5 replies to this topic

[Grandmaster]

Hello

 

So since a long time im dealing with a problem which consists of instant mood swings, brainfog and dizziness after eating. My blood sugar is ok, i tested it several times in the past.

 

I was sure its histamine intolerance because often foods high in histamine triggered this reaction but taking DAO producing supplements(daosin, vitamin C, b6...) antihistamines etc is often not helping at all(nearly like placebo) and those effects are often triggered by histamine-free foods. I visited doctors many times but  i havent got any useless knowledge from those visits. I tried quercetin, reishi, Scutellaria baicalensis as they are natural antihistamnes and mast cell stabilizers but all of them made me only tired. 

 

Those symptoms usually occour like 1-2 minutes after eating  and are probably connected to circadian rhythm because if i eat anyting at night i pretty always feel great. i often have to drink something with caffeine to feel normal - so i thought it may be postprandial hypotension but i measured my blood pressure after eating and it was slightly higher after eating large meal which made me dizzy. Also caffeine especially guarana have delayed effect in my case- full stimulation and mood boosting effects are felt at least few hours after taking. Guarana makes mi tired and foggy and seems to work at least 6 hours after taking which often gives me insomnia,

 

I was thinking it may be something with serotonin in the gut as when i was taking St Johns Wort(it worked from 1-2 months and then stopped so i discontiuned using it)symptoms were minimal. Also when i was taking pregenolone in 2017 it fixed this issue while giving great procoginitve effects like mood boost, better crative thinking and verbal fluency. I thought it may have been cortisol issues but anything that lowers cortisol(Phosphatidylserine, ashvagandha..) makes me even more dizzy and gives brainfog same with cortisol rising stuff. 

 

I have taken some probiotics in the past but they wasnt really helpful(maybe beacuse those were made by Swanson?). 

 

I made some topic about this in  the past but got no useful information from it. If you have any hypothesis why it happens and how can i fix it please write a post because this issue is a large problem for me and since visiting doctors havent helped me much i hope i can get some help here.

 

[pamojja]

 

if i eat anyting at night i pretty always feel great.

 

...but anything that lowers cortisol(Phosphatidylserine, ashvagandha..) makes me even more dizzy and gives brainfog same with cortisol rising stuff.

 

Cortisol at night is usually low. Did you ever test cortisol levels? Better would be both tested in AM and PM.

 

What you typically ate during the last week?

[Dichotohmy]

It sounds like you have looked in to the usual suspects that are often responsible for postprandial brain fog, fatigue, or mood effects following eating.

 

If you're like me, and it sounds like you are because I have also ruled out food intolerances, reactive hypoglycemia, and histamine sensitivity/intoleance, then it could come down to dysautonomia. Like you, my postprandial zombification symptoms are most heavy after breakfast and until the afternoon, yet pretty negligible after the last meal of the day. The only difference is that I don't have the same diurnal mood variation as you: I always feel a better mood early in the day and my mood is euthymic or slightly depressed at night. I believe the reason why the negative postprandial effect is less after dinner is because, by then, I have already taken in enough food during the day that there is food circulating and continual glucose release regardless of dinner being slow to digest.

 

The hypothetical way that dysautonomia creates this effect is a combination of gastroparesis (slow stomach emptying) combined with insulin release in anticipation of the food about to be digested - but the food isn't moving into the small intestine, so the insulin doesn't have enough glucose to work with and so causes problems.

 

Unfortunately, the answer comes down to fixing the dysautonomia should fix the gut motility, but there are extremely few evidence-based treatments to that end. Because dysautonomia could be caused by a number of diseases and be associated with many disorders, it's not outside the realm of possibility that pregnenolone could have corrected a hormonal issue that causes dysautonomia. This is one of those things that comes down to throwing pills at the problem and seeing what sticks. From what I've seen, doctors and gastroenterologists in the know about gastroparesis, slow motility, and the connection to postprandial fatigue/brain fog would recommend an SNRI treatment. Another common recommendation is to eat smaller meals more often in order to avoid and blunt the strong effects of a large insulin release following a large meal. The latter recommendation has worked far better for me than serotonergic or pro/prebiotic approaches.

Edited by Dichotohmy, 06 May 2019 - 06:45 PM.

[Grandmaster]

Cortisol at night is usually low. Did you ever test cortisol levels? Better would be both tested in AM and PM.

 

What you typically ate during the last week?

I try to eat healthy - those symptoms were still visible even during the diet consisting only of veggies, fruits, vater etc I dont think its matter of high cortisol because as i wrote anything that lowered cortisol made me feel worse but i may make some cortisol test soon as you said consisting of two tests at different hours.

 

It sounds like you have looked in to the usual suspects that are often responsible for postprandial brain fog, fatigue, or mood effects following eating.

 

If you're like me, and it sounds like you are because I have also ruled out food intolerances, reactive hypoglycemia, and histamine sensitivity/intoleance, then it could come down to dysautonomia. Like you, my postprandial zombification symptoms are most heavy after breakfast and until the afternoon, yet pretty negligible after the last meal of the day. The only difference is that I don't have the same diurnal mood variation as you: I always feel a better mood early in the day and my mood is euthymic or slightly depressed at night. I believe the reason why the negative postprandial effect is less after dinner is because, by then, I have already taken in enough food during the day that there is food circulating and continual glucose release regardless of dinner being slow to digest.

 

The hypothetical way that dysautonomia creates this effect is a combination of gastroparesis (slow stomach emptying) combined with insulin release in anticipation of the food about to be digested - but the food isn't moving into the small intestine, so the insulin doesn't have enough glucose to work with and so causes problems.

 

Unfortunately, the answer comes down to fixing the dysautonomia should fix the gut motility, but there are extremely few evidence-based treatments to that end. Because dysautonomia could be caused by a number of diseases and be associated with many disorders, it's not outside the realm of possibility that pregnenolone could have corrected a hormonal issue that causes dysautonomia. This is one of those things that comes down to throwing pills at the problem and seeing what sticks. From what I've seen, doctors and gastroenterologists in the know about gastroparesis, slow motility, and the connection to postprandial fatigue/brain fog would recommend an SNRI treatment. Another common recommendation is to eat smaller meals more often in order to avoid and blunt the strong effects of a large insulin release following a large meal. The latter recommendation has worked far better for me than serotonergic or pro/prebiotic approaches.

 

Thank you for this infromative reply it sounds very logical. How long after a meal those symptoms occour in your case? Because in mine its matter of minute and happens even if the meal is super light like today - few grapes or sip of juice. Also large vitamin C dosages helped if i took it before meal - somehow it also removed large part of caffeine incuced anxiety but im not sure now why it worked - i know Vit.C. can lower cortisol in doses over 1 gram, takes part in dopamine synthesis with b6 that also worked for me and acts as a antihistamine(problem is that it causes diarrhea in larger doses so i avoid doing it because without loperamide thats a shitty idea...). Also i would like to say that i dont have any digestive issues - i very rarely have some heartburns, nauseas or acid refluxes  and those are symptoms for gastroparesis, Also anything that increases dopamine like l-tyrosine, mucuna pruriens or dl-pa gave me only side effects if thats helpful info. Sometimes those feeling bad after eating symptoms dissapear if i do something pleasant like playing instrument(im a non professional musican), listening to favourite music, having sexual contact etc that and also fact that st johns wort was so effective for a month made me wonder if its some serotonin drop caused by eating but im not sure and i know its not so simple and serotonin can be dangerous if you play with it like a toy. 

[pamojja]

I try to eat healthy - those symptoms were still visible even during the diet consisting only of veggies, fruits, vater etc I dont think its matter of high cortisol because as i wrote anything that lowered cortisol made me feel worse but i may make some cortisol test soon as you said consisting of two tests at different hours.

 

Many healthy foods contain lectins, to which some react to. See Joe Cohen's experience with lectins on his selfhacked.com. One possibility is a reversed cortisol daily curve, with low cortisol in the mornings.

[Dichotohmy]

I try to eat healthy - those symptoms were still visible even during the diet consisting only of veggies, fruits, vater etc I dont think its matter of high cortisol because as i wrote anything that lowered cortisol made me feel worse but i may make some cortisol test soon as you said consisting of two tests at different hours.

 

 

Thank you for this infromative reply it sounds very logical. How long after a meal those symptoms occour in your case? Because in mine its matter of minute and happens even if the meal is super light like today - few grapes or sip of juice. Also large vitamin C dosages helped if i took it before meal - somehow it also removed large part of caffeine incuced anxiety but im not sure now why it worked - i know Vit.C. can lower cortisol in doses over 1 gram, takes part in dopamine synthesis with b6 that also worked for me and acts as a antihistamine(problem is that it causes diarrhea in larger doses so i avoid doing it because without loperamide thats a shitty idea...). Also i would like to say that i dont have any digestive issues - i very rarely have some heartburns, nauseas or acid refluxes  and those are symptoms for gastroparesis, Also anything that increases dopamine like l-tyrosine, mucuna pruriens or dl-pa gave me only side effects if thats helpful info. Sometimes those feeling bad after eating symptoms dissapear if i do something pleasant like playing instrument(im a non professional musican), listening to favourite music, having sexual contact etc that and also fact that st johns wort was so effective for a month made me wonder if its some serotonin drop caused by eating but im not sure and i know its not so simple and serotonin can be dangerous if you play with it like a toy. 

 

 

I become couch-bound with fatigue, incredibly foggy, and a large dip in motivation and mood within minutes of a large meal. That is why I try hard to avoid going beyond 75% "full," no matter how good the food is. A moderate to small meal results in those symptoms on a relatively moderate to small degree. Meal size, and not necessarily total calories, seems to be the deciding factor for where my degree of post-prandial symptoms are going to fall on a spectrum

 

Another thing that comes to mind as a possible contributor to the severity in my case, and might be relevant to you if you suspect dysautonomia and/or orthostatic problems, is that I really feel the influx of blood to my gut region after a meal. What I mean by that is that after one eats, it is pretty normal to feel a little heavy or slowed down after a meal, for one reason because the body is sending extra blood to the gut region to aid in the processes of digestion. That normal effect is amplified in my case because I probably have hypovolumia (low blood volume) as evidenced by low blood sodium and moderate orthostatic intolerance - essentially, even less blood is going to my brain after a meal and that contributes to all kinds of bad problems (including orthostatic issues).