Symptomatic After Eating

[Maxine]

I'm sitting here recovering after eating dinner with my husband. It wouldn't be a lot of effort for me in the past---cooking always came easy. It's the end when I get it all ready to eat which only takes a few minutes, like whipping up the potatos or gravy ect., but it wipes me out. I put a small amount of food on my plate, and then eat only about half of that.

Guess what happens next--- ? My belly blows up like I'm 7 months pregnant, I get sudden weakness, fatigue, and shaky/overstimulated all at the same time. The veins in my hands look like they are going to blow up, and I feel like there's no blood circulation in my head leaving me dizzy and disoriented. Top it off with all my spine pain, and I don't know weather I'm coming or going. It's better right now, but I had to take a half of klonopin, and my husband rubbed my back--------still bloated & weak, however.

Does anyone know if this has anything to do with abdominal blood pooling? Here's an article below that has some information on blood pooling in regards to CFS, and POTS.

http://phoenix-cfs.org/Orthostatic%20Intol...20-%20Types.htm

I just don't feel the adrenaline rushes I used to get during these episodes---(but I do feel overstimulated---but at the same time drained------------------kind of what he** would be like.) Too drained to deal with being overstimulated.

My POTs symptoms have just been so bad lately. I get depressed on how limited I have become from the combination of my health problems. Last week I felt good enough to go out and buy some good shoes, as my EDS is starting to affect my feet and knees now. We went and found some right away, so I thought we would go to out to the local mall and I could buy some summer blouses. We parked in handicapped, and I went to one store. After trying on three blouses, I started to get dizzy, and disoriended. bloated, and all my veins were sticking out. I only walked a few yards, and it felt like I ran 10 miles. I guzzled some cold water, and put my feet up on the dash board of the car-----------------I was officially wiped out.

If I stand in the shower at home, my legs turn so dark, and my feet are almost black-----(I only do this if my husband is home)---otherwise I bathe in the evening, and freshen up and wash my hair in the morning.

Why haven't I noticed the blood pooling before the last couple years----haven't I had this all my life? Actually, it may only be a year and a half. A friend of mine was admitted to the hospital by her POTs doc, and she noticed my hands were swelled, and my veins looked like they were going to pop they were so fat. She said I was pooling--------------------all these years with my POTS diagnosis, and I never though I had the blood pooling issues, except sometimes I thought I had the abdominal pooling.

I feel like not eating---------------I just feel so miserable afterwards, even if I just eat a small amount of food. It's especially bad if I stand for a few minutes just before I sit down to eat. I just can't make my husband make dinner too--------he works too hard all day long, and he helps me with so many other things I can no longer do.

Maxine :0)

[lloppyllama]

Maxine, i am very sorry to hear your feeling so poorly, I am sorry that i dont have any info. for you, only prayers, hang in there!!! ~Mary

[Gena]

Hi Maxine,

I have to be very careful what I eat and how much I eat or otherwise I get symptomatic too. My main symptoms are tummy bloating, very slow digesting, burping and a very forceful heartbeat, often with arrhythmias. It can take up to a few hours for me to feel better sometimes. I really have to eat very small portions throughout the day and limit refined carbs and sugars. I basically don't even eat them anymore. If I eat too much meat protein in one setting that will set me off too.

Yes, you're correct that a lot of it has to do with abdonminal pooling. Sharp rises in blood sugar can stimulate our symptoms too.

I'm so sorry you're going through such a bad time. I know others on the board who have the pooling in the legs and they get dark when showering too. My veins poke out all the time. I hate it!

Maybe you and hubby can take turns cooking --- or you can order out once in a while -- or cook up a big crock pot of something that will last for several days, so you don't have to cook every night.

Best wishes,

Gena

[flop]

Hi Maxine,

I can feel really potsy after eating too. I find snacking during the day (low fat, high salt foods of course) then eating smaller portions at main meals seems to help. I also have to let my food cool before I eat it - hot food and drinks seem to be worst for me, I also have to avoid spicy food.

I know you said you don't want to ask your husband to cook but maybe he could just help out a little bit at the end of the prep? Perhaps you could ask him to do those things that need activity and standing up just before sitting dowm to the meal, like mashing potatoes and making gravy.

Do you have a stool that you can sit on whilst cooking?

Hope you find a workable solution soon,

Flop

[MomtoGiuliana]

Digestion within the hour or so of eating increases my POTS symptoms most days. Some days it is fairly severe other days barely noticeable. For me it is worse in the mornings and better by evening. I believe it has to do with blood pooling during digestion. Drinking more fluids with my meal helps, also smaller, higher protein/low sugar meals can help.

Katherine

[Maxine]

Thanks for the replies!

I have two stools in the kitchen to help me. The problem is that even sitting too long is bad. Yesterday I sat up too long during the day without taking enough breaks, and I crashed in the evening, and my symptoms after eating were worse then usual.

I did lay down a couple of times mid day, but for some reason my symptoms were worse then my usual. In fact my symptoms have been worse for a while-----------------LIKE OVER A YEAR NOW---

I told my ANS doc that I had a diary of low BPs in which my heart rate wasn't compensating like it used to. Some were really low----the worst being 65/39. Now I'm not sure how accurate my BP cuff is, but I know for sure it can run in the 80s over something often. It showed in my surgeons office when I went to schedule my colonoscopy. She thought my colonoscopy should be done in a trauma hospital because of the low BP alone.

Eating is just plain difficult, and the best time for me is in the morning. By evening I usually feel so bad that eating only makes things worse. If my husband and I have plans to go out to eat, I need to lay down for most of the day to give myself half a chance to enjoy the dinner. I don't usually enjoy social functions as much as I used to due to the pain, POTS/OI.

One thing I'm very tired of is the constant bloat. I wasn't aware that I had lost 12 pounds because I'm so bloated all the time.

I get so angry lately-------and the sad thing is I'm too sick to let the anger loose----I just get sicker.

I'm still angry about the treatment/or lack of treatment my mother received from her doctors. She was put in rehab the week she was dying, in fact I think she was dying a long while. To be diagnosed with terminal cancer---(infiltrated everywhere) one day, then gone two days after that is just plain crazy. I have to go now. I need to go be with my Dad right now-------he is having a terrible time with all of this.

I don't think this has not helped my symptoms------------but I don't want my Dad to know.

Maxine :0)

[flop]

((((((HUGS))))))

[Tammy]

Big Hug...

Stress always makes things so much worse. So on top of dealing with feeling the struggles of daily life with a health condition, struggling to cope with loss just about breaks the camels back. Just take each day as it comes and each minute as it passes as best as you can and cry when you need to cry (if you can - I know crying makes me feel even sicker, but sometimes it's unpreventable). Take care of yourself.

-Tammy

[Maxine]

Thanks for the Hugs-----

I don't mean to sound like I'm feeling sorry for myself, I just can't figure out how so many medical professionals can be so stupid at the same time. Imagine----A dying woman in REHAB------then at the end of the same week when she goes to get a small tumor removed from her bladder---(that they all said had not spread anywhere else after several CT scans), she is so unstable her kidneys shut down, and she was moved to ICU. Three doctors came into her room and they were cluless, until the last one--(the surgeon who was supposed to remove the tumor) finally went and actually LOOKED at her last CT scan which showed cancer in her entire abdomin, lungs, lymph nodes, and liver.

He came and told us in the afternoon the same day (Friday). I was with my Dad the whole day, and thankfully there was a lounge where I could rest my body. My Dad and I were completely devastated. Everyone else in the family was working, and my Dad held a family meeting to tell them. The grand kids cried out loud, and it was so heart wrenching I struggled to keep it together. (i'm not one who likes to show emotion in front of anyone except my husband). Less the 48 hours she was gone. On Sunday we met with hospice, and she only had 3 hours of humane hospice care and enough pain meds to finally end her pain.------Trouble was, she was so bad by then it also ended her life. The week she was in rehab they thought she was becoming addicted to her pain meds, so they were making her cut back--------makes me so angry to even think about it. It's just beyond words.

I wish I had enough energy to let loose on some of those docs. Someone WILL answer for it............

No human being should ever have to go through that.

Yes, I think the stress has gotten to my health. I have been struggling with OI that has been getting worse for a while, but thankfully when my mother was in and out of the hospital in Dec, Jan, Feb----I had a fairly decent spell from the end of Dec. to the week my Mother went into rehab. She had blood clots---(huge ones), TIA's, unstable glucose with her diabetes ect., but none of them had a clue that a lot more was going on with her. They just kept saying they needed to get her stable enough to remove the small bladder tumor----(THAT THEY WERE GOING TO DO AS AN OUT PATIENT)----and then everything should be OK.)

My Dad asked all the right questions--------------(obviously there was just a series of continuous mistakes----BIG ONES)

I think it's going to be a while before any of us gets our bearings back.

Maxine :0)

[Radha]

yes eating is nothing less than a nightmare for me, i am so hungry all the time but my body will only let me so so little and get so sick during and afterwards, terrible pressure headaches, get adrenaline rushes, bloated, too much blood pooling, and just feeling terrible, so hyper and exhausted, i cant eat anything with fat or sugar, i do take alot of beta blockers which help control the palpitations but thats all they do, wish i could be more helpful, just wanted to say i totally understand!

Radha

[dizzygirl]

hey maxine.. i do hope that you are feeling better..

I wanted to mention.. maybe starchy stuff is a trigger for you.. I know that for me personally... back in 2003??? I couldnt figure out..(this was before i understood that big meals or the wrong foods make me so sick).. why i was getting so sick after i ate or during a meal..

well after som trial and error with foods.. You know that im a BIG TIME pasta/bread lover..YUMMY.. but i found that bread.. especially white and italian bread.. and white pasta's really really make me symptomatic...

SO I switched to wheat pasta's and strictly wheat bread or 7 or 12 grain bread.. and i cut way way back on the amount of breads and pasta's i will eat in a day or in a week..

I have noticed that it has helped with my getting sick during and after a meal...

as for mashed taters i eat them rarely.. b/c they do the same thing to me..as does garlic and beef's.. tho i love it all...i dont love spedning the next 12-48 hours sick from one measly meal..

i still get days or weeks where i get symptomatic like before... no matter what i watch and cut out of my diet.... but ti is nowhere near aht it used to be like on nearly a daily basis..

I know that you dont eat large portions of food.. you eat like a bird!... but can you play around with foods and see what types of food make you feel yucky.. ??

oh yea and about your kitchen stools.. do they have backs on them?? sometimes that can help a bit more.. if there is a back on the stool..

now im sure you'll get a chuckle out of the visualization.. but since i spend alot of time at my b/f's.. he put a livingroom chair in the kitchen for me.. LOL ..and while it looks out of place in there..it allows me abit more comfort if i am feeling well enough to sit and help prepare a meal...b/c its comfy.. and i sit in it a good part of the time to eat my meal as well b/c i can put my feet up while im eating and it helps...

oh and uh.. watch what you drink with your meal as well.. ive noticed that bubbly stuff with my meals are a BIG nono... maybe a few sips after a meal to help burp it up...Uhm also depending on how cold something is when you drink it with your meal makes a difference for me anyways.. if i drink something ice cold... it triggers .. tummy aches.. and gut troubles.. but it i drink water or something that is well room temp... it makes a difference.

these are just things that i have noticed. that help and or are a tirgger for me...just want to help..

juju.. i know youve been thru alot in recent months be kind to your self... and allow yourself time to grieve.....emotional stress can really knock a healthy person off there rocker.. not to mention someone like you or allof us with so much going on with our bodies...it can really set us back light yrs.. i dont mean to sound discouraging or depressing or anything like that... but youve ben thru alot... and need to like isaid take it easy and give your body some time to recoop....i know that energy is limited..I hope that you are feeling better today.. and not so cruddy

hugs

dizz

[pat57]

I'm so sorry about the ordeal you have been thru.

I wanted to suggest a menu that can be prepared ahead. You can make the vegys and side dish ahead and just reheat. Some meats you can do that with.

good luck

[Maxine]

Thanks for all your suggestions, and also thank you for the kind words everyone--

Dizz----I think your right about the potatos---starchy foods ect. I have to admit, it's just not naother thing I want to think of-----seeing if I'm sensitive to glutin products. I had mashed potatos that day. The pork chops were easy to make, just brown them, add herbs of my choice, and slow cook. At the last half hour or so, I add worchestershire sauce.

I made the gravy by just adding a mix of 1 part cornstarch to two parts water-----shake it up and add to the meat juices. I have to stand there and stir, but it's only until it thickens which is only a couple minutes. So I guess if you add the mixing of the mashed potatos, and preparing the gravy just before we eat it's enough to put my over the edge---especially combined with eating.

Pat57, I have found that preparing the food ahead of time has helped. I just feel like I make the same old things over and over again. Most of it is easy, and doesn't require a lot of standing. I always slow cook any meats I make.

However, if I have company I like to have a nice salad and maybe some good bread to add to the meal.

Wish me luck today----I'm making lasagna-------- I have my kitchen stools, so I can sit while I put it all together which is the hard part------ugggg the cleaning of the pans afterwards---(I can't---my husband will have to help)---- I can barely lift the pans anymore.

I have to go pick up a gift card today and pick up a few items for the dinner. I dread it because I'm already feeling wiped out, and having a bad day---PAIN WISE. I Pray I can get this done without crashing. The handicapped parking sticker helps a lot. Although I can't do grocery shopping anymore, I try to pick up a few items from time to time, and I get dumbfounded on how quickly I fade. Sometimes I feel like I won't make it to the cash register. I guzzle a v-8, and drink a litre of water before I go---

Dizz, I eat all wheat when I eat bread. I average two slices a day, and always have atleast 5 grams of fiber. You can buy wheat bread, but it doesn't necessarily have fiber-----you have to read the package. If the fiber is low, it's just more or less the same as eating white bread. WHOLE GRAIN IS THE KEY. My diet is good, but sometimes when we have company I may eat french bread or treat myself to something I don't normally eat. I guess the most bothersome for me is regular pasta, and potatos. A little french bread doesn't bother me.

Maxine :0)

[pat57]

OMG -lasagna!

[Maxine]

I know!

I'll only be able to take a couple bites. I can't handle much pasta, but I tolerate it better if I have a chance to rest before I eat. Good thing my husband made the salad. I'm beat!

Good thing he went to get the gift card for me too. Thankfully he only had an 8 hour work day today.

Also, thankfully they are late for dinner---My son and his girlfriend. They are just getting back from Virginia tech. Her mother got offered a position there. They went to visit, and help her find a place to live.

My son and his girlfriend just bought a nice little house here-----I'm so glad they are going to stay in town--- Eventually they will be getting married. She has an adorable daughter----3 years old. She knows my son Mike as her Dad, as they have been together since she was 9 months old.

Were celebrating her birthday. They are bringing a gift for me too----our birthdays are a week apart---mine was over a week ago---------LOL----------

Here they come---they just drove up my driveway! Looks like I can enjoy a little dinner---

Maxine :0)

[Maxine]

Well I made it, and was actually able to eat. I had LOTS of help. Basically all I did was put the lasagna together. All the cleaning and other work was done by my husband, and my son cleaned up after we ate.

I wish I could do more-----I hate being this hyper person locked up in this body that is all screwed up and physically limited.

NOT GOOD-----but I'll take what I can get.........

Maxine---------:0)

[smiles]

Maxine,

Eating can be challenging!!! My cardio thinks I have swallow (deglutition) syncope which is, in my case, almost passing out or having convulsions during or after eating or drinking. I suppose it is a worse form of what you?re talking about. I don't have all your symptoms though-- no pain, bulging veins, or abdominal bloating. I have to wear a thigh to chest compression girdle to prevent some of that blood pooling your talking about. Still not sure if it does any good though. I am seeing a specialist Thurs. to find the cause and hopefully treatment of this swallow syncope. I think it has something to do with how eating abnormally stimulates the vagal nerve and how that affects the heart and therefore circulation. I am waiting with great anticipation to see this new Dr. and learn more about my condition. His colleague has treated several people with this rare condition. Most Dr.s haven't even heard of it. I've had this for almost 3 years off and on.

Enjoy cooking. I can't do it anymore. Enjoy everything that you can do without getting over tired. Getting over tired makes everything worse. Don't be hero. I tried for too long to do more than I really could cuz I wanted to prove to myself and everyone else that I could still function. It proved the opposite to my family and friends. They got tired of picking me up and carrying me.

Hang in there. Much of it is trial and error. I document my episodes in a notebook so I can find patterns. It doesn't matter what I eat or drink. Mine is related more to hormone changes recently. I'm well into premenopause now. In the past it flared up during infection, activity (exertion) and during autonomic flare ups.