I know this is a very common question and I have researched both on here, and elsewhere a lot!! My situation however seems slightly different in so much as it happens almost immediate, within just a few minutes of eating. It is not so much "tiredness" but more of a fatigue / brain dead sort of feeling.
I have had lots of blood tests from my GP that have all come up with no issues. These included blood sugars, thyroid, anaemia, vitamin deficiencies etc etc =- all clear.
It has been going on for a couple of years, but is not getting worse.
I have tried all the usual, cutting out dairy, cutting out glucose, cutting out carbs etc, to no effect at all. It doesn't seem to matter what I eat, but it is related to portion size. I currently eat very small potions to limit the effect, but it is still there and "gets in the way of my life".
Age = 65. Otherwise healthy. Slight "beer gut" but not obese. I eat healthy food. I get a fair bit of out doors exercise.
I think the interesting bit is that it comes on so very quickly.
Any thoughts / comments appreciated.
Written by
ghost123uk
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
I used to get that and never truly found the source but GP reckoned it was an undefined allergy. It got so bad that within moments of eating whatever it was that set me off, I could fall asleep regardless of where I was. We narrowed it down to some sort of flour even though I am gluten free. It was a random occurrence as I could eat, say a shortbread biscuit, one day and be severely affected, eat the same brand another day and not be affected. Sorry I'm not much good news except over the years my reaction has decreased. I guess it's all part of the same family of things that trigger fibro and cause a flare, often unknown and random. Good luck in finding an answer
I’m nowt sure how common it is I’m fatigued all time but I know a few members of my family have to nap after eating I would be napping all time if I slept through fatigue lol so don’t nap but lots of my family members do and it’s generally after food xxxx
Weigh yourself for s few days and keep symptom diary.
Try low lectin and low histamine diet for 4 days, impoartant to follow it religously.
You are looking for at least one of 2 changes ultimately both;
Significant reduction in fatigue, and a dramatic weight loss of several kg's.
The diets overlap and for different reasons are anti inflammatory. If you are sensitive to lectins and histamines then you will initially shed kg's if water as the inflammation in yoir body subsides.
When arteries are attacked, they lay down cholesterol platelets to protect walls from further damage, clogging them and leading to high blood pressure, heart attacks etc.
When the gut linings attacked, the body can't protect it which cholesterol platelets on the inside, as they get digested, so it stacks it around the intestines, leading to the familiar beer gut. (Beer is high histmine and lectin)
If and only if those 1st few days show large water loss, then continuing on diet (without restricting calories) will see the beer gut disappear over a few months too which is a nice bonus.
When I tried this for my psoriatic arthritis, 1st surprise was I woke ip in a couple of days, and realised I had been suffering CFS for years. 2nd surprise was the weight loss. Neither were expected, I was Hopiing to improve my arthritis by normalisibg tnf levels which is a clinically proven outcome of a low lectin diet.
If you are lectin/ h histamine sensitive then the fatigue is your autoimmune system activating, in the same way as you feel tired and a chat when you have a bad flu.
If this diet has shown big improvements in 4 days, abandon it. It is a little extreme and without medical need I would consider it an eating disorder.
I wonder if it may be a Type 2 diabetes thing, My late husband was like this and it was eventually discovered he was Type 2. It took several years to diagnose him, as the symptoms soon wore off and his eating regime was intermittent, due to his work.
iongrill - I have not yet looked into your diet suggestions, but I do know that the word in your text "histamine" rang a big bell, because if I ever get a wasp sting or similar, I get a strong histamine over reaction that needs pills or cream to relieve. I don't yet know what lectins are, but I will for sure check into what you say and check it out. ps - the "beer gut" is more of a red wine gut - I'm one of those folk that slowly get through a bottle a night after dinner.
Midori - T2 Diabetes - This what I thought. But I have to say, the fatigue comes on so VERY quickly, I don't think my tummy would have had time to know what had just arrived. They gave me a blood sugar tester that I had to use for 2 weeks, the readings before and after meals were always in the green zone. Time will tell however.
Hi oldwomaninpain, I am amazed at just how common these symptoms are!!
I am also puzzled why the doctor cannot give any indication as to the cause. There must be some change in body chemistry they can find. I suggested he did a blood test very soon after I had a meal, but they said that it would not prove anything = strange I thought.
With me, it's not random, it's every time I eat and eat anything, not just certain things. It is directly related to portion size. A bowl of cereal (with cow milk / goat milk / soya milk / almond milk / yes, I have tried them all) and withing 5 minutes I am a bit fatigued. A healthy style proper dinner, and within minutes I am wrecked for an hour or two.
I find that if I eat certain foods I get that feeling very soon after a meal. I literally go zombified. I found overprocessed bread and certain cakes to be my worse enemy. Perhaps try keeping a diary of everything you eat for a couple of weeks and note down what foods seem to trigger the worse reaction as it does sound food based. I have found since having fibro there are certain foods that have an adverse action which before fibro I could have eaten with no bad effects.x
@ rosewine, Oh I certainly did that (keep a diary) in a BIG way. Before I retired I was a computer consultant, and I love complicated spreadsheets, so that is what I did. Everything I ate, what it was and how much of it, went on a spreadsheet on a little laptop in the kitchen. Then I gave myself a "tiredness factor" 15 minutes after eating, and again, about an hour after eating. I even arranged for the results to be automatically colour coded, from green through orange to red. Guess what, even after about 2 months of cutting this out and cutting that out, the results only proved that it was directly proportional to quantity of food and it did not seem to matter what the food was !!!!
I find it odd that when the symptoms seem so common and so well defined, that the doctors can do nothing other than just scratch there heads.
Extreme fatigue. .. I was exactly the same ....to the point I'm eating to help me sleep works better than anything else lol x
Sorry I know this thread is three years old but hopefully you will still receive notifications. I’ve just come searching for answers to my own issue which sounds identical to yours. Did you make any progress?
I’ve suffered from brain fog/fatigue/napping/head noise for 2.5 years. I’ve suspected for a while it may be related to food but no matter what I cut out I still don’t progress. I’ve had many bood tests and scans done and nothing points to be the cause of the symptoms I have. I’ve previously had short-term relief from doing prolonged water-only fasts so again this points to food but the fasts drain me even more and the relief afterward is short-term.
Starting today I’m going to try eating just once a day in the evening over a couple of hours window in the hope that my fatigue will just be before going to bed and during my sleep. My guess would be digesting food in causing a reaction/hormone imbalance. Did you rectify your own issues?
However, over the last couple of years, it started to get less and less noticeable, to the point now where it only happens occasionally, maybe once a week. Before, it was happening with pretty much every meal, mostly dependant on how much I ate. By the way, I do not eat big portions of anything, and most of what I eat would be considered pretty health, virtually no sugar, low(ish) salt, low(ish) carbs etc......
Funnily enough, an acquaintance had the same issue a good few years ago, and he told me that his issue went the same way as mine = faded away over time (a year or more).
Thinking back to my research at the time, personally (I'm no expert) think it likely to do with, as you suggest, the digesting process. Maybe "we" are suffering from a lack of oxygen to the brain due to the body sending a lot of blood to the stomach, and leaving the brain lacking.......
Not sure why this should occur though.
I believe one can buy (not to expensive) a thing that measures your current oxygen levels, maybe that would point somewhere if used when an "episode" is happening.
I will continue to monitor this thread - {thumbs up}.
When arteries are attacked, they lay down cholesterol platelets to protect walls from further damage, clogging them and leading to high blood pressure, heart attacks etc.
When the gut linings attacked, the body can't protect it which cholesterol platelets on the inside, as they get digested, so it stacks it around the intestines, leading to the familiar beer gut.
Because, 3 years later, the doctor has put me on CorticoSteroids (horrid things) due to some partially clogged arteries on the outside of my head (look up "Giant Cell Ateritis" = in my case, that does not imply you (dear reader) are in the same situation )
Thank you Ghost123uk for replying with an update. Good to hear you have improved. It sounds like I eat a similar diet in that it’s mainly low sugar, lowish carb - healthy food.
I have monitored my oxygen which drops a bit low when sleeping but is ok when eating. I have always suffered from aching legs just from standing up and despite exercising and pushing myself I always fatigue quicker than I feel I should. I’ve always thought this was linked to not getting the oxygen into the muscles correctly so maybe there is a link. I did have highish cholesterol and triglycerides which I’ve got to good levels just through diet and exercise. My blood pressure is good and I have a low resting pulse of 49. Weight is healthy too. My head noise started about the same time so again could be linked to blood flow, I did have an MRI scan to rule out a tumor but don’t know if they checked head arteries.
It's great to hear that it can improve over time and taking what you have said and my own findings I’m thinking along the lines of the body getting out of balance for whatever reason and producing hormones etc at the wrong time. I also haven’t had a stable sleep pattern so maybe the body doesn’t know if/when it should be asleep, awake or digesting foods. This may explain why it can improve over time when maybe the body gets into a new pattern and adjusts hormones accordingly.
Thank you again as this thread has helped me focus on keeping a pattern of sleep and eating at the same time so hopefully, mine will improve too. Eating only in a two-hour window between 6-8pm definitely helped yesterday.
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
- I'm one of those folk that slowly get through a bottle a night after dinner.
Exercise with extreme pain and fatigue 
Upset - kitten needs emergency treatment after eating one of my tablets
Struggling with Fatigue
Struggling with fibro fatigue -no support 
Amitriptyline and fatigue 
