Earlier in a recipe post (although I can’t recall which specific one) it was recommended by another user to mix in Muscle Milk into Huel shakes to intensify the chocolate taste that was lacking in Chocolate Huel and assist in attaining a smoother consistency. I followed the advice given and bought a tub of Muscle Milk Pro Series protein powder, before this my only mix-in’s had been organic and I’d had no issues at all with Huel. I’ve gone on a heavier Huel diet since then and noticed a very metallic taste in my mouth - as if I’d sucked on a handful of pennies and was constantly having myoclonic jerks leading up to small seizures. At first I thought it was stress from work, but I decided to take a look at my diet. Nothing in Huel was affecting me, and I did extensive research on many ingredients and how they may affect epileptic consumers - but found no response to my question of what could be triggering my seizures. I then decided to focus on Muscle Milk and its components and found a startling answer to what had been afflicting me.
Muscle Milk contains protein derived from whey, and although I am lactose intolerant, there isn’t a significant amount of lactose in whey, so that couldn’t be the answer. What fit my symptoms is a hyperactive sensitivity to the protein itself, which causes the release of antibodies, and being an epileptic, this results in the onset of a seizure in me. I had previously been consuming one Huel shake per day with one small scoop of Muscle Milk in the shake, so I have deduced that while I did likely have symptoms of allergic reaction toward whey, they were so minimal that I didn’t immediately notice them. It wasn’t until I’d increased the amount of shakes I drank to 4 a day that the symptoms became impossible to ignore.
I know this post has nothing at all to do with Huel itself, but given Muscle Milk had been recommended on the forum, I wanted to advise others who may have taken the same advice I did and possibly provide answer to those who had also followed the advice and found themselves in the same position as I had.