Hunger Slowly Getting Better, But Now A Different Symptom

[CGally81]

Okay, I first went "gluten-free" back in August. Except I continued to eat Fudgsicles, not realizing they contained gluten (malt powder, which is apparently less potent than, say, wheat, but was still causing damage without triggering my normal symptoms).

In early October, I began to have a strange and disturbing new symptom where whenever I ate food, ANY food, regardless of what type it was, I'd feel intensely fatigued and would get a headache. It was so bad I took two days off work. During that time, I took the advice of people here and stopped eating Fudgsicles. The problem became significantly (and I mean significantly!) reduced the next day.

It's still not totally gone though. Sometimes I feel the headache and fatigue after I eat, and sometimes I don't. No particular food seems to trigger it, as it's come after, or not come after, any snack or meal. It seems totally random. It can occur strongly after a simple popcorn or gluten-free Chex snack, or equally strong after a large dinner of a massive (like I said, I'm hungry a lot) cheeseburger and lots of brown rice. Or it could not occur at all. With or without digestive enzymes.

It's not nearly as strong as it was when it first came about, where at one point I actually had to lie in bed for over a half hour after eating due to how fatigued I was, so it's definitely gotten better since then.

Is this normal? Does this mean that the symptom is going away in "waves" (i.e. gets better, then worse, then better, etc. until finally gone)?

I'm thinking that may be a possibility because the "get better, then worse, then even better, then worse again" pattern is what my constant hunger has been going through (it's definitely much better than it was, say, a month ago), and what my gluten withdrawal symptoms went through (I now only occasionally have muscle spasms, and chills in my legs).

Any advice? Encouragement? Anyone else go through this? Do you think I'm still getting glutened even with the enzymes? (Though bear in mind, it occurs even when eating known gluten-free food without enzymes) Is this just a symptom that I developed from still eating gluten before, that will just go away and come and go over time?

Help!

[woodnewt]

Could it be blood sugar or a food allergy or intolerance?

I was having something similar to what you are describing - horrible headaches after eating. It would start 1-3 hours after eating. It didn't seem to matter what I ate. Finally connected it to rice. Cut out the rice - no more headaches. I have no allergy to rice (blood test negative), but ANY kind of rice - white rice or brown rice, rice syrup, rice noodles, rice starch - doesn't matter - headaches.

[CGally81]

Could it be blood sugar or a food allergy or intolerance?

I was having something similar to what you are describing - horrible headaches after eating. It would start 1-3 hours after eating. It didn't seem to matter what I ate. Finally connected it to rice. Cut out the rice - no more headaches. I have no allergy to rice (blood test negative), but ANY kind of rice - white rice or brown rice, rice syrup, rice noodles, rice starch - doesn't matter - headaches.

I hope not. I'd been eating rice my whole life. The only time I have rice - brown rice - is with some dinners, unless gluten-free chocolate Chex has rice as an ingredient (it probably does), and that I'd have as a snack only on weekdays. I'd have them and not have the headaches, and sometimes I would. In fact, the headaches were less strong today than yesterday. And I ate pretty much exactly today what I did yesterday, including a dinner with brown rice.

The headaches would occur shortly after eating. I mean, 10-15 minutes or so after, or sooner than that. Sometimes while still eating if it's a big enough meal.

I'll see if they continue to get better. The reason I felt compelled to ask yesterday is because they were pretty bad then, but not nearly as bad as the day before I cut Fudgsicles out of my diet, thus removing the last gluten-containing food I was having.

EDIT: It's 9:40am right now, and I didn't feel the headache/fatigue as strongly as I did yesterday. Furthermore, I >_> had a very large BM. The headache decreased somewhat after the trip to the bathroom. There a possible relationship?

[BRUMI1968]

Dehydration can cause fatigue and headache. I don't know how much liquid you're drinking.

Also, brown rice is pretty hard to digest, or at least that's my understanding. If you're utilizing all your energy in digestion, it is hard to have any left over. Do you get the same reaction from something like banana, or other easy to digest things?

Another thing that can cause headache is too much salt, or not enough salt - or put another way, too much expansion or too much contraction. If when you get a headache you have a salty bite of something and it feels better, you might have an expansion headache. If so, you might want to eat more contractive foods. If it does not feel better, then it is probably not an expansion headache.

All gobbledy goop I'm sure, but maybe something will strike a chord.

[CGally81]

Dehydration can cause fatigue and headache. I don't know how much liquid you're drinking.

Also, brown rice is pretty hard to digest, or at least that's my understanding. If you're utilizing all your energy in digestion, it is hard to have any left over. Do you get the same reaction from something like banana, or other easy to digest things?

Another thing that can cause headache is too much salt, or not enough salt - or put another way, too much expansion or too much contraction. If when you get a headache you have a salty bite of something and it feels better, you might have an expansion headache. If so, you might want to eat more contractive foods. If it does not feel better, then it is probably not an expansion headache.

All gobbledy goop I'm sure, but maybe something will strike a chord.

It happens no matter what I eat. Protein? Carbohydrates? Bananas? Rice? Chicken? Popcorn? Gluten-free Chex? It happens after all of them. It also happens whether I take digestive enzymes (AFP Chewables by Houston Nutraceuticals) or not.

It's been worse before, so it might get better. I don't know. I'm hoping so.

I get enough water, I think. I'm not a big salt user.

I'm going to see an immunologist/allergist next week, and hopefully get some answers there. You think they'd be able to find something?

[CGally81]

Dehydration can cause fatigue and headache. I don't know how much liquid you're drinking.

Also, brown rice is pretty hard to digest, or at least that's my understanding. If you're utilizing all your energy in digestion, it is hard to have any left over. Do you get the same reaction from something like banana, or other easy to digest things?

Another thing that can cause headache is too much salt, or not enough salt - or put another way, too much expansion or too much contraction. If when you get a headache you have a salty bite of something and it feels better, you might have an expansion headache. If so, you might want to eat more contractive foods. If it does not feel better, then it is probably not an expansion headache.

All gobbledy goop I'm sure, but maybe something will strike a chord.

The headaches are better today than yesterday. I ate the same foods as yesterday, and right now it's 30 minutes after a big cheeseburger and brown rice dinner, and while I don't feel perfectly fine, I don't have a nasty headache, only a dull one.

What I did do differently, though, is drink a lot more water today. I think I may have found my solution. I hope so. I'll keep drinking more water, and try to put more potassium in my diet, and see if that helps.

EDIT: Had two bananas, and that's when the headache got worse. But just went to the bathroom, and it got *slightly* better after that. Maybe I could use more fiber in my diet too? But I do think that water is helping somewhat, so I'll keep drinking more water.

EDIT #2: Okay, I later went back for another banana, and wouldn't you know it? After eating THAT banana, my headache gets better. Same food. Same circumstances (as far as I can tell: no digestive enzymes, no other food eaten with it, etc.). Yet it has a different effect. Any ideas?