The FastDay Forum

Yesterday was a fast day - during the day I just had weak tea & a banana & was out all day, feeling absolutely fine. Then when I got home, I started to get the most weird feeling that I was in a dream, & everything at home (inc family) seemed 'unfamiliar' somehow. It was the most scary feeling - almost like reality overlaid with a weird dream. It lasted all evening (though I tried to eat lots in case it was low blood sugar), I slept REALLY well, & have woken up feeling just about back to normal, but shaky. It really was horrible, & very scary. Anyone else had this, or anything similar? I'm sort of hoping it was low blood sugar, but on the other hand I don't want to stop doing the plan as normally I love it....

hi Kimster

poor you, that sounds really weird and no wonder you felt scared!! sorry i cant offer any suggestions,apart from mentioning it to your doctor? hopefully someone will be along with more advice for you!
take care x

Hmm that does sound strange Kimster. Hopefully Caroline will be along some time to advise you. Are you ok today?

Bean

I've had it before, I presumed it was blood sugar, but I just went along with it. It's ok at home – I just have a chamomile tea and chill, but I don't like it so much at work

Happened to me twice this week!

It sounds like low blood sugar, maybe it is best to go to your physician and have a check up.

I get this on my fasting days quite often. It's not a nice feeling but a normal one for me as low blood sugar has always done that to me.

I would suggest you see your GP as well just to be sure but in the meantime at least you know you aren't the only one

I believe this is called 'disassociation' and may have something to do with electrolites and/or blood sugars, but I am not a doctor. I had this happen to me once and it's not at all nice. If it happens again perhaps it might be good to get yourself checked by your GP.

Thanks so much for your support everyone - It's good to know I'm not alone! Any advice on what to do if it happens again?

Maybe try having a drink - a sports drink which helps to boost electrolytes may help. I think Auriga has a good point about that.

Hope it doesn't happen again Kimster

[janeg]

SOunds to me like a mix of perhaps low blood sugar and a surge of stress hormones.
When we are fasting we deliberately are stressing our bodies. Hormones get released and this can cause a heightened sense of awareness/spaced out feeling. Probably the electrolyte imbalance is in there too.
Plenty of fluid with a wee bit of replacement in it (bullion, oxo, marmite) and a wee high protein snack might help.
Hopefully, as your body gets more in tune with fasting it will go away.
I would see how you do in the next couple of fasts with upping your fluids and having some calories. If it persists - off to the doctor for you!
Let us know how it goes, please.

Poor you!
I only once had something like this ... I was in a pub, and I had the same idea of it being blood sugar, but there was nothing sweet available so I had a bag of crisps and the salt content seemed to settle me down and the feeling went away. So maybe electrolytes issue rather than blood sugar as such?

[carorees]

But come across this before but janeg's theory sounds plausible. Hopefully it will not happen again.

Interesting one! I like janeg's ideas - I'd be betting on the stress hornones plus electrolytes - and maybe blood sugars? But a lot gets blamed on blood sugars - I'm in the privileged (!) position of being able to measure mine, since I have type 2 diabetes. And for me, blood sugar doesn't always explain the feelings.

But - to misquote Valter Longo - fasting is the most powerful thing we can do to our bodies, and I just think it's a huge adjustment to hormone levels, neural pathways and so on, so it's not surprising that something like this might happen - it is scary for you though, and quite distracting I imagine. But please be reassured that you're NOT going mad!

I like what's been said, especially getting yourself medically checked.

Now, this next paragraph is definitely NOT altered states 101, and I totally understand that if it's scary, you'll just want to explain it causatively and rationally and get rid of it. So please feel free to take what I'm about to say with a total grain of salt! But also I know that sometimes our reactions to these states are just as problematic as the state itself, or sometimes even more so - if you can summon up a little bit of pragmatism and/or courage, just breathe, and try to relax into it, and say to yourself, "well, this state is happening again, maybe I can just sit with it for a moment with a spirit of holding myself and curiosity" - maybe even befriend it a little, and say, "what could possibly be good or useful about this feeling of unreality?" and just see if it will unfold itself a little bit, and make itself more known - a bit like CG Jung's active imagination - the results might be interesting, in terms of learning something about yourself. After all, some people take drugs to get into this state, so there might be something in it!

But I understand that this approach isn't everyone's cup of tea - actually, thinking of tea, it could be a caffeine effect - have you increased or decreased your caffeine intake while fasting? (or even, forgive me, other drugs or alcohol? - just askin') I once had a latte in Lygon Street (home of italian coffee in Melbourne!) that gave me such a head rush & feeling of being so high that I swear I shouldn't have been driving! It lasted about 4 hours!

Good luck!

I have had a spaced out feeling like feeling remote from yourself. That might be what I prefer to fast when I am at home and don't have too much on my plate so I can just potter

Liked you take on it @jools7 I also wonder if it is an early days thing until you get an handle on fluid replacement, salt replacement, and feeding your body well on feast days with very healthy foods to ensure enough nutrients