This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

Do your MS symptoms get worse following a big meal?

I have absolutely no idea which of my weird issues/symptoms are due to MS and which are due to my many other medical conditions - or age - anyway.

However, I figured out long ago that the less I eat the better I feel (and the more I exercise the better I feel), and I've never thought it had much to do with MS. A lot is probably due to my nasty food reactions, but I think people underestimate the effect the wrong foods in the wrong amounts can have on their lives.

When I started my campaign to eat healthy about 20 years ago (way before my dx), I noticed that I had to contend with actual ridicule from co-workers for my spare eating habits (including no lunch at all), no sweets, etc., while they discussed their lunch options around me. Then they'd bitch and moan all afternoon that they felt like crap from eating so much.

And in the next sentence they would still make fun of my weird eating habits. Go figure.

(It's not always MS, it's not always MS, it's not always MS...)

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Dx'd with MS & HNPP (hereditary peripheral neuropathy) 7/03 but must have had MS for 30 yrs before that. I've never taken meds for MS or MS symptoms except 1 yr experiment on LDN. (I found diet, exercise, sleep, humor, music help me the most.)

maybe its your body trying to digest all the food, draining your body. just like people get tired after a big meal

David1949 – Just in case you missed it, in my mind, the following hypothesis explains the situation: a heavy meal (especially one filled with carbohydrates – sugar and starch) puts lots of glucose into the bloodstream; the body responds by making lots of insulin; it is this extra insulin that causes damage to the intestines, blood vessels, muscles, even the brain (Insulin can cross the blood-brain barrier.)

Low-carb meals and exercise reduce the amount of insulin in the body.

No one can REALLY be surprised at my post here!

Excellent topic...I definitely feel better when I control portion size or fast. Been juicing lately and that feels great. Our bodies use something like 75% (maybe more) of our energy to digest, hence poor digestion, hence the 'gut' hence lots of havoc being wreaked....

I actually had a colonics today and feel great. The Chinese believe that the seat of health is in the colon and many non-western traditions believe our intelligence is in the 'gut' (intestines).
I feel this is related to CCSVI since I now see that circulation plays such an important role in our health, and exercise and diet affect circulation....

Happy downsizing! (something many Americans could use!)

ALWAYS experience problems with big meals. I will try drinking more water with my meal tonite.

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Albany 2010. Brooklyn 2011
Hurry up and wait.

My thought was that the body directs blood flow to where it is needed. After a big meal it directs blood to the digestive system and possibly away from the brain. So if CCSVI is restricting blood flow to the brain then eating a big meal could simply exacerbate the problem.

David, this is very interesting about bloodflow and digestion.

Pointsnorth, I highly recommend not drinking water with your meal, about 30 minutes before or after but not during, as water with meal actually blocks digestion...you need those enzymes to digest, so you do not want to drink while eating.

Not so much now, but when I was at my worst a few years ago, I noticed a HUGE difference in my symptoms after a meal. Everything would flare up, tingling etc would go crazy.

I was on Rebif back then and it was far from working for me. I am much better now (on statins and other stuff that works for me), and I really have to concentrate to notice a difference after a meal. But I voted yes to this poll because of the effects I used to feel were so distinct.

I feel better after I eat, much better. Am I the only one?

Chocolate is a better analgesic than advil. Something has to be wrong about that.

I fell good after eating too. Not 'better' but just normal 'after eat' status.

Two of my danger zones are if I've gone too long without eating or if I've just eaten a big meal. It's almost predictable.

It's why I keep researching on glucose as an alternative to oxygen as energy in the brain, production of lactate, ketones, etc.

Thanks Zin, I'll avoid Water w. Meals.

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Albany 2010. Brooklyn 2011
Hurry up and wait.

For me, I noticed I am worse if I have a hot/warm meal. If I eat something cold, my condition does not change.

You win the cupie doll. Digestion generates core heat. Heat rises. If we have trouble ridding ourselves of heat because of endothelium/smooth muscle issues (the stomach lining, I am told, is a smooth muscle) this may result in spasticity/restless legs after a large meal because of the heat of digestion. Add to that the heat of hot food, and you have a surer bet. Happens to me, anyway.

Try some icy water with your hot meal.

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"Try - Just A Little Bit Harder" - Janis Joplin
CCSVI procedure Albany Aug 2010
'_MS' is over - if you want it
Patients sans/without patience