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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Racer on August 10, 2004, at 14:43:09
This has been happening for a while now, and I don't know what to do about it. Any words of wisdom are greatly appreciated.
After eating, I get bloated and fatigued and a bit dizzy. The bloating gets so bad at times, my husband swears I'm sticking my stomach out on purpose, which I'm not. No kidding, if the bloat didn't go from pelvis to ribs, I would look six months pregnant. (I swear, I'm not exaggerating. I go from loose waist on my jeans to having to undo the button and zipper, and sometimes having to change altogether. Several inches around the waist added, even after a small meal.)
Then, to make matters worse, even though I'm feeling overfull from the bloating, I get ravenous cravings for anything carbohydrate. Now, I'm not on a low-carb diet. Every meal contains a mix of protein and carb -- toast with the morning egg, bread on my sandwich, even croutons in my salad. It's not as if I'm limiting them. (Oh, yeah -- and uncontrollable potato chip consumption. Bugs the you-know-what out of me.)
The only thing that seems to make any difference at all is to eat smaller meals. How small they'd need to get, though, is more of an issue. I guess I could split my meals up into stages (what? a single lettuce leaf per half hour?), but even eating very slowly so that, say, a poached egg lasts ten minutes isn't always enough to help -- and there's that ravenous urge to keep stuffing my face, no matter what happens. (A couple of times I've eaten myself nauseous lately. Wished I could just be sick, but can't make myself do that.) It's as though the bloating is related to a total disconnect of any sort of hunger/satiety mechanism.
So, I suspect others have experienced this. Has anyone found anything to help? (Yes, I will see a doctor, just as soon as we know for sure I'm insured...) Thank you so much!
Posted by octopusprime on August 11, 2004, at 1:34:57
In reply to Fatigued and bloated and craving carbohydrates, posted by Racer on August 10, 2004, at 14:43:09
hi racer:
i have been pigging out too lately. ice cream, pizza, french fries, greasy hamburgers, you name it. i have indeed been craving the carbs.
here is the number one culprit in my mind:
1. med changehave you changed your meds? can you change them again or change them back?
i have not felt so sick when i forced myself to eat myself sick with fruits and vegetables. on monday lunch was a huge spinach salad with tuna and a side of asparagus. i was really full afterward (like the carb satiety) but i didn't feel sick or break out. snacks were fruit or dessert tofu or other things. i like green tea flavoured pumpkin seeds as a snack - kind of weird, so you don't eat too many, but taste kinda good. plus they have protein (cause they are a seed) + fiber and are chewy. had a stirfry for dinner. overall did ok yesterday and today.
so take the junk food and chuck it out!!! eat fruit and vegetable. lots of them. as much as you want. as often as you want. as long as you balance fruits and vegetables you won't feel sick.
ps - hopefully i will change my meds again soon and this won't be so much of a problem! i felt ok letting it go for a week but much longer would be a disaster!
pps - can you compensate with exercise?
Posted by JenStar on August 11, 2004, at 2:03:58
In reply to Fatigued and bloated and craving carbohydrates, posted by Racer on August 10, 2004, at 14:43:09
hi Racer,
have you considered (or been tested for) food allergies? (Sorry if you're already done this or discussed it before!) That much bloating might mean excess gas, which could be due to allergic rxns. Some people have mild allergies to lactose or corn or wheat; if you're eating a lot of carbs with those things in them, it could be irritating your body.I also believe that carbohydrate-eating starts a vicious cycle. Eat carbs --> sugar digested quickly --> blood sugar spikes & dips --> body craves more sugar --> carb craving begins. For me, the only way to break that carb cycle is to stay away from them and eat meals of predominantly protein/veggies/low glycemic index carbs. Naturally this is so much easier said than done. (Right now I've been on a 2-wk carb binge state which is making me very anxious and depressed.)
Good luck. Let us know if you find a way to beat this!
JenStar
> This has been happening for a while now, and I don't know what to do about it. Any words of wisdom are greatly appreciated.
>
> After eating, I get bloated and fatigued and a bit dizzy. The bloating gets so bad at times, my husband swears I'm sticking my stomach out on purpose, which I'm not. No kidding, if the bloat didn't go from pelvis to ribs, I would look six months pregnant. (I swear, I'm not exaggerating. I go from loose waist on my jeans to having to undo the button and zipper, and sometimes having to change altogether. Several inches around the waist added, even after a small meal.)
>
> Then, to make matters worse, even though I'm feeling overfull from the bloating, I get ravenous cravings for anything carbohydrate. Now, I'm not on a low-carb diet. Every meal contains a mix of protein and carb -- toast with the morning egg, bread on my sandwich, even croutons in my salad. It's not as if I'm limiting them. (Oh, yeah -- and uncontrollable potato chip consumption. Bugs the you-know-what out of me.)
>
> The only thing that seems to make any difference at all is to eat smaller meals. How small they'd need to get, though, is more of an issue. I guess I could split my meals up into stages (what? a single lettuce leaf per half hour?), but even eating very slowly so that, say, a poached egg lasts ten minutes isn't always enough to help -- and there's that ravenous urge to keep stuffing my face, no matter what happens. (A couple of times I've eaten myself nauseous lately. Wished I could just be sick, but can't make myself do that.) It's as though the bloating is related to a total disconnect of any sort of hunger/satiety mechanism.
>
> So, I suspect others have experienced this. Has anyone found anything to help? (Yes, I will see a doctor, just as soon as we know for sure I'm insured...) Thank you so much!
Posted by Racer on August 11, 2004, at 12:02:18
In reply to Re: Fatigued and bloated and craving carbohydrates » Racer, posted by octopusprime on August 11, 2004, at 1:34:57
Let's see -- I hadn't thought of food allergies, but something else occurred to me that might have a lot of bearing on the problem right now. Once I get that checked out, if it doesn't help resolve the problem, food allergies will be the next to be checked. Thanks for the suggestion, JenStar.
And fruits/veggies aren't the answer for me. I eat a pretty good mix of foods, including a fairly large salad each day, and the vegetables make me as sick as anything else does. It's eating that causes the sick feeling, not eating specific foods. (The carb craving seems to come on after I start feeling sick, mostly.)
Off Topic: JenStar, if you'd like to correspond, you can reach me at babbler39 at excite dot com.
Posted by tabitha on August 12, 2004, at 2:56:03
In reply to Re: Fatigued and bloated and craving carbohydrates, posted by Racer on August 11, 2004, at 12:02:18
I had the terrible bloating like you describe, and it turned out a big factor was lactose. I was always able to drink milk, but I guess we can lose the ability as we age. If I've had too much dairy, then I'll bloat up at every meal for some time afterward. It usually takes 3 days or so to subside, no matter what I do (tried GasX, charcoal pills, no help). For a long time I was only having about a half cup of milk a day, with my iced latte, and that was enough to create constant bloat.
So I cut out the milk, which helped a lot. I still get periods of bad bloat. I'm not sure of the culprit, but here are some ideas. These all seem to make a difference, but not as much as cutting out milk
- too much sugar makes it worse
- too much food in general makes it worse
- adding yogurt to my diet seems to helpIncidentally, if it's a food sensitivity, you might try cutting out wheat. That's supposed to be the most common culprit after milk. I tried an elimintation diet, but I couldn't really identify all the triggers.
Posted by Racer on August 12, 2004, at 12:02:30
In reply to Re: Fatigued and bloated and craving carbohydrates » Racer, posted by tabitha on August 12, 2004, at 2:56:03
Thank you, Tabitha.
The lactose isn't an issue -- because I've been lactose intolerant since my late teens (runs in my family. I do cook with milk now and again, which does't seem to cause much trouble, but otherwise my fridge is a hospice for milk cartons...)
Talking with a friend about it yesterday, he asked the $64,000 question: what's the difference between breakfast -- which doesn't cause problems -- and my other meals? Well, although the fat content in my eggs probably varies, it's the lowest fat meal of the day. The other meals, while not "high fat", are still highER fat. So, yesterday, as an experiment, I had a lower fat lunch -- and it was much better. So, once the last of my liverwurst is eaten, I'm gonna try a week or two of leaner lunchmeat instead of glorious liverwurst, and see what happens.
He also suggested that some of the other problems might be related to my calcium supplements creating a calcium-magnesium imbalance, so I'm gonna go get some magnesium to try to balance that out. (Makes sense, since I'm also getting muscle cramps more often than I'd like.)
I'm hoping that the fat does turn out to be the problem, and -- since the specific carbohydrates I've been craving are also high sodium (thank you, Frito Lay) -- I'm going to try adding some Gatorade and see if that helps cut that craving. I tried it yesterday, and it did seem to help. Cross your fingers for me, eh?
And thank you again for your suggestion! (By the way, my lactose problem wasn't limited to my GI tract: I also got a nice rash from milk. More a straight allergy than specifically lactase insufficiency...)
This is the end of the thread.
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