Dizziness WHEN I'm eating / drinking

[YogiYoni]

For the last few months (maybe longer, maybe a year or so?) I keep getting dizzy spells as I'm eating or drinking. I don't think it's blood sugar related as it usually happens as I'm chewing the first bite of food, or immediately after having a drink. Does anyone have any idea what it could be? Dr Google didn't reveal much.

Is it hot or cold food or both? If it's hot, it could be warming you up too much!

Both. And it's immediate. I'm thinking it must be something neurological? A nerve in my jaw/face/ear being triggered?

How's your blood pressure? I have a vague memory of talking to a cardiologist about my low BP and he said it was common to get lightheaded when eating because your digestive system requires more blood flow. Or something. Like I said, vague recollection, I was there for something else!

It's generally low, but not been checked for a while. That sort of makes sense - it's a similar feeling to the 'standing up too quickly' one. Would the digestive system need the blood flow immediately though?

It is blood rushing to your stomach when you are hungry. Try eating more often.

I don’t know if this thread is still active but the same thing has been happening to me. Just about always happens when I’m sitting down to eat dinner. A second or two after food goes into my mouth I get lightheaded. Only last for about 10 seconds or so and then I’m fine for the rest of the meal. It’s so weird.

I'm having the same problem....as soon as I start eating or drinking....I go dizzy....lasts a few seconds....but it's not all the time.....very strange

I too have been having dizzy spells right after the first 2 bites of food. It doesn't happen all the time and stops in about 10 seconds..what is going on?

Tonyabear, Mummyaxon, I too have been experiencing the same symptoms for months now.. appreciate if someone could share more info or do’s and dont’s for awareness. Im meeting up with my primary doc tomorrow to find out more.

I'm in my 40's now, and I've been experiencing this as long as I can remember. As soon as the first bite of food hits my mouth, I get a swirling dizzy feeling that lasts only a few seconds. It's really intense and sometimes feel like I'm going to faint, but it passes quickly and then I'm fine. I google "dizziness when first eating" every so often and usually only get articles about getting dizzy AFTER eating. This is something completely different. I wish I knew what was happening.

I to get dizzy and hot when i eat , whish i could get a answear from some where on the net

I literally just Googled “I get dizzy when I bite food” right now as I’m eating dinner. This happens to me too and I thought I was alone.

I’m a male living in Los Angeles, in my 40s. My health is fairly good (I run monthly half marathons). This has been going on for the past year and it seems to only happen at my evening meals. Breakfast and lunch is fine. But dinner is when it hits with the dizziness with the first few bites, then it normalizes. I hope someone can provide an answer as to what this is and why it happens.

I've had the same thing happening to me since about 7/2017. It also always happens when I’m sitting down to eat dinner. A second or two after food goes into my mouth I get very lightheaded, a swirling vertigo dizzy feeling. Only last for about 10 seconds or so and then I’m fine for the rest of the meal. I agree that it is very weird and cannot get an answer regarding what is going on with me. Please - if anyone gets an answer - please share ASAP. Thank you!

yea.. this seems super weird to me as well as i started feeling the same about a month ago. doesn't happen everytime. seems quite odd that most of us on here have experienced the same phenomenon recently.

anyone with insight, please share. thanks

Hi everyone! This exact things has been happening to me in the past month I would say. As soon as I take my first bite of food, I get a dizzy drunk like feeling for a few seconds and then it’s all normal. I had a Stapedectomy operation 3 months ago which I was thinking might be linked. It’s an ear operation and nerves in my tongue were damaged due to the laser used for my ear and initially my taste buds were effected... but it’s weird how it’s 2 months after the operation I experiencing dizziness like this.....

I’m in the same boat. On the first bite of food or drink, wether it is hot or cold, for about 20 seconds my world spins. At times I feel like throwing up. Sometimes it is a stronger dizziness and I have to hold on to a counter or table and put “my foot on the brake”. After the episode, everything is good until the next time... I am a 49 year old female in average health. No meds, no high bp, borderline diabetic. Has been happening for almost a year, it stopped in Nov. 2019 and now it is back... I have not changed anything. I don’t drink or smoke.

Hi everyone
Same is happening with me for last one week. As soon as i take my first or second bite i start feeling dizzy. I have stomach issues for last one week with nausea and acidity. Had diarrhea for 3 days but is fone now. I got my bp checked it was a bit high. During all this week i felt usually dizzy or lightheaded but now it's only when i start eating. What can it be??? Am so worried and confused.

Something that may be working for me and maybe work for you guys to try. When my boss hurt his foot last month, he had to be off work... and with that, while the cat was away, this mouse was making trips to Timmie’s (Canada) for a medium steeped tea double double everyday. This one in addition to the one I would drink in the evening with my husband. My dizziness started again at the same time my boss left. Now that my boss is back, the caffeine level has dropped dramatically and I am hardly dizzy anymore. I am not a pop drinker by the way. I still indulge in a small tea in the evening, but as I said my dizzyness has dramatically improved to hardly any episodes. I am not saying no caffeine is the cure, but so far, knock on wood it is working for me. My boss has been back for about two weeks now and I feel better. If you are going to try limiting your caffeine, give it at least 6 weeks. Good luck to you all!

hi everyone. have had the same dizziness when first chewing as described in my previous post. as time passed i realized i may also have bppv which is a condition with an inner ear that causes dizziness. the symptoms/feeling in both is bery similar so i did some research. sounds, atleast in my case the two can be related and the chewing/dizziness could he due to tmj (jaw joint disorder).. see link;

www.banrbarbatdds.com/vertigo-dizziness-can-be-caused-by-jaw-joint-disorder/

just thought i’d share my situation and what i think it can be. maybe it’ll help point someone in the right direction for their case.

stay healthy

I get this as well. It is strange isn't it. Just one or two bites and I feel dizzy. As I keep eating it eases a bit but occasionally it comes back again. total mystery.

I have looked at your solution. The thing is I don't get it when chewing gum. It only happens with food? I heard of someone who had this problem for quite a few months then it gradually disappeared. I don have a problem with the inner ear because of a road accident but that was 16 yrs ago.

I get the same exact thing. I hate it. I still have not found a solution. Have you had any luck?

This happens to me as well. I’ve correlated it to eating sweets/fast carbs, any one else? I also experience mild symptoms of day sleepiness and loss in muscle control when feeling strong emotions (also known as cataplexy). These are symptoms on narcolepsy, anyone else experience this?

I have been experiencing the same symptoms for a several months. When I checked google I found information related to getting a feeling of dizziness postprandial but I get dizzy and feel faint almost as soon as I start eating and only when I’m eating dinner not breakfast nor lunch. I’m usually fine after about 10 to 15 seconds. However, I had a particularly intense attack when I started eating dinner last night that prompted me to search for answers again. I’m female, 49 and otherwise healthy and active. If anyone finds out anything about this condition please post it. I will do the same.
Thanks.

I had the exact same issue and did a little write-up for my therapist who was thinking it (at least partially) may have to do with stress and anxiety. It is long and all over the place.... but may be useful to some. Here goes nothing:

• The issue of lightheadedness is light dizziness after the first or the second bite of eating. It is NOT after the stomach starts digestion. It is instant! It had this for months last year and a few times this year.
• It is not blood sugar related, I checked my sugar often and have no issues with blood sugar.
• It is not after a meal, where blood flows to the stomach to digest, the lightheadedness is instant... sometimes as early as chewing the first bite.
• I mentioned this to my PCP and was dismissed. The GI doctor also shrugged his shoulders. The cardiologist made me wear a heart monitor for two weeks and I logged symptoms in a log. It turns out I do have occasional PVC (premature heart something something) but that is common and not significant enough to require treatment. The data collected by the monitor provided NO correlation to my eating lightheadedness and the log.
• I am not alone! Check out this thread I found of people describing the same symptom I had on and off over the last year (ignore the initial replies but see how many people later posted "me too" and no one knows why). It is 25 posts long. Please read through it all if this topic is important to you: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/general_health/2977349-Dizziness-WHEN-Im-eating-drinking

My special circumstances and personal, layman, insights:

• I do have somewhat low blood pressure. I am at 115/80, HR70. That is slow for my weight, size, and sedentary lifestyle. I got this from my mom. I don't believe that BP is very significant for this issue though because I never had the "first-byte dizziness" before in my life. It may play a role.
• Anxiety/depression/panic disorder was often blamed for my physical problems... I started to notice early though that my GI played a role...
• I, for months, theorized that the dizziness was caused by my body "telling me" not to eat. I theorized this because I was getting old and my unhealthy lifestyle was catching up with me at age 47. Now that there is a gallbladder involved, I feel even stronger about my theory that my body didn't want food intake and it was telling me so through lightheadedness as soon as starting to chew the first bye.
• I did see a correlation between how (un)healthy the food is and the lightheadedness. the prime example is the night before I went to the ER and kept for 4 days in April... we actually had pizza the night before and I remember feeling bad eating it! I don't recall the dizziness per se but I recall feeling that I am doing "something wrong" .. my body felt it.

• What changed in April 2020 when "first-byte dizziness" started is the following:

---- life-changing events introducing initial panic attacks that later settled into increased anxiety. Gallbladder inflammation/1 inch gallstone, which remained undetected until December 2020. It was detected after I finally got myself together in Nov and asked my PCP to refer me to a gI doctor who ordered the ultrasound and found the gallstone right away.

If you have someone you care about suffering from this strange first-bite dizziness, humble me recommends:

• Check blood sugar before and after eating to rule out.
• Log the event (include what the food was and how the person perceived it ( healthy, bad, I shouldn't etc.) and talk to a therapist/psychiatrist/etc. if there is a correlation.
• Consult a GI doctor paying attention to any recent changes in GI behavior/habits. I personally started to have more gas and constipation... it wasn't significant enough in April to be considered but gradually got worse until it was enough in Nov to actually see a GI doctor.

So FOR ME it was gallbladder + increased anxiety is probably to blame.

This is not medical advice obviously... just sharing what I went through in hopes it may help. Best wishes to all.