Anyone else get tired and maybe a little dizzy after eating sometimes?

[manlymatt83]

I woke up this morning feeling great. Had a great night sleep. Ate a nice, healthy breakfast: egg whites and turkey sausage. Felt pretty awake and good, kind of on game. Drank a decent amount of water (I don't drink coffee anymore). When lunch time came around, ended up eating really poorly... was at a restaurant without much in the way of food, and ended up getting an upset stomach shortly there-after. From there on out I kind of felt sluggish, and most of the afternoon I've been tired and not really on point: kind of foggy, even a little dizzy. I've always had stomach issues/eating issues and I've been trying to track what makes me feel good/doesn't so I can track it down and fix it. Does anyone have any ideas as to what this might be? Granted, I shouldn't have eaten the lobster quesadilla, but I'm still not sure why it would have made me feel tired, even after the upset stomach. Thanks!

 

[Kaido]

Yeah. I had undiagnosed food allergies for most of my life. Brain fog, fatigue, nausea, etc. It can be a lot of things...an autoimmune allergy, lactose intolerance, or in my case, SIBO. I was lucky...I was off dairy/gluten/grains for many years, learned about SIBO, and got the meds for it, and have been eating pizza nonstop for the last month. Literally life-changing.

Easiest way to figure out what is bothering you is to first go to an allergist and then go on the Elimination Diet. The allergist can do blood tests & skin-prick tests to determine if you have a true food allergy. Mine didn't show up on any allergy tests because SIBO mimics food allergies, but isn't an autoimmune disorder like food allergies are, so I had no idea what was going on...as long as I didn't eat any of my allergy foods, I was fine. Stuff like gluten (bread etc.) made me feel terrible. Went on the medicine, can eat it no problem now.

So once you do the allergy test stuff, that will tell you if you have a real food allergy, or if nothing shows up, then it's something else. Then you can go on an Elimination Diet, where you basically eat a very restricted diet for a few weeks and then start introducing foods back in. I wish I had learned about this when I started because it would have saved me years of trial & error. You basically just eat a bare-minimum kind of diet and then add in say milk or bread and see how you feel. Food allergy tests aren't a perfect science, and some people can tolerate different things while others can't. Like if you've got milk problems, you may be able to eat say cheese but not milk, or you may be able to take a lactose pill and eat whatever you want. There are peanut programs now too that let you build up a tolerance using peanut powder treatments over a number of years. It all depends on what your trigger food(s) are.

But yeah...brain turns to mush, stomach turns to mush, you just get dang tired...I dealt with that crap for far too long without even realizing it wasn't normal. Basically your digestion is tied into all of your other bodily functions...it's amazing how much your IQ drops when your stomach is trying to process something it can't, you just get super dozy & can hardly think straight sometimes. Good luck figuring it out! If you don't mind sharing, what's your history with stomach & eating issues?

 

[Carson Dyle]

I think the "food coma" phenomenon is pretty normal for people who are sedentary, go out and eat a little too much for lunch, come back and sit in an office for several hours afterward. At least, occasionally. If it's a normal occurrence you might want to be checked for metabolic problems, perhaps even diabetes.

 

[manlymatt83]

Yeah. I had undiagnosed food allergies for most of my life. Brain fog, fatigue, nausea, etc. It can be a lot of things...an autoimmune allergy, lactose intolerance, or in my case, SIBO. I was lucky...I was off dairy/gluten/grains for many years, learned about SIBO, and got the meds for it, and have been eating pizza nonstop for the last month. Literally life-changing.

Easiest way to figure out what is bothering you is to first go to an allergist and then go on the Elimination Diet. The allergist can do blood tests & skin-prick tests to determine if you have a true food allergy. Mine didn't show up on any allergy tests because SIBO mimics food allergies, but isn't an autoimmune disorder like food allergies are, so I had no idea what was going on...as long as I didn't eat any of my allergy foods, I was fine. Stuff like gluten (bread etc.) made me feel terrible. Went on the medicine, can eat it no problem now.

Interesting... I did have the blood allergy tests from my PCP and it all came back negative. But I do find if I drink certain things (steamed almond milk, decaf coffee, something super sugary) my stomach gets upset. There are some other things too... I don't THINK bread is a factor, but beer definitely bothers my stomach a lot! Guinness doesn't though for one reason or another. Again, there seems to be no true pattern.

So once you do the allergy test stuff, that will tell you if you have a real food allergy, or if nothing shows up, then it's something else. Then you can go on an Elimination Diet, where you basically eat a very restricted diet for a few weeks and then start introducing foods back in. I wish I had learned about this when I started because it would have saved me years of trial & error. You basically just eat a bare-minimum kind of diet and then add in say milk or bread and see how you feel. Food allergy tests aren't a perfect science, and some people can tolerate different things while others can't. Like if you've got milk problems, you may be able to eat say cheese but not milk, or you may be able to take a lactose pill and eat whatever you want. There are peanut programs now too that let you build up a tolerance using peanut powder treatments over a number of years. It all depends on what your trigger food(s) are.

But yeah...brain turns to mush, stomach turns to mush, you just get dang tired...I dealt with that crap for far too long without even realizing it wasn't normal. Basically your digestion is tied into all of your other bodily functions...it's amazing how much your IQ drops when your stomach is trying to process something it can't, you just get super dozy & can hardly think straight sometimes. Good luck figuring it out! If you don't mind sharing, what's your history with stomach & eating issues?

Exactly! That's what it has to be. If I wake up and have a super healthy yet filling breakfast, I'm fine. But if I eat something that bugs me, I'm done. Mind is super slow. Maybe I'm just extra sensitive to stuff like that.

Stomach history is something like this... have had a bad stomach since I was a kid, super sensitive, to both nerves and food. Pretty much always have "red on the paper" (sorry, don't mean to be graphic) because I'm always so irregular and irritated. Haven't really found a diet that makes me feel 100%. Have thought about going back to a gastro but they told me I had IBS when I was a kid, and I haven't really thought twice since.

Thanks for the awesome reply.

 

[manlymatt83]

I think the "food coma" phenomenon is pretty normal for people who are sedentary, go out and eat a little too much for lunch, come back and sit in an office for several hours afterward. At least, occasionally. If it's a normal occurrence you might want to be checked for metabolic problems, perhaps even diabetes.

Already checked for the latter. But yeah, the food coma thing makes a lot of sense. I'm not sedentary though... I work out a lot.

 

[ControlD]

I get that dizzy feeling sometimes after / during eating as well. It is new for me and I don't like it. I did get diagnosed with vasovagal syncope recently, so I don't know if that has anything to do with. Every time I get a little dizzy now I'm paranoid I am going to pass out. This thread has me wondering about possible food allergies as well however. That would be a better thing actually.

 

[Kaido]

Interesting... I did have the blood allergy tests from my PCP and it all came back negative. But I do find if I drink certain things (steamed almond milk, decaf coffee, something super sugary) my stomach gets upset. There are some other things too... I don't THINK bread is a factor, but beer definitely bothers my stomach a lot! Guinness doesn't though for one reason or another. Again, there seems to be no true pattern.

Exactly! That's what it has to be. If I wake up and have a super healthy yet filling breakfast, I'm fine. But if I eat something that bugs me, I'm done. Mind is super slow. Maybe I'm just extra sensitive to stuff like that.

Stomach history is something like this... have had a bad stomach since I was a kid, super sensitive, to both nerves and food. Pretty much always have "red on the paper" (sorry, don't mean to be graphic) because I'm always so irregular and irritated. Haven't really found a diet that makes me feel 100%. Have thought about going back to a gastro but they told me I had IBS when I was a kid, and I haven't really thought twice since.

IBS is basically just a BS doctor term for "we don't know". The trouble is, there's literally like 10,000 things that can be wrong with you, and we don't even know everything that can be wrong yet (or how to effectively treat or cure everything). But basically, if your gut is healthy, you should pretty much have a daily, effortless bowel movement, like a type 3 or 4 on the Bristol Stool Scale: (I won't embed the image for obvious reasons lol)

http://i.imgur.com/Mg1KS0g.jpg

The doctors say good health results in BM's all over the scale, but I don't believe that. When my stomach gets messed up, it's all over the chart. When my gut is in-check, I can feel the urge to go, sit down, go, and be done in seconds, no toilet paper required - faster than taking a #1. A lot of it is diet-dependent...if I eat a bunch of sugar, junk food, fast food, greasy food, etc. it messes up the processing chain. If I eat clean, I'm fine - chicken, veggies, and so on. Everyone's chemistry is different, but you shouldn't have a mess, constipation, or bleeding if things are working right. For my body at least, anything other than a quick, effortless daily BM means something is out of whack, and I'm usually feeling it on other ways like being nauseous, feeling exhausted, having an overwhelming need to lie down & take a nap, etc.

Honestly, I think bowel movements & gut health needs to be more openly discussed...I literally went my whole life with a form of IBS, not realizing it wasn't normal, because it's not exactly something you discuss with people on a regular basis. It wasn't until I started poking around H&F and eating better than my gut chemistry started to change (and also getting my food allergies identified). Eventually that led to treatment for SIBO & I can pretty much eat whatever (in moderation) and be perfectly fine.

One of the big things I've learned is how 99% of my health problems were tied to an imbalanced gut: the brain fog, the fatigue, the upset stomach, all of it was because of improper GI processing. In computer terms, eating incompatible foods basically pegged my CPU usage at 100%, so everything else would shut down...I'd eat, and anywhere from minutes to hours later (depending on the speed of the food digesting, I guess), I'd turn into a sloth & feel like crap, I'd just be totally maxed out. That's the best way I can describe it...it just would suck up all of my system resources.

A post-Thanksgiving food coma is normal, but feeling like that all the time is definitely not. A week into my SIBO treatment, I felt good after eating for the first time in my life...I had never gotten energy simply from eating, it always had to be a combination of lots of sleep, daily exercise, and a strict diet. Now I can eat a sandwich or a donut or whatever and five minutes later actually feel good. No more twisted gut or tired eyes or what have you. I also felt full, which is a feeling I've never experienced...I was always an endless pit for food, because I wasn't really digesting anything. So it's pretty nice having a normal GI tract now...I eat, I actually get full, I feel better after eating, I have a normal bowel movement, etc.

So if I were you, I'd definitely dig into this some more to get your body on-track. One of the side effects to not digesting food that I got was osteoporosis, which is not a great condition to have in your 30's haha. Fortunately recovery isn't impossible since I am absorbing nutrients now & whatnot, but if it's to the point where you feel like crap & are having issues with #2 (whether it's blood in any form or anything other than a simple, solid bowel movement), I'd definitely go see an gastroenterologist (GI doctor) because if your stomach is screwed up, there can be a lot of really bad long-term side effects that happen. Not to scare you, but I dealt with this stuff for a long time & feel so much better now that I've gotten treatment for it, I can say it's definitely worth pursuing so that you're not feeling bad on a regular basis.

 

[Kaido]

Interesting... I did have the blood allergy tests from my PCP and it all came back negative. But I do find if I drink certain things (steamed almond milk, decaf coffee, something super sugary) my stomach gets upset. There are some other things too... I don't THINK bread is a factor, but beer definitely bothers my stomach a lot! Guinness doesn't though for one reason or another. Again, there seems to be no true pattern.

Yeah, it's difficult when there's no rhyme or reason. I'd start doing some google searching for leaky gut, SCD, GAPS, Low FODMAP, ulcerative colitis, Celiac's disease, gluten sensitivity, etc. to see if anything strikes a chord with your symptoms. It can be difficult due to the sheer number of crap that can go wrong with your body...I researched food, illnesses, and medicines for a good ten years with my food allergies & didn't even heard about SIBO until this past summer (but then again, neither did my doctor, and my GI doc barely knew anything about it either - I had to specifically request the hydrogen breath test required to find out). So a basic workflow is:

1. Define your symptoms & triggers in as much detail as possible.
2. Start googling for information.
3. See a GI doctor & bring your list and thoughts from your online research.
4. Try an Elimination Diet for a few weeks (like with gluten, it can take a few weeks to fully clear out of your system).

With the exception of a temporary illness (like the flu), poor personal hygiene (i.e. staying up all night or getting drunk all the time, aka abusing your body), or an underlying disease, you should feel good pretty much 24/7 & have normal bowel movements. Anything other than that warrants a diet change & some research into what is going on with your body. It took me a looooong time to figure out my issues, but I'm glad I did because now I feel great every day, which is awesome.