2 isn’t a toxin.

I believe the risk is from carbon monoxide (CO) due to incomplete combustion.

Not sure what the best summary of this topic is but here's a paper that provides an example: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ccr3.2173

>and co2 released from the coals imo

The co (mono) is the problem and the fine coal particles which are NOT filtered by water, the water just cools down the smoke and that lets you breath the smoke even faster and deeper into your lungs.

I didn't know about the glycerin (the same substance used in e-cigs). This makes me think even more that the e-cigarette industry did a huge marketing fail in not calling them e-hookahs.

A number of years ago there was a hookah bar that opened up in town (I live in a small-ish college town). There was an article in the local paper about the emerging popularity of these establishments. It included a quote from one of the frequent patrons talking about how he loved it because it was so safe, that you were just inhaling the “flavor” without any of the harmful chemicals you’d get from smoking[1].

I was astonished at the time, but I guess the belief is more common than I was aware.

[1]https://www.pantagraph.com/business/students-plan-for-hookah...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com