I just drank quinine!

Is this bad? I just drank a 300mL bottle of schweppes bitter lemon which has quinine in it! I didn't realise until after I drank the bottle!
Everything I've seen on the internet says it is bad! What have I potentially done!?!?!?! :crying:

Hi there
From what I've read, the amount of Quinine in soft drinks is concidered harmless. If you have concerns you might be able to talk to a chemist or doctor about the possible effects.

If it helps, I drank tonic water while pregnant and I didn't even know that quinine was bad. I'm sure that the small amount in a bottle of soft drink wouldn't be enough to cause harm otherwise they would have to have a warning lable on it surely.

Does that include Lemon, Lime & bitters??

Hi Netix
As others have said there is only a small amount of quinine in soft drinks so you should be OK.
Kafer Girl
If there is quinine in it, and I would suspect that there is, give it a miss

Ok may be a silly question, but what is quinine and what are the dangers of it? And what else is it in?

Netix,
As far as I have been able to read on the internet if you were to drink 1 ltr of an drink with quinine in it then the side effect for the bub would be with drawals after birth including muscle spasms - but these disapeared about 2 months after, I hope that this is accurate - its really hard to find info about this product - let alone what other products it is in!!

Oh no!! I had a lemon lime bitters last night at a restaurant with my meal??? :redface:

is it ok if i had one only??

Ren,

I had one at lunch yesterday too thought I was being good not having coke!... I am getting so angry about all these things that we are not supposed to have and dont know about it!! GGRRRR...

I wouldnt stress too much about it. When I was getting nightly leg cramps my Dr suggested drinking a small bottle of tonic water with dinner each night as the quinine woud help & te amount in it wasn't enough to cause damage. I didn't like tonic water so had a bitter lemon each night from quite early on with both pregnancies.

I've been drinking Lemon Lime bitters during my Pg. I didn't think that there was anything wrong with it. But if there is I think that I will change my choice of drink when I go out :rolleyes:

yeah i was avoiding a glass of coke too!!! I won't go anywhere near diet coke or coke whilst i'm pregnant..... i should have had a lemonade!!! the bitters was awful tasting anyway cos my tastebuds have gone weird cos i have a cold at the moment too!! :(

So is it ok if we just had one?? I think i had one a few days ago but I certainly don't have more than one..... i've had probably two the whole time i've been pregnant.....

someone put me at ease please!!! :lol: do you have to drink heaps to worry??? it didnt help my morning sickness anyway lol

Ren,

I think it says on the net that you would have to drink 1 litre a day for any probs to occurr.

ok thanks!! *phew* panic over.... i wont be drinking anymore though!!

perhaps lemonade.... :rolleyes:

I just went for a bit of a surf and found on one site that the average bottle of tonic water , lemon lime and bitters etc has less than 20mls in it. so you would have to go crazy drinking the stuff to have any side effects if you believe what you read .

Thank you all. But I am confused by Alan's remarks. He said that I would be okay, but suggested that Kafer give it a miss. I'm confused.
Unfortunately, the bitter lemon drink was delicious!

In my first pregnancy I freaked out when I found out about quinine because Schweppes Bitter Lemon is a staple on our grocery list. It was quite late on in the pregnancy so was quite worried. I must have read the same internet sites!

For the record DS is fine.

I have since also heard about tonic water helping leg cramps and it being recommended by obstetricians to help alleviate this. So I have been enjoying the occasional bitter lemon with no guilty pangs this time around. No, I don't have leg cramps. I just like my bitter lemon!

Hi Netix
What I ment wasw that you only had a small amount and you should be OK but I would advise you not drink it again especially early in pregnancy.

Thank you Alan, that's very reassuring. I guess I can just have some soda water with a bit of lemon juice in it.
Thank you again, I am feeling quite relieved.

Just want to bump kellieem's question... cos I was thinking EXACTLY the same thing.... what is quinine anyway and why is it bad?? If it's bad, why is it in our drinks?

Quinine is used in medicine to help prevent cramps. It used to be used and occasionally still is to treat malaria. In drinks it is used to enhance the bitter flavour.

Thanks Alan :)