Light-headedness after a heavy meal - there's a solution for that

I have had a problem for some time now. A couple of hours after my dialysis session ended, I would feel light-headed and weak. I would just feel like lying down and resting. I found this surprising as immediately after dialysis, I never had this feeling. I am able to even exercise with ease. If it was related to dialysis, then it should be during or right after. Why after so much time?

I tried various things. I thought it may be related to the exercise. I stopped exercising after dialysis for a week, thinking the body needed rest immediately after a dialysis session. No luck.

Recently, I remembered that I had this problem a few years back as well. I had learnt about Post-prandial Hypotension, common in the elderly and also those on dialysis. I had even blogged about it here.

After a heavy meal, in people with this condition, blood rushes towards the intestine to help with digestion, leaving the head starved of blood. This causes the Blood Pressure to plummet leaving the individual feeling dizzy. The solution is to have small, frequent meals. You need to observe which meals are leaving you feeling dizzy and adjust that meal.

I have always followed this advice: "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper." My breakfasts are usually really heavy. Like 12 idlis or 3 dosas heavy. With accompaniments.

This was most likely the same thing, I reasoned.

So, today, I spread my breakfast over three instalments. Voila! It worked. No light headedness. No weakness. Problem solved!

This is just one more example of how we patients need to be proactive about our own health. We have to take the lead. Read up all we can. Talk to everyone we can. Use logic. Google is your friend.

No one can help us as much as ourselves.