I’ve always had a high spice tolerance and can eat a Carolina Reaper almost without issue. Today I made a chili bread packed with Carolina Reaper powder and hot sauce, so strong my eyes watered just walking into the kitchen.
I ate two pieces. It was delicious but insanely hot. A few minutes later I felt fine… until about 20 minutes later, when my stomach suddenly cramped up like crazy. I started shaking uncontrollably, sweating like I’d just run 5 km, and could barely hold a glass of water. I genuinely thought I was dying and almost called an ambulance.
Turns out, I basically overdosed on capsaicin. When you eat too much (especially on an empty stomach), it overwhelms your gut and nervous system. The pain triggers a flood of adrenaline, which causes intense cramps, shaking, and sweating, basically a temporary shock response.
Lesson learned: even if your mouth can handle extreme spice, your stomach and nervous system might not. Never eat super-hot stuff on an empty stomach. Capsaicin overdose is very real.
TL;DR: Ate two pieces of homemade Carolina Reaper chili bread on an empty stomach, ended up shaking, sweating, and cramping like I was dying, turns out you can overdose on chili heat.
by Luka1491
29 Comments
Salute to the spice troops. That’s wild
Man, I love spicy food but y’all are built different in here.
Can I try some of the reaper chili bread?
What did you do with the rest of the bread?
I had a wing challenge at a bar hit me like that. Most expensive free T-shirt I ever got.
An empty stomach humbles you
Oh yeah. I have a Nashville hot style place near me, and they have level 1-4, and a secret 5 and 6. I can handle the 4 no problem, and I tried the five- felt like four. Well I decided to try the 6 and they warned me. I felt like I was a sprayed by commercial bug spay and curled up in a ball for what I felt was 45 minutes, which actually turned out to be 5-6 hours.
I was on a jobsite once and someone brought in pickled nagas and dared people to eat them, I ate 5 without breaking a sweat. 15 minutes later I was on the floor of the truck with the aircon on max and felt like an alien was trying to burst out if my stomach, I couldn’t even stand for another 45 minutes. It really is no joke eating chili’s on an empty stomach!
Brave. I once had the cramps from a ghost pepper wing order from a local wing joint, and man, I will never again tempt fate like that with a challenge that only I can win or lose.
Eating Carolina reapers with “no problem” is way way way beyond having a tolerance for spice, you’re basically a bird lmao
Two things you can’t avoid.
Shitting and dying.
Taxes are up to your accountant.
The same thing happened to me last weekend.
Huge spice enjoyer, also thought I was above the line in tolerance.
I’ve been sad about my favorite spicy chips being gone(Paquis Haunter Ghost Pepper).
So I made my own hot chips. Went a bit overboard on the spice level and ended up having a similar experience as you.
My mouth consistently writes checks my ass can’t cash.
Sounds like what happened with the last one chip challenge for me.
Can I have a slice?
Did a hot wing challenge they were literally just capsaicin extract coated. While I did beat the challenge, I had the worst cramps of my life that night and almost went to the hospital.
Yeah I had Reaper Squeezin’s on an empty stomach, got the Cap cramps, sweated profusely, and couldn’t tell if I was going to have liquid coming out of one or both ends.
That being said, Reaper rocks.
Oh that’s what that was.. I thought I was having an acid reflux episode
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
I’ve definitely done this. Except my experience was scarring my wife to death when I woke up very suddenly at 2am and had to clutch my stomach for an hour. It felt like a dagger in my gut.
You can’t overdose in the sense you actually get hurt (other than cramps), but remember capsaicin is an oil, not a flavor, and so your gut processes that oil as a heat signal just like your mouth does.
There’s a saying I live by – you can fool your mouth but you can’t fool your asshole.
Can you tell us more about the bread and your process pls?
I had this happen recently after testing a bunch of sauces at the pepper store, with an empty stomach. Hopped on my motorcycle and it started. Thankfully I pulled over right into a small restaurant with no customers. Soaking with sweat, vomiting, diarrhea. Poor employees probably thought i was on drugs but I got some bread and sprite and it stopped after about 15 minutes. Then I was starving so I ordered a great muffaleta and had a laugh with the employees. Empty stomachs are dangerous.
It’s most definitely possible.
There are weapons-grade pods out there, and they can be extremely dangerous and cause someone to end up in the ER.
You can overdose on water if you try hard enough. Everything in moderation
Are we gonna get an 8 hour update when we find out what fire fiber feels like?
Fun fact, the symptoms of capsaicin od are almost identical to having flares caused by stones in your gallbladder or bile ducts and a colitis flare
It has a lethal limit but it is far from confirmed because it’s certainly prohibitively high, like iirc greater than a kilo for an average adult. You couldnt accidentally consume a fraction of that with the highest tolerance, and that is just a lot of mass to inject or otherwise get into the bloodstream. And it probably represents the total capsaicin from entire yields of very hot chiles so you couldn’t possibly lethally overdose on naturally grown chiles simply being a producer or handler
You a young fella? That’s been known for decades and probably longer. The older you get the more you realize you were an idiot and should have listened to your elders.
https://www.reddit.com/r/spicy/s/1M9ogvxjUe
From that post:
spicy food probably can hurt you (or rather your body can hurt you)
I just wanted to rant on this topic:
I’ve heard people talk about how spicy food can’t hurt you because it’s just interacting with a receptor tricking your brain that there is heat. This part is true, but your body’s reaction to thinking it’s on fire is real.
think about it this way. if a bear chases you, you will be pumped full of adrenaline. you will probably pull muscles and tendons as you sprint in panic flight or fight. you could even break your ankle and keep running on it. your heart rate and blood pressure will skyrocket. Then you find out it was actually just your friend in a bear suit pranking you. Well, your body still did damage to itself because the reaction is real. When you have ultra spicy stuff your body thinks it’s on fire and will do anything to save you from “dying”.
I think it probably takes really high spice. I would start to think it could maybe do some temporary damage when people talk about how they are “in the fetal position for hours” and that kinda thing. I don’t actually know and I don’t think it’s well understood. I just don’t believe people when they say “spicy food can’t hurt you”. I’m also not telling anyone they shouldn’t have really spicy foods if that’s what they wanna do. I wouldn’t worry about it too much outside of those chip challenge things. I just wanted to make this rant because I’ve never heard anyone make this point before.