Posted by Regis Harold on October 16, 2005, at 16:00:50
In reply to Re: Fatigue after eating?, posted by Jakeman on October 16, 2005, at 14:30:08
Thanks everyone for your responses.
Teck, I remember reading about how insulin can influence amino acid ratios, causing tryptophan to enter the brain more easily, which is then metabolized to serotonin. I think this is an interesting perspective, because it explains why I have a reaction after eating so many different types of food. While suspecting that I might have a food allergy, I got to the point where I was thinking that I must be allergic to everything under the sun because I kept reacting negatively to each of them. After a certain point, it became clear that food allergies couldn’t appropriately address my reaction.
UgottaHaveHope, thanks for your input re: Fatigue after eating is HUMAN NATURE. As having lived with humans my whole life, I am quite familiar with human nature. I understand that everyone experiences some sort of lull after eating – this is something that I have understood for a long time. It isn’t until recently, within the past year or two, that I have realized that my postprandial fatigue is worse than the common drowsiness as experienced by others.
Firstly, the drowsiness that people usually deal with lasts only for a a couple hours, not the whole day. Once I eat during the day, I don’t recover until the evening, if at all that day. This has caused me to eat my first meal later and later in the day. I find the symptoms I experience from low blood sugar in the afternoon outweigh the symptoms I experience if I breakfast.
Secondly, the fatigue I experience seems to be of a more profound nature than what others usually experience. Not only do I get sleepy, but I become socially withdrawn, nervous, and confused. I can’t focus on anything, nor do I have the motivation to do anything – even things that I normally enjoy doing.
This morning, I decided to start upping my protein intake. In fact, the only thing I ate this morning were eggs. Interestingly, not only did I not get fatigued, but I also accomplished a lot today – stuff that I have been putting off for weeks, stuff that I put off as recently as yesterday because I just felt a little too tired and unmotivated.
Perhaps I am one of those that is really sensitive to changes in blood sugar/insulin/blood tryptophan levels. I am not sure yet. I like to be cautious about these sorts of things, because I don't like to get my hopes up to find out that what I was feeling was a placebo effect. If upping my protein intake relative to my carbohydrate intake helps me out, then that is really what matters to me. I'll try this out and I’ll keep you guys updated as to how things are working out for me in this department.
Regis Harold
poster:Regis Harold
thread:567218
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051010/msgs/567732.html