Hi all, Here's my story: About 12 years ago I got a really bad stomach flu (symptoms and nausea lasted almost a week) and ever since then I've had very strange gastrointestinal issues. The main problems being: I get a headache about 30 min to an hour after every bowel movement, every single time. The only thing that seems to help is eating. So if I eat a big breakfast and then I have a bowel movement right after, even though I'm full, I have to eat something else. If I don't, I get a headache that worsens until I start to get symptoms of hypoglycemia (shaky, anxious, stomach ache, brain fog). Hypoglycemia is another issue I've had since the initial illness. I have to eat every few hours or else I get the symptoms I stated previously. I recently had an episode so bad that my hands started to go numb and seize up, my chest hurt and my head was pounding (I was drinking lots of coffee, I'm assuming that was the main trigger). I was terrified thinking that I was going to pass out or have a seizure. After eating a piece of bread, I was fine. (Situations like this make me extremely nervous to go anywhere now without taking food with me). Another issue I have since the illness is food intolerance. Almost everything I used to eat and love to eat before now bothers me in some way. Fruits and raw veggies make me really bloated, tomatoes and anything acidic makes my stomach hurt really bad (like an unrelentless gnawing pain) and certain foods like honey, pickled or aged foods give me a headache, sometimes for days. I've had two endoscopies and the most they've found is a hiatal hernia, which doesn't explain any of my issues. Any thoughts??
Hello there, I’m sorry to hear of these issues you are going through. I think it caught my attention because I’m suffering with a headache as well. Sometimes it seems like as long as I keep eating it helps my headache, but I’ve pushed it aside til I heard you say it. Why does eating something curve the headache when meds dont?
Have you had any suggestions from your doctor on what your symptoms could be?I wonder if it is some kind of post infectious gut irritation. Do you have bowel habit change and abdominal pain? Gastritis or IBS springs to mind, Sometimes after a stomach bug, IBS can follow. Ask for further testing.
I am suffering the symptoms of headaches, numbness, and chest pains too. I also drink a lot of coffee and quit it as a trial and no success. I also have the foggy brain but no pain in stomach or gastritis like conflicts with food like you. After 2 years we noticed that my blood pressure tended to be a little high during these spells of highness etc.. Finally we found the culprit and it is hypertension. I have end stage sigmoid esophageus and have difficulty getting liquids down and suffer extreme dehydration and coffee is the only thing that works for me. A lot of us have weird food allergies where a food diary or trial by error method helps us find things we can tolerate. Your hiatal hernia is a blockage of food and liquids and possibly causing issues is all I can think. Check your blood pressure for hypertension regualarly when visiting doctors. Mine is caused by dehydration. Also when you have food and liquids not going down they put extra weight in the esophageus on the heart and lungs causing extreme discomfort and pain causing symptoms similar to heart attacks or strokes…but your numbness is more like a heart issue like hypertension. Maybe ask for a motility test regarding esophageus. I do alot of esophagrams to test those. And there is a motility test with a barometer down your esophageus where you drink every couple of times to see if the esophageus muscles are working properly to push items into stomach. But I may be sending you on goose chase since you have good output after eating and drinking. When i don’t urinate or bowel movements I know I am in trouble.