Sleepiness After Eating

The same would happen to me after eating. I finally had my Thyroid levels checked and to my and my doctor’s surprise, I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s and Hypothyroidism. The Hypothyroidism was causing this to happen to me. I would fall asleep for about 30 minutes after eating and that never happened to me before. I am now taking 75 mcg of Synthroid to control it and it hasn’t happened again. I am over 3 years with this nightmare! No taste or smell for over 3 years and other symptoms that are subsiding, due to Covid. Due to having Hashimoto’s, which is an autoimmune disease, I have changed my diet and no longer eat gluten, dairy or soy products. It has made a huge difference in body inflammation for me and since I can’t taste or smell anyway, I might as well eliminate it and I do feel much better. I would make an appointment and have those Thyroid Labs run. Good luck!

@misslauren I am 70 and used to indulge in a 1 hour nap occasionally, but these 2 and 3 hour coma-type naps after eating are ridiculous. I didn't get the jab either, so I'm sure its a result of the LC. I keep experimenting with what I eat, when I eat or how much I eat to see if that helps, but nothing does so far. My body just shuts down when I take in solid food!

At the suggestion of someone here in the forum, I started drinking a liquid protein drink instead of having my morning meal and that allows me to stay awake longer. But as soon as I eat anything solid, I get sleepy again.

@lkirnbauer Bless your heart. I am just now approaching the 2 year mark and feel so much sympathy for those that have been suffering longer. From the research I've already done, I know it affects the Hypothalamus and Pituitary glands and causes a whole host of problems. I never even thought about the Thyroid being affected, but that makes sense.

I stopped seeing my NP because she refused to believe I was having all these symptoms. Every time I tried to talk to her about them, she would give me the side-eye and just keep talking about other things. I think it was just ignorance on her part. Anyway, I am looking for a new doctor, and will have the labs run.

Thank you for the information. God bless and good health to you. ❤

@shelleyr I’m so sorry your doctor doesn’t believe you and your symptoms. There are a lot of non-believer doctors out there, but there are also some that do believe us. My doctor recently retired and he ran every single test I asked him to to try to figure this thing out. There are a lot of skeptical doctors out there ENT’s especially and they say, everything looks clear so I don’t know why you can’t smell or taste! It’s flipping Long Covid!!! They don’t want to hear it! When you have your Thyroid Labs run, ask them to run TSH, T3-Free, T4-Free, TPO Antibodies and Reverse T3. Those are the markers they ran for me, but they may run more for you as you’re a new patient. I wish you all the best on your health journey.

@lkirnbauer The doctor I had when this started listened and gave me the side-eye treatment with every symptom I listed. There was nothing physical for her to see and nothing showed up in my labs at the time. Her verbal diagnosis while I was in the office, "I don't see anything wrong." When I got home and looked up the Patient Notes online.......her formal diagnosis in my chart was "Post Viral Fatigue Syndrom".

Since then, I've been to two other doctors. They ALL in this small town have access to the same Patient Notes online. They ALL don't SEE anything. They ALL don't beleive anything is wrong. Even though they see the same final diagnosis....they either ignore it or avoid a patient with it!

I did find an online teledoctor website yesterday who believes long Covid is real and they have the ability to order labs. I may contact them to have labs run and see what shows up for the thyroid and other possible vitamin deficiencies. I made a list of all the markers you gave so I can spcifically ask for those too. Thank you so much for the information and for pointing me in the right direction.

@kathleen1314 Well, as I promised, I'm back to give you an update. For two days in a row, I drank a protein shake in the morning, had 5 mini meals throughout the day......and I stayed awake all day, both days!

Now, for the bad news. My body was so exhausted from staying awake all day for two days in a row, that I did nothing but sleep the two days following that test period! For me personally, I have to conclude that my body needs that rest during the day. I just can't function without it right now or I will suffer the consequences.

But on the good news side, I was able to control it for the first two days by the size of my meals. So you may want to switch your eating schedule around a little bit. Start your fasting period late in the day, then eat your first meal at noon or so and eat your healthy snacks throughout the day. I guess we all just have to go through the trials and error process to see what works for each of us. Good luck to you, my friend and I hope things improve for you. ❤

Wow, I didn’t connect my extreme sleepiness after meals to my long COVID. I thought I was just so weak I needed split sleeping: 4 hours at night immediately after a late dinner & 1-2 hours after lunch.
I did the 1 meal a day for a while, but do not recommend—the way to manage autoimmune is balance so nutrition is key. Try the opposite—tiny meals throughout the day, enough to keep your blood sugar even, not so much you are overworking your digestive system. Daily exercise is a must—I know you are tired, but movement will help ( a dog is a great motivator for a daily walk!). Good news is this symptom has finally abated after a couple of years—focus on your overall health & stay in touch with your support

@mlledaffodil I agree about walking the dog. I do it every day. In fact, I am sure that I read somewhere that one of the recommendations for surviving long Covid was to get a dog.

Hi @kathleen1314. Sorry just responding with rougher last few days having respite help that wears me out yet so appreciate!🙃 I have alarms set to help assure I eat every couple of hours and start with my decaf coffee sprinkle turmeric and spirulina and stevia with of course no sugar whip cream🤣, then about 10am boiled egg (shell keeps from histamine build up and just grab/peel) topped with plant based mayo, next maybe mini kind bar or mozzarella cheese stick dip in tolerated sauce/spread, daily mid afternoon stove top small pan popcorn kernels in olive oil to just grab small bowl not deprived feeling and help regulate day to day, next maybe couple ounces cream cheese topped with tolerated spread/sauce or ? again for variety, evening easiest small plain greek yogurt with protein powder and sprinkle stevia or if better day small covered pan heat 15 min. frozen chicken tenderloin with at end added frozen broccoli or asparagus with tolerated butter or plant based mayo and thawed wild blueberries. For sweet tooth apple or zero sugar tapioca/rice/chocolate pudding. I have sleep issues now too so also do thawed turkey link just before bed if feel extra “help” needed assure sleep for rested next day🙃 Hope this helped on your quickest healing journey🌈

@law59
Than you so much for the information. So you are working to keep small meals and protein oriented?
Suggestion on the sleep issues; check your iron levels; seems that even a normal but low iron level can affect sleep. You have to have a certain level to produce the byproducts needed to maintain sleep. I don't have those links close to hand but I found the info with a google search in the past.
Also, would you consider going on the Inspire Covid site and leaving some posts; I think this would be so helpful to many of them.
Thank you so much!
Ok, just got my iron levels back and asked AI to give me the ranges that are needed for good sleep here is what it said:
"For good sleep, especially if you have Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) or fatigue, ideal iron levels often mean a Ferritin above 50-100 ng/mL and Transferrin Saturation (TSAT) above 20%, indicating sufficient iron stores and transport; while standard ranges exist, optimal values for sleep are often higher than basic "normal" and should be discussed with a doctor, as low iron can disrupt sleep, but too much can also be harmful."
A supplement that is tied to deeper sleep is pregnenolone; many women use this as their HRT because pregnenolone pulls some major body levers that affect hormone production. I tried pregnenolone and loved the deeper sleep and the side effect for me of carving away adominal fat, probably because it pulled the testosterone lever. But I could not continue pregnenolone because it caused palpitations and anxiety for me. Still there are lots of people including my husband and my hormone doctor who do well on the supplement.