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Extreme Fatigue After Eating


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This has been happening more and more. This morning it happened while I was driving to work. I felt drunk. It was terrifying. It happened again after lunch.

My last couple of fasting blood draws have had my glucose slightly elevated (114).

I have hyper pots and a slew of other issues. I usually have high blood pressure but have been known to pass out if I stand up quickly.

My primary doctor put in a prescription for a blood glucose monitor. He wants me to test my blood sugar when this happens to see if that is the problem. It can also be a blood pressure problem. I do have severe GI issues too...

Any thoughts? Do any of you suffer from this?

Thanks,

Kris

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Ok so this AAG thing keeps popping up. There is a huge discussion going on about this. Should I be having the doctors look into this for me?

Thanks.

If you have POTS and the cause (an underlying disease) has not been found, then yes.

The blood can be drawn at any draw station (Labcorp, Quest, etc) with a doctor's order. The blood will be sent from the draw station to the Mayo Clinic Laboratories.

This is the autoimmune dysautonomia panel, which tests for an assortment of autoimmune causes of dysautonomia, including AAG.

http://www.mayomedicallaboratories.com/test-catalog/Overview/89904

Keep in mind that new antibodies are always being indentifed, and not all tests are commercially available. There are patent applications currently out for more tests for specific antibodies.

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I had ANS testing done at Mayo in January. Wouldn't that have been part of the testing?

I would not know, I have never been to Mayo.

It is a blood test.

I would call and ask the office at Mayo to see if this test was ever performed.

It is better not to assume that the test was performed.

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That's probably a good sign.

Keep in mind that they are discovering antibodies all the time, and a breakthrough will come eventually. Make sure to ask your doctors if it is possible that it may be autoimmune.

~50% of patients with AAG do not test positive for the antibody. This probably means that there are more unidentified antibodies, but technically, it is disputable.

My neurologist was showing a neurology resident a way to tell if somebody had AAG without a blood test. I was in a hospital bed in an upright position when they did it, but I don't think that bodily position matters.

1. Basically, she had a wooden cotton swab. She snapped it in half.

2. Then she scratched the middle of my shin, vertically. She did it once, making one line (scratch mark) down my leg.

3. She watched the response (I guess the redness), and she and the resident could tell I had AAG.

I don't know how or why it works. I will ask my neurologist the next time I see her, at the end of June.

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Guest wishing&hoping

I not only get sleepy after eating, I also have noticed that it brings on flushing and sweating to the point where I have to stop eating!! Doesn't matter what I eat; although carbs are definitely worse. Anyone else have this? I have to take a nap after eating!!!

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Yes I get tired after eating. My heart rates are always 20-40 points higher, my tremor is worse and I usually feel terrible and then take a nap. Interestingly I don't have digestive problems with POTS, so for me it just seems like a blood flow issue. Many of my naps are after eating. I used to take my blood sugar during these times and it was never unusually high.

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Guest Alex

I believe there are several theories for the postprandial exhaustion - not sure if/how they fit in with dysautonomia:

1 - after a meal some of the blood is diverted into the digestive system, so you get a diminished blood flow to the brain. If you're hypovolemic then the blood flow to the brain is even lower I guess.

2 - the so called sugar crash - the exhaustion after a meal that is rich in carbs

3 - insulin resistance - the body can't use insulin effectively

4 - the equilibrium between the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system shifts when food enters the digestive tract in favor of the parasympathetic system. That translates into the body trying to achieve a low energy state, therefore the sleepiness.

Alex

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I also had this problem when I was in the heart of my flare. I don't know what type of POTs I am/was. I had low BP and eating made me lethargic and pre-fainty. It helped for me to have very small meals and I stuck to items on the low glycemic index, no sauces or gravies. Foods that digested quickly seemed to make symptoms worse and foods with tons of chemicals/additives made it worse (and I still avoid sauces and gravies). Good luck to you Kris.

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I get symptomatic after eating--faster hr, weakness, fatigue. The explanation I have seen in the past is that after eating blood tends to pool more in the abdomen in order to facilitate digestion. For healthy people this doesn't cause symptoms. If you already have low blood volume and/or pooling tho this can make you even more POTS-y. And perhaps too, for some reason w POTS, we have exaggerated blood pooling in response to a meal. Whatever exactly is going on, this can be worse in the AM than the PM, for me. Perhaps because I am more dehydrated in the AM--but there may be diurnal hormonal shifts affecting this too. Anyway, I found that eating very small, high protein meals in the AM along with plenty of fluid and some salt helped the most. Eating foods with a high glycemic index would be worse. I was tested repeatedly for blood glucose problems but no problems were ever found in my case.

Perhaps this is helpful:

GI and GL for Common Foods Food GI Serving Size Net Carbs GL Peanuts 14 4 oz (113g) 15 2 Bean sprouts 25 1 cup (104g) 4 1 Grapefruit 25 1/2 large (166g) 11 3 Pizza 30 2 slices (260g) 42 13 Lowfat yogurt 33 1 cup (245g) 47 16 Apples 38 1 medium (138g) 16 6 Spaghetti 42 1 cup (140g) 38 16 Carrots 47 1 large (72g) 5 2 Oranges 48 1 medium (131g) 12 6 Bananas 52 1 large (136g) 27 14 Potato chips 54 4 oz (114g) 55 30 Snickers Bar 55 1 bar (113g) 64 35 Brown rice 55 1 cup (195g) 42 23 Honey 55 1 tbsp (21g) 17 9 Oatmeal 58 1 cup (234g) 21 12 Ice cream 61 1 cup (72g) 16 10 Macaroni and cheese 64 1 serving (166g) 47 30 Raisins 64 1 small box (43g) 32 20 White rice 64 1 cup (186g) 52 33 Sugar (sucrose) 68 1 tbsp (12g) 12 8 White bread 70 1 slice (30g) 14 10 Watermelon 72 1 cup (154g) 11 8 Popcorn 72 2 cups (16g) 10 7 Baked potato 85 1 medium (173g) 33 28 Glucose 100 (50g) 50 50

The table below shows values of the Glycemic Index (GI) and Glycemic Load (GL) for a few common foods. GI's of 55 or below are considered low, and 70 or above are considered high. GL's of 10 or below are considered low, and 20 or above are considered high.

Learning More
Additional information and values for Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load can be found at www.glycemicindex.com.



Read More http://nutritiondata.self.com/topics/glycemic-index#ixzz2THeHa4Ft
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I can't get over how overwhelming this feeling is. It's like being drunk. I am unsteady on my feet and things seem fuzzy, I feel dizzy. It's only after I eat.

I have a glucose monitor on it's way. I think I may bring my blood pressure cuff to work with me to see if I have a drop/rise in bp when the symptoms come on.

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I have AAG - I am antibody positive - off the charts from what my neurologist says....yes, eating is a problem - all the way around it is a problem - not only from a blood shunting standpoint but, from a gastroparesis aspect as well. BP drops after eating - feel weak and tired - abdomen will swell twice the normal size if I don't keep on some type of compression garment when I eat - have to eat very small amounts at a time - graze through the day - I feel like I should moo most of the time.....takes many hours for my stomach to empty - up to 8-9 hours if I dare eat more than what will fit in the palm of my hand easily.....very annoying to have constant abdominal swelling and discomfort - have to keep all sizes of clothing - small in the morning - XL in the late afternoon - moo

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E Soskis - I love that you have at least kept your sense of humor in all of this!

You are describing exactly what happens with me. I was recently diagnosed with "mild" GP and also have severe colonic inertia. I also bloat like crazy after meals. I was having some success with a drug called Linzess but recently it seems to have lost some of it's effectivness. I'm not sure why.

Where do you get compression clothing for your gut area? Thanks.

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I used to suffer from significant fatigue after meals until I started changing how I ate and what I ate. For me keeping the size of my meals small and more frequent and reducing the amount of carbs ( seems to be a big trigger ) consumed with each meal. I tend to have lower blood sugars and can have episodes of shakeness so I keep snacks with me wherever I go. I also started wearing an abdominal binder which has helped immensely with what I am sure is postprandial pooling. After meals my upper abdominal area would get painfully distended, I would get very short of breath, tachycardic, nauseated etc. Its amazing how much wearing an abdominal binder can help with postprandial pooling as well as general abdominal pooling if that is a problem you share. I should think also that delayed gastric emptying would contribute to postprandial pooling as there would be a greater blood flow draw. Another help would be to keep a diary of foods eaten so you can keep track of what may trigger problems for you.

Janet

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I have been doing this for some time now and have posted the same question. I also have gastroparesis and think it has something to do with the blood rushing to my stomach and trying to get it to empty. I have noticed since I am on mostly a liquid diet ( sometimes I will have a baked potato or peanut butter crackers ) that feeling doesn't happen as often. But if my stomach gets very full, and it doesn't take much for it to feel that way, I will get very , very tired and have actually had to go to bed cause of the extreme fatigue.

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I don't have a specific study to link to on this, but eating tends to temporarily lower catecholamine levels (especially NE and E). You would then experience "sympathetic withdrawal," or less sympathetic activation than usual, which could make you feel exhausted. This especially seems to be the case in people in a hypothyroid state, since they have less thyroid hormone to keep their functions upregulated. (Hypothyroid can sometimes make you feel in a "hyper" state as excess NE and E try to compensate for low thyroid.) Have you had thyroid hormones assessed?

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Guest Alex

I don't have a specific study to link to on this, but eating tends to temporarily lower catecholamine levels (especially NE and E). You would then experience "sympathetic withdrawal," or less sympathetic activation than usual, which could make you feel exhausted.

Could this be the reason why you should fast for 10-12 hrs before having your blood catecholamines checked?!

Alex

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Kris4444. I wear a Gabriella breathable elastic abdominal binder. They do unfortunately stretch out faster than I would like and require periodic replacement but I wouldn't be without one. I order them from Amazon.com.

Janet

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E Soskis - I love that you have at least kept your sense of humor in all of this!

You are describing exactly what happens with me. I was recently diagnosed with "mild" GP and also have severe colonic inertia. I also bloat like crazy after meals. I was having some success with a drug called Linzess but recently it seems to have lost some of it's effectivness. I'm not sure why.

Where do you get compression clothing for your gut area? Thanks.

I am ordering mine from Design Veronique.

http://showcase.designveronique.com/designveronique/index.php/shop/postsurgical/mid-body/non-zippered-abdominal-girdle.html

The girdle is expensive, but if it helps my functioning, it is worth it.

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