? about eating and exhaustion..
Posted by Sariea on Mar 13, 2007 · Member since Feb 2007 · 845 posts
i'm not sure if anyone here can answer this, but i thought i'd try and see..
every time i eat, within 5 minutes of finishing i get extremely tired. it's been going on for months and it didn't bother me too much until i started taking anti-depressants about a week ago which makes me so tired to the point where i actually sleep for a couple hours during the middle of the day (and that's not normal for me)
it doesn't matter what i eat or how much/little.. i was hoping someone might have some insight on this. anything is much appreciated :-\
before i started taking the medication, i was sleepy when i ate, but it wasn't as severe as when i started taking the meds. before, i'd be sleepy but able to stay awake. after, taking a nap wasn't a choice, and i'd sleep for atleast 2 hours.
i don't think i have a problem standing for long periods of time. my job requires me to be on my feet for 8 hours straight
on a side note, i am no longer taking the prozac because it was making me physically ill every day. i'm still very tired, but then again i haven't been sleeping well lately :P
I hate antidepressants. They really didn't help me at all--just made me feel constantly weak >:(
They're hell to get off of too. Be careful.
this is the second antidepressant i've tried. i am against medication but the depression just got too much i didn't want to deal with it anymore. luckily i was given the smallest possible dosage so it hasn't been too bad getting off it
...
To those that are complaining of weakness after eating - does this sound like anything that you guys are experiencing? This condition is managed primarily through dietary measures such as eating smaller meals and not drinking fluids during meals, or one hour before or after... Yogaferrett - didn't I read in another post that you drink *excessive* amounts of fluids? Could you try to limit them around meal times and see if you still experience the same symptoms?
I am not trying to diagnose anyone here, just give helpful information... I am after all, going into the medical field! Please let me know what you think about this information, I will be curiously awaiting! :)
I wouldn't say I excessively drink, though I drink a lot. I just drink a lot a work cuz I'm bored. Not so much on the weekend. ;)
It lists a lot of symptoms that don't apply to me compared to the symptoms listed for reactive hypoglycemia.
My symptoms definitely tend to be more sugar related. I notice that I get the same disorientation/light-headed/lack of coordination that sugar-troubled people get if I don't have sugar after 2/3 hours.
Also, I have hardly any problems now that I'm c areful to not eat alot at once - I eat 5-6 times a day now instead. It's kindof a hassle - to be eating ALL the time - but it works.:)
Anyway, good information this. Thanks for posting!! Might help others.
i thought the 2/3 hour sugar thing had to do with diabetes?
ii'm glad you're having an easier time with it now though :)
Hi... if your blood sugar levels are ok, have you considered allergies to wheat?
I have a few friends who are allergic to wheat. If they eat it, they are tired and groggy afterwards, and it could last for days.
PS ... I found this link for you: http://www.wheat-free.org/wheat-allergy.html
i had considered the wheat thing, especially since every kind of carb product i eat has wheat in it. thanks for the link, it's difficult though since i have a lot of those symptoms because of other things
i was going to try a detox thing to see if wheat might be causing me problems, but when i went to figure out my meal plans i got so lost because of all the wheat in my diet, i couldn't figure out what else to have ::)
i thought the 2/3 hour sugar thing had to do with diabetes?
ii'm glad you're having an easier time with it now though :)
Applies in the case os reactive hypoglycemia.
If you follow the links I posted earlier about it, you'll see. :)
Also applies to diabetes I guess?
Ditch the anti-depressants during your detox too. I used to take an arsenal of them. They don't help. Excercise will help infinitly more.....
I know ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about hypoglycemia, insulin resistance, etc......but I'm a psychology major....so here goes.....(I hope I'm not just telling you stuff that you already know)
Cognitive-behavioral therapy and antidepressant drugs work equally well in treating major depression (although antidepressants DO have the edge in the case of severe psychotic depression). Antidepressants take effect in a matter of weeks, whereas CBT takes about 3 to 4 months usually. However, the rate of relapse with antidepressants (if you stop taking them too soon) is quite high, whereas improvement through CBT has been demonstrated to be long-lasting in clinical trials.
Some patients choose CBT over anti-depressants because they find the drug side effects to be untenable. Some of the atypicals now used to treat depression (wellbutrin, for instance) have fewer side effects than the MAO inhibitors, tricyclics and SSRI's.
NOBODY should have to suffer from untreated depression. If one medication doesn't work, then perhaps another will. (Each class of antidepressants--MAO inhibitors, tricyclics, SSRI's--works for about 60% of patients.) And CBT is a VERY viable option.
You need to talk openly with your medical professionals about your symptoms and the side effects of chosen treatment. I CAN'T BELIEVE that a doctor would refuse to treat a patient because of past medical history--a doctor's job is to help patients!!!! Can you find a new doctor and therapist whom you trust?
Best wishes for a speedy recovery!!! Let us know how you're doing. I know I speak for all Vegwebbers when I say that we truly care.
thanks for the information. i am seeing my dr tomorrow but am not sure about whether i want to try a new med yet, since i was so against it to begin with.
i do notice that exercise helps my mood a little, i go to the gym 6 days a week for about 90 minutes each day. but it's kinda hard to use exercise as an anti-depressant sometimes when you're too depressed to even get up and start :-\
i read those links for hypoglycemia. i'm pretty sure i read it when you first posted it but i didn't remember any of the things i read. i'm wondering if that is actually what i'm dealing with, since i have every symptom on that list, even on Wiki where it listed rhinitis as a symptom and have had a runny nose for months even though i don't have allergies. i guess i'll be discussing that with the doc tomorrow
i read those links for hypoglycemia. i'm pretty sure i read it when you first posted it but i didn't remember any of the things i read. i'm wondering if that is actually what i'm dealing with, since i have every symptom on that list, even on Wiki where it listed rhinitis as a symptom and have had a runny nose for months even though i don't have allergies. i guess i'll be discussing that with the doc tomorrow
Coming from a chinese medical background, it's wouldn't be unusual if you had multiple medical problems. Before you go further though, I would recommend (from experience) you let the anti-depressents work for you first. If they don't seem to work or if they do but you are stilll having problems, you definitely should see a specialist. Don't suddenly "ditch them", as someone posted. that can be dangerous and will throw your system into CHAOS. antidepressants, although over prescribed in some areas, are used because in many cases, there is a true chemical imbalance in the brain. Once that balance is restored, then you can see about reducing or eliminating them. Realistically, some people will always need them, some won't.
it's the same as if you were taking antibiotics - you MUST take it for the full duration to get the lasting effect and/or effective results. For some reason I know many people with bipolar or schizophrenia--once they feel "better" they think they don't need their medicine anymore. They stop taking it and their spiraling downhill again. Find the right medicine and give it *time*.
That being said...
Western medicine (which BTW has done me jack***t good) has a long history of wanting to have one MIRACLE PILL to solve it all. Additionally, western doctors are so specialized they have no idea what's going on in other fields even though the frequently diagnose in other fields. (Had that happen too. That doctor should have be barred for what he did.)
That's something to keep i n mind.
Don't EVER be shy about changing doctors or getting second and third opinions.
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it's the same as if you were taking antibiotics - you MUST take it for the full duration to get the lasting effect and/or effective results. For some reason I know many people with bipolar or schizophrenia--once they feel "better" they think they don't need their medicine anymore. They stop taking it and their spiraling downhill again. Find the right medicine and give it *time*.
After a major depessive episode remits, you should continue the medication for 6-12 months. After a severe episode, you should continue the meds for 3-5 years. Otherwise the risk of relapse is very high.
looks like this thread is pretty much dead, but i just wanted to add...
i get tired after eating, and i figure it's just all the blood being moved to the digestive tract and away from the brain/limbs.
It's like after eating a huuuggeee feast, you get into a food coma.
The only remedy i found was eating about 20 small (TINNNNNYYYY) meals throughout the day. So...i'll eat to make me not hungry/energized but not full.
This got annoying so i switched to drinking coffee with meals. ...which didn't turn out so well for my stomach.
so...now i just don't eat until after i'm done doing anything important. :P
it's the same as if you were taking antibiotics - you MUST take it for the full duration to get the lasting effect and/or effective results. For some reason I know many people with bipolar or schizophrenia--once they feel "better" they think they don't need their medicine anymore. They stop taking it and their spiraling downhill again. Find the right medicine and give it *time*.
After a major depessive episode remits, you should continue the medication for 6-12 months. After a severe episode, you should continue the meds for 3-5 years. Otherwise the risk of relapse is very high.
I just wanted to reiterate this statement....and to add that, of course, you've got to find the right medication for you, right now. You might do very well on one med for a year or two, but life circumstances/brain chemistry shifts can necessitate a switch to a new med, or a supplemental med along with it.
as for my own experience, I was on a generic form of Celexa for several months (almost a year) recently, and it was.....erm, not really the best for me. I "gave it time" to take care of my ills, but as I was nowhere near mania at the time I started it, I think it was just not enough, OR, it might have actually instigated the onset of my major depressive episode(s) that I encountered while on it.
I stopped taking it after "getting through" the first depression, not just because I "felt better," but because it was also causing A LOT of unfortunate side effects: constant fatigue, hypersomnia (sleeping looong hours at night, usually a few hours during the day, too), binge eating, and loss of libido. :-\ :P Those things were making me MORE depressed (when I was taking the med!), and were probably worsened by my dropping it cold turkey, and not getting additional help after that.
Of course, that physical inactivity, overeating, and too much sleep will only stand in the way of overcoming depression in the natural, equally-important ways, like exercising, eating right, and getting proper amounts of rest.
So in answer to your inquiry (which might still be relevant to you, or others perhaps..?), your medication is likely the culprit. You should talk to your psych about staying on it, upping/lowering the dose, getting a new prescription or supplementing (whatever is best), so that your medication is more of a benefit--rather than a burden--to your health and well-being.
There is hypoglycemia and then here is glucose intolerance. You can have some level of glucose intolerance and still have blood sugar in the normal range. You can test this at home. What happens if you sit down to a meal, being sure to be hungry, and put away mostly white flour pasta? Or say spaghetti with tomato sauce and garlic bread? Do you get tired right away, or after about 20 to 60 minutes? How long does it take you to be hungry again?
If you feel better after such a meal, initially right after eating, but then about half an hour later you need a nap, you have glucose intolerance. Let this go on long enough and you'll end up with blood sugar problems that register with the doctor.
So, what to do. Cut out the white foods (white flour, white pasta, white rice, white bread and potatoes). Replace them with small portions of whole grains as whole as you can get, so brown rice rather than bread, barley over pasta, less refined even ifwhole grain. REmember that a serving ONE SERVING of these foods is 1/2-cup, not 1 cup, not 1-1/2 cups, 1/2-cup only. Round out your meals with plenty of fruits and vegetables and if you do have grains, have 1/2-cup not more and be sure you have a source of protein.
You can learn to deal with this pretty well. I have problems and I do have hypoglycemia. I have to have whole grains as a condiment. A slice of toast at breakfast and I need a nap in half an hour.
i think you mean gluten intolerance and it is not just white foods, it is barley, oats, rye, all wheat, etc. because you eat so many carbs whether whole ones or white ones I would get it tested. You have to ask your doctor for a blood test but, you must be eating wheat products at the time or the test will be negative. People can go for an average of 9 years without knowing about gluten intolerance.
If the test is positive eating even 1/8 tsp of a product with gluten in it can give you symptoms or harm your intestines (inhibiting the absorption of nutrients) causing your body to hold on to any nutrients (including fats) it can get.
I have a powerpoint about it and several websites if you want more information. You also mentioned depression, which can be a symptom of celiac disease.
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