Mild brainfog and short term anxiety after eating - help me to solve this mystery

Hello, so i have visited  doctors in the past, made blood works, glucose tolerance tests etc to be clear(dont suggest it). Since some time i notice brainfog after eating, with slight anxiety and dizziness. It usally lasts for like 30 minutes to 1 hour after eating and happens after eating almost anything. i thought it was histamine intolerance but i dont have any stomach ache, or physical symptoms only mood and cognitive ones. i tried DAO supplements and antihistamines and DAO kinda worked but it might be placebo and antihistamines like levocetirizine (normal cetrizine worked better) gave me no posiitive effects - mostly anxiety and i was always tired after taking them. I was tested for reactive hypoglycemia and results showed that i dont have it- my blood sugar was lower after ingesting glucose but still not in reactive hypoglycemia range. i tried probiotics and enzymes but that didnt work. Also large doses of magnesimum and vitamin C have positive impact but not always.

Those negative effect show up after minute- two minutes after eating or drkinking  - thought it may be something with BBB - tried ALA to fix it but it gave me terrible anxiety. Guarana and all sources of caffeine give me anxiety but work properly after like 2-4 hours after ingestion which is really weird.

Two things that worked best for me were:

1)Pregnenolone - gave me great cognitive and mood boost, i didnt have any brainfog after eating when i dosed it but effects vanished after like 2 weeks and i gained weight as a side effect

2)st johns wort - started to feel its effects after few days and it removed part of those side effects and also gave me some mood boost but at the same time it kinda messes up vision

Please help me to solve this mystery. I have spent hundreds of dollars to solve this and visited dozen of doctors but it was mostly waste of time.

Edited by Grandmaster, 01 September 2018 - 02:24 PM.

Hi Grandmaster,

I have a similar issue but the anxiety builds into a headaches and other cognitive symptoms. I've taken up a ketogenic diet which pretty much solves it but does not get to the root cause. Unfortunately I believe I aggravated the condition with megadoses of b12 last year and I'm still bringing myself back into some kind of balance now.

I'm going to test myself for reactive hypoglycemia too, but I'm not sure my symptoms line-up. Of course, any official diagnosis from a doctor would be super helpful!

Have you had any luck? I've read that ashwaghanda may be helpful on this similar thread

https://www.longecit...e-hypoglycemia/

Can we get an example of something you would eat as a normal meal to cause the described effects?

It could be quite easily explained by food groups which are low tryptophan[1]/high glutamic acid[2][3] and low magnesium/high copper[4]

For me it could potentially be something as simple as a sushi roll, some tacos, pasta with meatballs.

Scrambled eggs on toast would be enough to set it off in the morning. Going fully keto has suggested to me it is an issue at least in part connected to glutamate excitotoxicity. When it was worst, I definitely noticed spikes with walnuts or msg.

I should state that my B12 serum level is around 1433 pg/mL with the standard medical reference range at 232-1245. It's been elevated for 2 months plus now since ceasing supplementation with active B12s (methylcobalamin and briefly hydroxycobalamin) . Prior to this elevated B12 level I didn't notice an anxiety or headache/migraine issue.

I'm guessing that this currently elevated B12 level is having a knock on effect on some metabolic process kicked off in my brain but have no idea how to encourage the level down other than by starving my system of B12 over years which doesn't seem that feasible either. Could be some kind of autoimmune response that may or may not normalise.

Not sure how I could adapt my nervous system to the state or if that would be wise. Magnesium and alcohol help although the latter is impractical and unhealthy. A whiff of someone else's cannabis and I can feel the unpleasant effects!

Your B12 is not very far outside the acceptable bounds.  This is anyways unlikely to result in anxiety, on the contrary, "Treatment with a supplement containing a high dose of B12 for 60 days significantly improved depression and anxiety symptoms in adults when compared to a placebo"

But none of the mentioned food dishes are particularly high in magnesium or tryptophan, while they are high in glutamic acid/glutamine and also copper.  Do you take probiotics (kefir/yoghurt), exercise, drink fine green tea, or do anything else what would rescue you from an abundance of sin?  Based on the tone of your posts you are a soul in need of rescuing...

Haha, I certainly have sinned over the years. Plenty of noot and supplement experiments too, which probably should have been more considered given that I now believe there is some underlying epigenitic fatigue issue I've obfuscated.

The effect would be the same if the meal came with foods rich in magnesium or tryptophan (leafy greens or turkey) as long as there was a hefty portion of carbohydrates which I think paradoxically is supposed to be sedating. My finger-pointing at the b12 is because I know the issue started after starting heavy supplementation with the b12. I should also emphasise the headache/cognition issues that this arises with the carbohydrates which can be debilitating and prevent normal logical processing which I definitely need for day to day work. Hopefully things should balance out over time, just how much time is the question.

I do a reasonable amount of exercise, yoga and weights. I am a tea fan although I don't seek out the finest greens all the time. Yerba mate seems to be somewhat helpful too, possibly for it's adaptogenic properties. Gain tolerance to yerba quite quickly though.

Thank you for your thoughts and input!

Heavy (which sits above high) supplemental use of b-vitamins can certainly have a counterintuitive effect on fatigue. That being in your past, it is no longer fair to attribute current symptoms to a mild dietary excess.  If ketogenic diet resolves things, it is also likely a shift toward quality carbs would.  What about kefir, pigmented beans, unrefined carbs, quinoa?  What about grazing and intermittent fasting?  The good body is adapted to all by a variety in all.  There is not just one solution to most problems.

I too suffered from things in my past, reactive hypoglycemia and chronic fatigue.  I've cured myself of both and can say coming out of it that there is no magic bullet.  You have to actually live a healthy lifestyle.  Do you not see how a line has been crossed in going from fine japanese tea to yerba matte?  Do you not see how a meal of "leafy greens and turkey" leaves much to be desired?

You have to rise an hour early to leave work an hour early... cook for yourself and think for yourself, approach women and groups of strangers for the fun of it, meditate and partake an ongoing education because you value knowledge itself, dance and exert yourself like a madman just fucking because. Feebly throwing b vitamins and siberian ginseng into a cup will drain your soul like pulling a knife from a fresh wound drains blood