Dizziness after eating
definition
Dizziness (Vertigo) describes an often unpleasant, distorted perception of space, which is caused by disturbances in visual perception and the balance system. Side effects of dizziness are nausea and vomiting, or nausea. After eating, dizziness and tiredness occur more frequently in combination.
introduction
Dizziness comes in a wide variety of forms and qualities. There is vertigo, vertigo, vertigo in lifts and unspecific vertigo that extends to drowsiness, attack-like and persistent vertigo. The causes of dizziness are extremely diverse and cannot always be precisely localized; temporal aspects also play a role, for example if dizziness always occurs after eating.
Accompanying symptoms of dizziness after eating
The most common accompanying symptoms of post-meal dizziness include
- Nausea and even vomiting.
- In addition, heart palpitations or stumbling may occur if you feel dizzy after eating.
- In some cases, these can also cause a brief loss of consciousness, as the blood flow to the brain is so severely impaired by these circulatory problems.
- Also hearing disorders, i.e. hearing loss or tinnitus,
- or sight often accompany an attack of dizziness.
Both the sense of hearing and the sense of balance depend on a functioning inner ear that consists of semicircular canals on the one hand (sense of balance) and on the other hand of the cochlea (hearing) - if one sense organ fails, the other can also be affected by the disorder due to the spatial proximity.
Visual disturbances and dizziness mostly point to a central nervous (i.e. affecting the brain) cause such as migraines.
Nausea and dizziness
Nausea is a symptom that often accompanies dizziness.
The reason for this is a misinterpretation of dizziness by the brain: Since poisoning, among other things, also causes dizziness, the "emergency system" vomiting is switched on to remove the supposed toxic substance from the body.
If this combination of symptoms occurs after eating, the type of meal should also be considered as the cause of the nausea. For example, an allergic reaction to certain foods, foods that are too fatty, too little fluid with or before a meal, or a migraine attack caused by certain foods are possible.
Read on under:
- migraine
- Dizziness and nausea
- Dizziness and vomiting
Dizziness after eating, with racing heart
A very high pulse can become perceptible to the person concerned as a "racing heart". Most of the time, the body tries to compensate for low blood pressure with a high heart rate: If the person affected by dizziness after eating notices a palpitations as an accompanying symptom, the blood pressure should definitely be measured in this acute phase.
For example, low blood pressure can be caused by an allergic reaction to food or a thyroid problem. However, it can also be noticed that the blood pressure is rather high while the heart is racing and the affected person experiences dizziness. The sympathetic nervous system, so to speak, the body's “fight or flight system”, is strongly activated: The thyroid gland or other hormonal causes can also be used for this.
If dizziness and palpitations often occur together after eating and severely restrict the person concerned in everyday life, the symptoms should be clarified by a doctor as soon as possible.
Find out more at: Dizziness with racing heart
Dizziness and blurred vision
The term "visual disturbances" can describe very different complaints: These include, for example, flickering in front of the eyes, double images or even complete loss of the visual field, which the person concerned perceives as black or gray spots.
When shared with dizziness, it mostly points to a cause affecting the brain. Very often this is, for example, a dysregulation of the circulatory system after eating, or a migraine attack that can be triggered by certain foods. Since the entire cerebral cortex can be affected in migraines, a wide variety of symptoms and sensory disorders can occur.
In the case of newly occurring visual disturbances that cannot be reliably assigned to another cause, these pathological processes should always be excluded.
Learn more about this at: Dizziness and visual disturbances - that's behind it
What causes dizziness after eating?
If you get dizzy after eating, this can have many causes.
First and foremost, one should think of metabolic disorders such as diabetes or causes that affect the cardiovascular system.
After a meal, the body gives the brain the degree of satiety by stretching the stomach. In response to this signal, messenger substances are released in the brain that inhibit food intake. However, some of these messenger substances act on centers of activity in the brain and inhibit them, you can feel tiredness. After heavy, fatty meals, this tiredness can turn into drowsiness with dizziness or vertigo-like symptoms. In addition to these, to a certain extent, “normal” complaints, dizziness after eating can also be triggered by cardiovascular diseases. Low or high blood pressure or heart failure can also be the cause of dizziness after eating.
Read more on the topic: Dizziness and circulation
Dizziness from diabetes
Diabetes mellitus as a metabolic disorder is able to cause dizziness after eating. People with diabetes suffer from a hormone disorder that affects insulin, which regulates blood sugar and normally lowers blood sugar levels. A distinction is made between two types of diabetes mellitus. Type 1 mostly affects young patients, there is an absolute insulin deficiency, that is, the hormone is not even produced. Type 2 diabetics are often older and have insulin resistance. Insulin is still being produced, but the body can no longer use it, resulting in high blood sugar levels.
A diabetic disease with permanently high blood sugar levels brings many secondary diseases with it. Some of them cause dizziness after eating. The so-called autonomic neuropathy (nerve disease of the autonomic nervous system) is the main reason for dizzy spells after eating a meal.
Autonomous neuropathies affect almost the whole body. Cardiovascular (heart and circulatory) events such as palpitations and low blood pressure are very common. It is noticeable that both complications occur after eating and cause dizziness.
Nerves of the stomach are also affected, occasionally stomach paralysis (Gastric paresis) occur, the stomach is no longer able to forward the food it has eaten into the intestine, where the nutrients are normally absorbed. The result is hypoglycaemia with dizziness, sweating and a racing heart. If the diabetes is treated, many symptoms improve quickly and dizziness after eating is less common.
Dizziness from changes in blood pressure
Blood pressure disorders such as low blood pressure (Hypotension) or high blood pressure (hypertension) are known to cause dizziness or vertigo-like symptoms.
Older people are more likely to experience post-meal dizziness due to low blood pressure.
Paradoxically, these people are usually more likely to have high blood pressure. However, after eating a meal, the parasympathetic nervous system is activated. The parasympathetic nervous system is the part of the autonomic nervous system that is active in resting situations. Opposite it is the sympathetic nervous system, which puts the body on alert in moments of stress.
If the parasympathetic nervous system is active, the heart rate and blood pressure are lowered, which can lead to low blood pressures. People who generally have a slightly less stable circulation will notice this when they feel dizzy after eating.
Dizziness after eating sweets
Sweets are among those foods that are high in sugar. Sugar in the form of carbohydrates is one of the basic building blocks of our diet. It is an energy supplier, but can also damage the body at the same time. If you eat something sweet, the blood sugar level rises quickly, but then also drops again very quickly, as some types of sugar, especially those contained in sweets, are quickly broken down by the body and are no longer available as energy suppliers.
This sharply falling blood sugar level can trigger dangerous hypoglycaemia in pre-stressed patients, for example diabetes patients, which can cause symptoms such as dizziness after eating sweets. But in general, sugar makes you tired and contains many "empty" calories. Changing your diet helps reduce tiredness and dizziness after eating.
Dizziness after eating due to pregnancy
During pregnancy, dizziness and post-meal nausea are commonplace for many women. The formation of pregnancy hormones such as estrogen triggers nausea and nausea. Classically, nausea during pregnancy is also referred to as morning sickness.
The truth is that many women either feel nauseous or sick all day long when they eat something in particular or even smell a dish. Dizziness after eating during pregnancy can therefore be accompanied by nausea and vomiting, or caused by nausea, but it also arises due to the increased blood flow in the body.
If the dizziness persists for a long time or occurs more frequently, it is advisable to consult a doctor. Some women suffer from such severe nausea with massive vomiting that there is a risk of dehydration (lack of fluid). A lack of fluids causes symptoms that affect the circulatory system; in addition to dizziness, headaches and drowsiness occur. Such symptoms require treatment, often in the hospital with an IV infusion.
Read more on the topic: Dizziness during pregnancy
Dizziness due to histamine intolerance
Dizziness after eating can also be caused by an intolerance to the substance histamine.
Although histamine is the body's own transmitter, it is also involved in triggering various symptoms in the course of intolerance. Normally, histamine is broken down in the body by an enzyme called diamone oxidase. Histamine intolerant people suffer from a malfunction of this enzyme. If these people then consume foods that are particularly high in histamine, such as red wine, seafood or some types of cheese, a kind of allergic reaction occurs with a variety of symptoms.
These symptoms affect the skin, the cardiovascular system, the digestive system and, in rare cases, the psyche. In the skin area, redness and rashes appear, the cardiovascular system reacts with palpitations and high blood pressure, resulting in dizziness after eating and headaches. Digestive problems such as diarrhea or flatulence and, rarely, depressive moods can occur.
Also read:
- histamine
- Histamine allergy
Dizziness after eating, from stomach
If you experience stomach problems after eating, such as a feeling of fullness, pressing or cramping pain, dizziness is often an accompanying symptom.
Often you just ate too much or something that you can't stand. However, there may also be a disease of the digestive system and a doctor should be consulted for clarification.
Dizziness that occurs after eating can also be caused by medication taken with or after a meal. The protonon pump inhibitors, which are often prescribed for stomach ailments such as reflux disease (which leads to heartburn), are also a possible cause of dizziness, as it is a possible side effect. The doctor who prescribed the drug should therefore be consulted.
If dizziness is caused by the stomach after eating, it often occurs after partial removal of the stomach. This type of operation is used, for example, for stomach cancer. The area that connects the stomach to the duodenum (Pylorus) is most often removed. The pylorus is responsible for closing the stomach against the duodenum. If it is missing, the chyme moves too quickly from the stomach into the intestines.
A large "lump of food" is created, fluid flows in from the surrounding tissue to thin the lump, and circulatory problems and severe pain in the upper abdomen occur. This clinical picture is known as dumping syndrome.
The dumping caused by the inflow of liquid directly after eating is also known as early dumping. Late dumping, on the other hand, is the term used to describe excess sugar with subsequent hypoglycaemia. Because sugar is absorbed too quickly in the small intestine, the blood sugar level initially rises sharply. This is the signal for the body to release more insulin than usual. High levels of insulin in turn lead to hypoglycaemia.
Low blood sugar levels are what cause symptoms such as drowsiness and dizziness about 2 hours after eating.
Dizziness from thyroid disease
Dizziness after eating is often a result of low blood pressure. Thyroid hormones, among other things, are important for the circulatory system and thus also for blood pressure regulation. People with an underactive thyroid, i.e. a lack of thyroid hormones, tend to have low blood pressure. After eating, the body is put into a state of rest and digestion through various signaling pathways. One of the effects of this nervous system, known as the parasymphaticus, is a decrease in blood pressure. In people with a thyroid disorder, dizziness as a sign of low blood pressure can occur as a result, especially after eating.
But overactive people can also cause dizziness due to high blood pressure and pulse. A thyroid problem usually causes further, in itself unspecific symptoms, but can be confirmed or excluded by medical diagnostics.
In addition to this hormone-related explanation, there is another aspect that can explain dizziness after eating due to a thyroid disease. The most common cause of an underactive thyroid is the so-called Hashimoto's thyroiditis. It is an autoimmune disease, i.e. the body produces certain proteins (so-called antibodies) that are directed against the body's own structures. In Hashimoto's case, thyroid tissue is destroyed and this leads to hypofunction. The autoimmune disease itself is related to symptoms of dizziness.
If dizziness occurs after eating, the thyroid gland should also be examined for a possible disease when investigating the cause.
Therapy - what helps with dizziness after eating?
Dizziness after eating is treated depending on the cause.
If the patients suffer from diabetes, the patient receives insulin as a drug. Depending on the type of diabetes, the insulin is either injected under the skin (type 1) or can be taken as a tablet (type 2). In addition to the regular intake of insulin, it is important that diabetics closely monitor their blood sugar levels. This monitoring is easily possible with measuring devices at home that measure the blood sugar level using a drop of blood from the finger.
If the dizziness after eating has other causes, i.e. too high or too low blood pressure, medication must also be used. High blood pressure is treated with different groups of drugs. Examples of this are the beta blockers or ACE inhibitors. Low blood pressure can often be treated by changing lifestyle habits (exercising, changing your diet, etc.), so-called sympathomimetics, i.e. drugs that increase the activity of the sympathetic nervous system (part of the autonomic nervous system), are used. If histamine intolerance causes dizziness after eating, it is advisable to avoid foods that are high in histamine. Antihistamines can also be used as drugs.
How does the dizziness improve after eating?
An improvement in acute vertigo attacks after eating is often achieved by changing position.
It can help to lie on your back with your legs slightly elevated. Exercise after eating often helps with mild dizziness. Going for a walk in the fresh air gets your circulation going again, you can breathe deeply, the symptoms usually go away on their own. Whether you lie down or prefer to move depends on the individual situation. If you notice that the dizziness is getting worse while lying down, you can try out whether movement helps by taking a few steps across the room.
In the case of persistent or worsening dizziness, it is advisable to seek medical advice to clarify the cause.
Dizziness gets better after eating
If dizziness gets significantly better or even goes away after eating, the cause was usually low blood sugar. This can have various causes.
For example, some people have an excessive release of insulin after a very sugary breakfast. This body hormone ensures that sugar is absorbed from the blood into the body's cells. If too much insulin is released, the blood sugar level can drop too sharply. In addition to tremors, poor concentration, and sweating, dizziness is a common symptom. Eating causes the sugar level to rise again and the dizziness to subside. In such a case, you should change your eating habits and eat food that leads to a slower rise in blood sugar (for example, replace white bread with whole-grain bread).
You might also be interested in: Dizziness and tremors
Dizziness, which gets significantly better or even disappears after eating, can also speak for a very rare disease, the so-called insulinoma. This is a benign tumor (not cancer) that is usually located in the pancreas and produces large amounts of the hormone insulin. This leads to an unnaturally sharp drop in the sugar level in the blood. Eating improves the symptoms. Carbohydrate-rich foods (e.g. components of potatoes, pasta or rice) or sweet foods such as fruit, juices or baked goods increase the blood sugar level.
You might also be interested in: Carbohydrates table
If you notice dizziness and any other symptoms of hypoglycaemia that get better after eating, you should see a doctor immediately. Even if other causes are possible, the suspicion of an insulinoma must be investigated. Even in people with diabetes who are being treated with insulin, too high a dose can develop dizziness by the same mechanism that gets better after eating.
How is dizziness diagnosed after eating?
Post-eating dizziness is a symptom that can be limiting and worrying for the person concerned - especially if the dizziness occurs regularly after eating and is so severe that it interferes with everyday life. Various diagnostic measures can be taken to research the causes of this in an individual case.
- First of all, during the dizzy phase, the affected person should record how high their pulse and blood pressure are.
A blood pressure monitor can be purchased for this at home. Ideally, when you receive medical advice on the subject of dizziness after eating, you will already have some values that were measured during the acute phase of dizziness. - Furthermore, the person concerned can write down what type of meal and what or whether drinks were consumed with it.
- Accompanying symptoms such as headache or abdominal pain should also be noted. These notes can then be discussed with the doctor in light of the symptoms of dizziness.
- It can also do a physical exam as well
- in certain cases an ultrasound scan and
- Blood is drawn to rule out causes in the digestive organs or in the blood count.
How long can dizziness last after eating?
How long a dizzy spell lasts after eating varies from person to person and can last from minutes to hours, depending on the cause.
The frequency of dizzy spells after eating also depends heavily on the underlying cause and, under certain circumstances, the therapy initiated. Therefore, possible causes should be clarified.
In some cases, however, no cause for the dizziness can be found, so the person concerned should also be prepared for this possibility. In these cases, however, symptomatic therapy with medication or everyday tips or home remedies can still be used.
In any case, the treating family doctor should be asked about such therapy options.
