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Flushing After Dinner


imapumpkin

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I seem to be getting more and more symptoms as the weeks pass. Ah, POTS the gift that keeps on giving. So I have never experienced flushing until very recently and now I am getting it fairly regularly... and I seem to only get it at a very specific time. I only get it after eating dinner, a meal at night. I can eat breakfast or lunch and I won't flush but 10-15 min after eating dinner in the evening I start to flush and overheat and have to stick my head out the window or take a lukewarm shower.

Does anyone else get flushing at a specific time or is it spontaneous for most of you?

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I have it at other times spontaneously but I can always count on it after dinner. I have found that the amount of food I eat and the amount of protein (I assume because it's harder to digest) determine how bad it is. If I stop before I feel full (that's not really that fun, I know) then I can minimize the flushing. I also get an overwhelming drunk and fatigued feeling that comes along with the flushing. As you described, I don't have this reaction to my other meals. I do have MCAD so I do have this happen from other triggers but I can't explain why one mealtime sets me off but not the others.

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I get flushing throughout the day, some days worse than others. But, when it first began two years ago, the first daily flushes happened at around 8:30 p.m., every night(they still do). I'm not sure why the nighttime flush is so punctual, but lately I've been wondering if it is a cortisol/ACTH surge, only because I've had some whacky results in that area. I know cortisol follows a circadian rhythm, but if it is off, I wonder about a night surge. I am waiting on saliva cortisol results anyday to see if any of this is so, or not.

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I get flushing after most of my meals. I also get flushing spontaneously. Before I was diagnosed with Pots my allergist thought it was linked to a mast cell issue. The tests he ran came back negative but until recently I did not know how difficult it was to diagnosis mast cell issues. Im hoping to get retested during a bad flare up/lasting flush.

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Eating (esp. large meals) raises core body temperature and this tends to rise through the day (then fall later in the evening), so if your autonomic system is is poor at regulating temperature, eating can be enough to trigger flushing (or sweating) in response. I know in my case this is the cause, nothing to do with mast cell issues or eating histamene containing foods etc. If your veins have a tendency to be dilated (e.g. due to EDS) then it only takes subtle changes in core or ambient temperature to push them into overdrive.

I think mast cell issues are over estimated, heat regulation, either secondary to loss of sweat glands that accompanies autonomic neuropathy, effect of raised NE on hypothalamus or other neurological issues are probably behind a lot of autonomic-related flushing.

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After my hysterectomy several years ago, I expected to have "hot flashes" - it never happened. Recently, I began to have flushing episodes in which I turn beet red and my skin temperature soars - I thought at first this might be the hot flash associated with menopause and my hysterectomy - now, I don't think so. When I have an episode, not only do I have the flushing and the heat but, my heart rate completely bottoms out and I get pre-syncopal until my pacemaker kicks in. I can't seem to associate it with any particular event, like eating, sleeping, etc...I'm pretty sure it is related to the progression of the dysautonomia and the malfunctioning of the parasympathetic system.....as previously mentioned...the "gift" that keeps on giving!

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Someone here mentioned that problems after eating can be worse if you're eating leftovers. This is looking like it may be the case for me. It's always noticeable when you're absolutely fine eating a dish one day, and then eat exactly the same thing the next day and get a reaction. (I'm careful about putting leftovers into the fridge shortly after cooking, so that's not the issue.) It's probably not the only factor, of course, and histamine etc. is no doubt involved as well. Has anyone else noticed that the worst episodes tend to occur when eating leftovers?

This reminds me: I've got a 24 hour ECG (Holter monitor) coming up, and I want my heart to be doing somersaults if at all possible. Any suggestions as to what I should eat that will make things worse? I'm vegan. Should I just look up high-histamine foods?

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