Diabetes

Extremely tired after eating

09/30/2008 11:00PM

Question:

I have been through the gauntlet of tests, intense blood screening, virus, bacteria, and a abdominal CT Scan. Other than my cholesteral being high, and my fasting blood sugar at 103 mg/dl, everything is nearly in range. I have been through 2 rounds of anti-biotics, a colonoscopy scheduled in October, and a executive physical at a regional hospital in October. I was diagnosed with IBS after my return from the Gulf War in 1991, but have had little symptoms over the years. My symptoms have started over the past 3 months, and are when I eat lunch or dinner, and not specific to any one food (although I generally eat very healthy), about 45 minutes after I eat, I get so tired I have to lay down. My face gets slightly red, I feel flush, and generally lethargic. This lasts for about 3 hours, then starts to wear off. I started taking Zyrtec for allergy`s thinking that might have something to do with it, but haven`t seen much of a improvement. Any thoughts or ideas? Thanks.

Answer:

My best suggestions would be to

1) pay very close attention to how these symptoms vary with meal size and composition, possibly keeping some records and systematically changing these 2 variables;

and 2) get additional opinions on this, perhaps from a gastroenterologist known for diagnosing unusual conditions and/or an endocrinologist and take the primary data from your own diet studies with you.

If you do the diet variation, you would need several days of observation under each dietary condition to draw much in the way of a conclusion.

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Response by:

Robert M. Cohen, MD
Associate Professor
Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism
Department of Internal Medicine
College of Medicine
University of Cincinnati