Postprandial Syndrome + chest sensation

[Gee_88]

Hi all,

To anyone who is interested, or may believe their anxiety has something to do with their diets, I think I may have discovered the root cause of my anxiety.

I believe I have a syndrome called Idiopathic Postprandial Syndrome. It's basically this: you get low blood sugar symptoms after eating carbohydrates, but your blood sugar never goes low. I spoke to my GP about it, and he said it's not that it's low, but it's dropping very quickly and it's the quick drop which gives you the symptoms. Basically I think your body realizes it's blood sugar is dropping, and pumps out a load of adrenaline to get your blood sugar back up/stop it falling (even though it's never low).

The adrenaline is what is responsible for the increased anxiety, not the sugar spike. Does it sound familiar to you? If so, try adjusting your diet! It's working for me.

For months I was under the impression that I had suddenly developed a serious anxiety disorder, but I am able to gain some control over it by watching my diet. It's still not gone, but if I eat slow burning carbohydrates (like brown rice) it doesn't really happen. It's the fast burning ones that do it!

I am also under the impression that nutritional deficiencies can also cause anxiety. For example, magnesium seems to have some control over adrenaline, as does vitamin B3 (niacin).

Also, I have one question I would like to ask:

I seem to be getting a lot of skipped heart beat sensations in my chest, but a lot of them are never skipped beats. Does anyone know if trapped air can cause it?

The sensation is EXACTLY like a skipped beat is occuring, but it doesn't come with the "thud" afterwards. Sometimes I do get genuine skipped beats, but last night and lots of other times I started getting the sensation (certain positions cause it/make it worse) so I checked my pulse, and it kept happening, but I couldn't count any missed beats!

I have actually spoken to my GP about it, and I said I think it may be trapped air somewhere in my chest/stomach. He winked at me with a grin and said "bingo!".

I'm pretty sure it DOES have something to do with trapped air, because almost every time it happens, if I change position, tense my stomach and chest, or just stand up, I burp and it's gone for a while.


Thoughts are welcomed! :D

[inversity]

I've been trying to figure out similar symptoms for a long time - convinced that my anxiety and mood symptoms are related to my diet, but I couldn't confirm it, and it was kind of brushed off when I tried to bring it up with a doc.

When I connected the anxiety to eating, my first thought was glucose levels, so I tried blood sugar monitoring for a while to get a feel for how I was responding to food in general and different types of food. Problem was, my levels never get low enough to consider it clinical hypoglycemia.

During some recent searches, I came across idiopathic postprandial syndrome and it seems to fit. It definitely feels like an adrenaline response, mostly heart palpitations, nervous feeling, etc. Part of it doesn't seem to fit though. The way I understand it, the epinephrine release is a response to a blood sugar drop. I've been closely monitoring my eating, symptoms, and glucose levels, and what I've found is that my symptoms happen with the blood sugar rise, not the fall. Consistently (mostly with carbs), the anxiety starts ~20 minutes after I start eating, and subsides within 20-30 minutes after it starts. (Often, I get tired and moody/irritable after that, but the anxiety is the main symptom.) Looking at glucose levels, that 20 minutes is right around my peak blood glucose. Again, my levels don't get abnormally high or low (range is usually 90-150). So...I eat, my glucose level rises really fast (I think a 20 minute rise from 90 to 150 is pretty fast), I get some sort of anxious-type response, and then my glucose levels lower to normal over the next hour or so (which I think is normal).

It doesn't seem to fit typical hypoglycemia or idiopathic postprandial syndrome. It doesn't seem to match any other information I can find. I'm reluctant to bring it up to a doctor because many are not familiar with or receptive to dealing with psychological/nutritionally related issues. I've been trying to eat lower glycemic index foods, higher protein, lower carb meals, etc. and that does seem to help, but I really want to understand what's going on and I want to know if there's anything else I should be doing/not doing.

It's encouraging to know that other people are having the same symptoms...if anyone has been through this, please share your story and any advice or suggestions (or just frustrations!).

[floridanon]

I think this fits me pretty well. Most of the symptoms i've seen from it have fit my anxiety pretty well. I also think I may still have anxiety, and it's this that just aggrevates it the way it does. As for the skipped beats and trapped air, I have the exact same sensations at night before I go to sleep, or after I eat sometimes. Usually if I tense up my stomach, I have the urge to burp, and it goes right away. Might I also recommend taking some vitamins, as it seemed to help even me out, even a little. Good luck.

[JeffB]

what do yo mean by "trapped air"?

[Razz]

I have the exact same thing happening - I am changing my diet to no simple sugars, complex carbs, protein and fats and my adrenalin is going nuts

Goes off on the upswing, on the down swing and hell just anytime. This is scary - would like to talk to anyone with this

James
[email protected]

[lunalady]

Thank you for the great diet tips! :)