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Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of and finding treatments for complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia (FM), long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.
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About 20 minutes for me too.I feel a lot better when I don't eat, usually I feel sick in 20 minutes of eating. 20 seems to be the magic number, but I don't know why. I do have a lot of GI issues though.
But instead of so much work.... I could have just done CBT ***total uncalled for snark*** #sarcasm
Yeah, I used to feel better some when I wasnt eatting at all. I felt better starving myself then eatting at all, when I eat, my energy like drains to which I then was blaming on using more energy for digestion. This turned out not to be the case.
Firstly I slowly over years became aware I had food intollerences eg dairy at times was giving me headaches, peanuts..stomache pain etc etc. Hence food was making me sick due to that.
Secondly..I recently found out I had hyperinsulinemia... when I eat carbohydrates, my insulin goes too high, it often too dont go down well once up and will still be high at times the next day over 12 hrs later. The hyperinsulinemia in my case was giving me more sore throats, making me wake up extremely exhausted, causing GERD and was messing with my moods and also making me at times feel depressed (these symptoms are now completely gone or much improved as long as I stay on an extremely low carb diet).
If you have hyperinsulinemia happening it will give you all kinds of symptoms and make the CFS/ME worst. I currently see a CFS specialist Dr Alan Gale (immunologist/allergist) http://www.agale.com.au/PANDORA.htm who has cured ones previously diagnosed with CFS as it turned out all their symptoms were from the hyperinsulinemia.
Think about your diet... carbs are usually in every meal a person eats, hence if you have insulin issue.. topped off too more if you have MCS as well (I think that then makes up react even worst to the high insulin). Insulin is a poison and too much basically poisons a person esp if that person is sensitive to this poison. I basically near avoid all carbs all now. Carbs are in breads, cereals, potatoes, root veg, fruits (fructose is a carb.. tomatoes are fruit), sugar, dairy (lactose). I live now mostly off of meats and some veg along with only 1 small piece of fruit per day and a slice of bread and need to have meat three times a day (helps balance insulin issues).
I suggest to go and get your insulin tested. or I guess you could experiment for several days or a week by avoiding all carb foods and seeing how you go on just meat (not processed) and things like lettuce, cucumber, capsicum etc and whether you start to loose some symptoms doing that.
Hey @taniaaust1, thanks for this post. I definitely feel like I could be one of those CFS patients. From looking at the symptom list on the wiki page for hyperinsulinemia it matches up with my worst symptoms EXACTLY to the tee. I get sympathetic activation to virtually all food, it's horrible. I get a reaction/flare up/sympathetic activation almost instantly when I eat anything that is high in fibre, fermented, smoked, aged, high GI, fructose & high in most biogenic amines e.g. salicylates and histamine. Going on many different low carb plant based diets for SIBO/leaky gut healing has been in vain as it makes me feel even worse physically and mentally (mood & function) as I just have what feels like horrible hypoglacemic swings if I eat too big a meal, don't eat regularly enough or consume things with too high levels of the food components mentioned above. Had glucose test etc and it all came back fine. Eating starchy carbs like white bread balanced with some protein in a balanced meal will make me feel much more balanced and able to function than eating a bowl of fresh veg. I've narrowed the possible cause of my symptoms down to Hyperinsulinemia/Gastroparesis/MCAS. Sore throat/regularly needing to clear throat, hand tremor, head/eye pressure, mild flushing, ear fullness, nasal congestion, visual snow, fatigue, sleep issues, extreme brain fog & mental confusion increases exponentially 15-40 mins later after eating. Would you be able to help advise on this? Many thanks