Sugar And Pots

[hannahsmom03]

Good Morning ,

I wanted to know if anyone with POTS feels strange (sleepy, shakes) after eating sugar. I am not big on sweet stuff but I noticed that when I do eat sugar every once in a while I feel like I am going to go to sleep. I know that sounds so strange but I did not know if that might be a trigger for people with POTS. All of this is new to me and I am trying to avoid anything that makes me feel worse. Especially right now since they have taken me off my meds because of the side effects. I am trying to eat right , drink alot of fluids , and take in a lot of salt, but I feel like I am blowing up like a balloon I noticed also a bad feeling with caffiene, cereals, breads. My husband (god bless him) has kept me well stocked with Pickles. For some reason they have become my friend The more salt I eat the better I feel. Hope you all are having a good day. Any thoughts are apreciated

God Bless,

Erica

[lloppyllama]

Good Morning Erica!

I am sorry to hear your feeling so icky, for me sugars dont affect me too much unless I eat a lot of it, but for me small portions are fine, which is good since I LOVE sugar! haha but I am also a teenager and we tend to like sweeter foods than adults.

The sleepiness may just be from the "sugar high" but it also could be from the pots. I think that how much of certain foods we all can handle is going to depend on the person, however there are some people here who can not tolerate sugars well.

Pickles are a great thing to eat for us pots folks. My nurse who deals with my treatment plan said that some people actually take the juice from the pickles and make it into popsickles! I know it sounds discusting but apparently it is good, I have yet to try it though.

Hope your feeling better!

Mary

[MightyMouse]

Hiya, this can be a common issue with POTS and other autonomic disorders. See the section of the DINET website that's called What to Avoid and skim down to c- for "certain foods" for an explanation from a medical standpoint.

Nina

[corina]

hi erica,

i found olives and carrots to be "my best friends". i always take some carrots when i am nauseated (don't know why, but it really helps me?!) and i eat olives every day (going to buy an olive tree as a tribute to them ).

take care,

corina

[hannahsmom03]

Thank you all for the great information. I appreciate the information that this wonderful website offers to a newbie like me.

Have a great day

[Sunfish]

i can't eat anymore (severe GI motility issues...NOT the norm) but pickles were always a favorite for me....even before i was given a high-salt diet prescription! i would have friends/family who belonged to warehouse stores buy me Claussen's (my fave) in bulk! yum yum. and i was known in college for my ability to eat a whole large jar in one sitting...no problem (not the bulk variety, just a normal large jar ). but in all seriousness, though, they're a great high-salt food that's super healthy even in large quantities, portable, good year-round, etc. do i sound like a pickle advertisement or what?! i even have a pickle pin somewhere i was a peanut butter & pickle sandwich fan too, but that's with sweet pickles so not as high on the salt content pickle wise but still good b/c PB is usually nice & salty.

i'm getting carried away though...for me larger quantities of anything at once were always more problematic than specific foods, but we're all different.

happy pickle eating...eat some extras for me!

melissa

[flop]

Yay another pickle fan!

I was out for a meal at Frankie & Benny's last night with friends and family. Whilst I had a chicken dish several people choose burgers, when they removed the pickle slices from them I immediately offered to gobble them up for them. Also pinched quite a few of the olives from my sister's salad!

I have a very sweet tooth (a good combo for me is sweet and sour sauce) and love puddings like banoffee pie. If I eat sweet stuff after a meal I'm ok but if I have cake on it's own I tend to get a sugar high and my heart rate soars for a while. This can be useful if I'm feeling dizzy and have a slow pulse as the sugar seems to boost it, but if I am already tachycardic I avoid the sweet stuff.

Flop

[Rachel]

Oh, Sunfish, you made me smile! I used to eat lots of pickles in college too! My friends and I would all gather in one dorm room around a large jar of pickles. We'd eat them and talk until the early morning hours. (Oh, to be able to do that again for one more night!) I never thought at the time about pickles being good for me; I just liked them. But later I was glad to find out that I had an excuse to eat lots of them!

Erica, Yes, sugar is a trigger food for me. But some forms are much worse than others. Powdered sugar is the worst for me. It makes me extremely tired and tachy. White refined sugar is the next-worst. But if I have sugar in my coffee, that doesn't seem to effect me. I don't know why! Fruit and vegetable sugars are always okay for me. It's different for everyone. I hope you can find the right foods and combinations that work for you.

Rachel

[MightyMouse]

I love pickles too--I actually order mine online from a croatian grocer--and I get them in gallon jars. I don't know what makes the brand I like taste better to me, but I love them. I've gotten a few friends hooked on them too. And, I never met an olive I didn't like

While I love wine and some types of mixed drinks, certain types really make me feel terribly ill. For example, I love margaritas, but tequilla makes me super symptomatic before I finish a drink. Red wine doesn't seem to get to me as much as white when it come to feeling POTSy, but even that is hit or miss.

Also, I can't have refined sugar, caffeine or chocolate after mid afternoon or my body just goes into overdrive and then I can't sleep even if my body is exhausted.

You will find we are all so unique with regard to what each of us can and cannot tolerate--not just with foods. A lot of figuring it out is trial and error, so don't take any one experience you read about here as "the way it will be" for you.

Nina

[mom4cem]

Too much sugar and my heart gets racey, notice skipped beats and generally feel yucky. I do have a big sweet tooth. I like pickles also but have not got into the habit of eating them. Think it's a place for me to start when I want something sweet, I'll grab a pickle instead.