Dizzy after sitting/ lying on fast days

This topic contains 7 replies, has 6 voices, and was last updated by spitfire93 10 years, 3 months ago.

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Convert

6:13 am
12 Aug 14
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Hi Forum,
I have done the 5:2 diet for 6 months and lost weight successfully down 10 kg. I then had a break for 6 months and now it has crept up 3kg so I need to start again. I was wondering if anyone else gets faint spells when standing up after sitting/lying down for a while on fasting evenings. It goes away on non fasting days but occurs regularly on fasting days. Blood pressure is generally normal + (125/85) .. your thoughts?

DrLL

7:52 am
13 Aug 14
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Hi convert. There is a couple of cases of this in this forum (I am one). The problem for me started after loosing 13 kg, but it may not be related. For me it is not worse on fast-days, rather it seems to be related to how much exercise I am doing. Especially weeks where I do much cycling. Also it only occurs after sitting in squat.

At one time it lead to fainting and I contacted my GP. She explained that it was probably due to a short spell of low blood pressure when the body is trying to adjust to standing up and not uncommon among young persons (charming, I am approaching 50).

Your case may be different. My GP checked ECG, blood pressure, and standard blood tests (incl blood sugar and markers of dehydration). After her reassurance, it doesn’t worry me. I still get the dizziness. To avoid fainting, I tense my muscles in the lower body and hold the tension until the symptoms disappears (5-15 seconds).

Best of luck

Convert

2:32 am
14 Aug 14
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Thanks DrLL,
It was good to hear that I was not alone in this.
As to exercise I was riding my bike to work each day (30 mins each way) and the dizziness got worse the lower my weight got. After a couple of weeks of normal eating it went away.
thanks again

luckylucy

6:34 pm
15 Aug 14
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Hi Convert, it is not necessarily your resting blood pressure which could be the problem (especially as yours is normal), rather the drop in blood pressure from when you go from sitting/lying to standing. Are you drinking enough? Remember we get a lot of fluids from our food so we need to increase our intake on our non-fasting days (as always, within reason). I would recommend slowly transitioning from sitting/lying to standing & getting your GP to test your lying/standing blood pressure – if it’s a problem on fast day evenings then perhaps book your appointment for the afternoon of a fast day. Get them to do a quick blood glucose fingerprick test too.

Good luck!

Pattience

11:05 am
17 Aug 14
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Once, and only ever once, i actually blacked out from something like this but it was years ago and i wasn’t fasting. It was the most bizarre experience all around. I too was squatting and suddenly keeled over. When i came too, i was tipped up on the ground and all the local country women who’d i’d been trying to chat too, fled.

I think it was because my brain did not get enough blood going to it for a short moment. It was hot and i’d had a strenuous day. Its never happened again but quite often if i bend down or squat down for a while, when i stand up i do feel dizzy.

But if you are convinced yours is only on fasting days, then you should talk to your doctor. Maybe its to do with having low carbs in your system at that point.

Convert

4:39 am
18 Aug 14
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Thanks Lucklucy and Pattience for your replies. Great to hear other peoples experiences. I think it may have been a combination of a lack of water and maybe some nutrients. I was more prone to cramping at the time also.
best wishes

Ymkje

8:14 am
30 Aug 14
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Hello!
This is my first week on the fast diet. I had my first fast day on monday and I had similar experiences.
The day after my first fast day I woke up early because of dizziness, I saw everything spinning around and couldn’t get up at first. After an hour I could get myself together and ate a banana. But after 15 minutes I had to vomit. I had to stay in bed and at the end of the morning around one o’clock the dizziness stopped.
I was also cycling on the first fast day, 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes back in the afternoon.
During this week, on the non fast days I felt some dizziness again, especially when I was lying down or trying to get out of bed, but not as much as the first time. But I didn’t cycle as much the rest of the week. Apart from the dizziness, I was feeling extremely cold on the fast days. After the second fast day in the morning I had no particular problems.
I ate very pure, raw and organic on the fast days, so I think I had heavy detox symptoms, Is this a possibility?
My next fast day will be on monday and I’ll be cycling again the same distance, so I’m a bit afraid it will happen again, any suggestions?
Apart from the dizziness I’ve been feeling mainly healthy and happy with more energy on the non fast days and I had also an intense feeling of calmness in the evenings on the fast days…
And of course I’m happy to see and feel I already lost some weight 🙂

Pattience

10:09 pm
30 Aug 14
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Maybe you need to get checked out by a doctor Y. Maybe its got nothing to do with fasting but more to do with your blood supply to the brain.

spitfire93

2:20 am
3 Sep 14
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drink enough fluids, change your position slowly. this should help.