Can eat more variety now but energy and sleeping not so great - suggestions?

[wonderoushope]

Hi all,

After going on a strict elimination diet for about 6-8 months I now seem to be able to tolerate a lot more foods. I am not reacting so badly to foods and supplements. From what I can gather I don't think I have "true intolerances", so when I was doing the elimination diet and reacting to foods tested, I don't think it was a "true reaction" more the fact that my body just couldn't handle many foods at that time and certain foods were the wost for me at the time. I also had strong sensitivities to food smells, or any smells for that matter, which has gone! I also was getting ravenously hungry after each meal (which thankfully has gone away).

I seemed at the time to react to glutamates, gluten, amines, high histamine and FODMAPs. I still notice I react to histamine foods in the sense that I tend to sneeze more after consuming histamine foods and perhaps more tired. However, can now tolerate more supplements and foods without feeling unwell. I seem to handle 1 x wholemeal bread a day now and a cup of pasta once a week without any pains in the stomach (I was getting cramping before that). I can handle more FODMAP foods without getting bloating, wind and cramping too.

The thing that I am struggling with is energy, motivation and I sort of get a depressed feeling overcoming me. But I am not bedridden, just motivation is very, very low. It's sort of a "what's the point?" feeling. Could be a bit of depression too. I also suffer from anxiety quite a bit and have a nervous disposition. I also can't seem to get much sleep. If I ever do, I tend to fall asleep at 4 am and wake up a few hours later. The sleeping issue arose when I first got sick about 5-6 years ago.

I tried ADD meds (dex), as I always seemed to have attention issues even before I got sick, but doesn't seem to really do much for me. It might slightly help for a day or two and then I crash. If you can avoid criticising ADD meds, as this is something I was just trialling and I do understand it can be an issue and can make things worse long term (but this is something I thought was worth trialling and ticking off my list. I don't think it is the answer for me).

Any suggestions on what supplements I should take? When I was at my worse many years ago, probiotics seemed to cause a severe reaction and caused me to get much worse. I do go to the toilet every day but stool is way too soft But a few years ago a barely went to the toilet and was constipated, so since adding more vegetables and legumes I have gone the other way.

What would you suggest for someone who reacts to histamines still, gets anxious and unmotivated and can't sleep too well? I'm thinking magnesium as a start? When I was at my worse I couldn't really stomach it. I have magnesium chelate in the cupboard. I was getting aches and pains too (joint ear pain, leg pain and back pain), but they are not too bad at the moment. But getting headaches coming back due to stress as I have taken on a job 2 days a week (I have to survive).

 

[Runner5]

I also have FODMAP issues with a lot of food sensitivities, I don't know what would be right for you but here is what I do if it helps.

Magnesium, I take two kinds both from Doctor's Best company - Brain Magnesium and highly absorbable chelated magnesium
L-Tyrosine in the morning (it is great for anxiety and mood, sometimes I take it with L-Theanine if I need to be way chill)
I take an easily digested iron, but I'm anemic so meh' wish I didn't have to take it.
Vitamin D3+K because I never get sunshine and I tested low
B12 a few times per week

For Sleep -- if I'm super insomniac, haven't slept in days and I'm in trouble I take L-Tryptophan. It also will beat back depression for me in a hurry but it's like hitting a small nail with a giant hammer. It's really crazy strong (at least for me, I probably metabolize it strangely)

So usually for sleep I take Glycine, which is a really common amino-acid and really safe. I take 3 tablets and usually get a pretty good night sleep now. It also helps with sugar metabolism and energy the next day (IF -- IF I ate pretty good the day before, what I eat the day before usually effects me the next day for sure.)

If Glycine isn't quite doing the trick I can add to that GABA.

I'm a life long insomniac and Magnesium+Aminos have worked better for me than anything else, although in a pinch I'll take Benedryl although my doctor vehemently tells me not to and she supports taking Melatonin (L-Tryptophan is a precursor, straight melatonin causes me to vomit).

I also eat a whole food plant based diet - aka VEGAN! Muhahaha -- I get s***t about that pretty much non-stop, haha. I think that's probably why I will stick with it. I might go as a Kale plant for Halloween and freak people out. Anyway -- does it help? Yeah for me in my situation but being sensitive to FODMAPS there are still things I can't eat (onion, garlic, peas being chief offenders) but I find that the high fiber moves things through my GI fast enough that it doesn't cause the insane situations with the FODMAPS that just wanted to gurgle around and cause me all kinds of problems. I also discovered that GINGER is amazing and if I add it to my food I'm usually okay, and so I bought some GIn Gin candies to carry with me all the time also.

If I eat heavy fat, meat, cheese, dairy, eggs etc. it just hangs out in my gut and stops everything up (often in a scary disgusting way I won't divulge but lets just all agree I should never eat meat, dairy or eggs -- it's NOT GOOD.).... so it traps the produce and it just rots I guess - I don't know - it doesn't do me any favors to eat heavier foods. I probably eat at least 50 grams of fiber a day. Big up to fiber. (Although I don't eat whole wheat and I normally avoid all wheat because it just seems to do my GI in).... I try to avoid sugar although I have a sweet tooth - I do better than ever before but there is room for improvement.

I do have a tennis ball sized tumor pushing on my intestine also though so MEH. Maybe things will be sound as a pound after I get that removed.

Anyway - hope this helps a little, maybe too much of a deep dive into my gross GI issues, lol! I get headaches too with stress it's unavoidable, usually, CoQ10 can head off a migraine developing though if you want to give that a shot. Wish I had figured that out a long time ago.

**BE Well**

 

[wonderoushope]

I'm a life long insomniac and Magnesium+Aminos have worked better for me than anything else, although in a pinch I'll take Benedryl although my doctor vehemently tells me not to and she supports taking Melatonin (L-Tryptophan is a precursor, straight melatonin causes me to vomit).

I find that melatonin seems to make me queasy. I have been given sleeping tablets (temtabs/temazepam)but they don't seem to work too well.

I might go as a Kale plant for Halloween and freak people out. Anyway -- does it help? Yeah for me in my situation but being sensitive to FODMAPS there are still things I can't eat (onion, garlic, peas being chief offenders) but I find that the high fiber moves things through my GI fast enough that it doesn't cause the insane situations with the FODMAPS that just wanted to gurgle around and cause me all kinds of problems. I also discovered that GINGER is amazing and if I add it to my food I'm usually okay, and so I bought some GIn Gin candies to carry with me all the time also.

Yes well, unfortunately, I was reacting to natural glutamates which includes spinach and kale family. But I seem to be able to cope a little better with them now. Mainly the issue was I wasn't digesting them and they were just running straight through me without even digesting. So it would come out the other end undigested. Yes there are things on both the chemical sensitive diet and the FODMAP diet that I at one stage couldn't tolerate. Like if the FODMAP app said 10 green beans you can tolerate, I couldn't. I can now tolerate garlic and I haven't tried onion too much as it was an issue at one stage. I also couldn't tolerate any chickpeas but was okay with most other lentils. Yes ginger is very good
[/QUOTE]

If I eat heavy fat, meat, cheese, dairy, eggs etc. it just hangs out in my gut and stops everything up (often in a scary disgusting way I won't divulge but lets just all agree I should never eat meat, dairy or eggs -- it's NOT GOOD.).... so it traps the produce and it just rots I guess - I don't know - it doesn't do me any favors to eat heavier foods.

Yes I have found this to be the case too. Mainly high fat from dairy or junk food (not that I have that but if I ever did, bad news). I am fine now with eggs, I wasn't. When I get really ill, I also start to smell egg really strongly and it makes me feel ill. Luckily that has gone away now and I can also tolerate eating eggs!

I do have a tennis ball sized tumor pushing on my intestine also though so MEH. Maybe things will be sound as a pound after I get that removed.

Sorry to hear that, doesn't sound good at all!

Anyway - hope this helps a little, maybe too much of a deep dive into my gross GI issues, lol! I get headaches too with stress it's unavoidable, usually, CoQ10 can head off a migraine developing though if you want to give that a shot. Wish I had figured that out a long time ago.

**BE Well**

Yes helps a lot! I will factor in your suggestions! Thank you