barefooter
Member
- Joined
- Aug 22, 2013
- Messages
- 218
For years I've been trying to put the pieces together for the causes of my anxiety, coffee intolerance, and other symptoms that seem to be getting worse now that I'm in my 30s. I kept coming back to blood sugar issues, which especially in terms of coffee intolerance is often talked about around here (ie: fuel up when having coffee). However, the blood sugar angle, and related interventions, hasn't really helped me so I'm starting to consider acidosis instead.
Coffee makes me feel amazing for at best an hour or two, and then I tend to have just an annoying uncomfortable/anxiety feeling that is often accompanied by a feeling of shortness of breath and desire to curl up away from people. This can take hours to resolve, and even eating a ton (like a whole box of cookies or quart of juice) doesn't seem to resolve it. No matter how much I eat with my coffee, it generally seems to be the same situation.
I get low blood sugar sometimes, from going too long without eating, and it is a very different feeling. I get shaky, maybe a tad anxious, but it's not the same kind of uncomfortable, and I don't feel short of breath. It also resolves very easily by simply eating.
The other day I happened to read something about acidosis on the forum, mineral balance, etc. and it got me thinking. It's now starting to make more sense if I view the issues with coffee (and other stimulants) from a viewpoint of the effects of acidosis. The shortness of breath is because my body is upping my respiratory rate to dump CO2 to raise blood ph, and the anxiety seems to be explained by the link from elevated lactic acid effecting the fear centers in the brain. From what I've read there's a strong interaction between acidosis and anxiety.
This model would lead to the conclusion that my body either produces too much lactic acid, or that I'm not efficient at getting rid of it. As a kid I was healthy and fit, but remember having almost no tolerance for coffee. I'd expect that in such a state with my metabolism humming along, I wouldn't have been producing an excess of lactic acid, so I'm wondering if there is something about my physiology that prevents me from being able to rapidly balance out low blood ph.
There are a couple aspects of my personal and family history that may shed more light on my situation. I've been a mouth breather pretty much my entire life (I'm a 33 y/o male btw). I've retrained myself to mostly breath through my nose, but I haven't seen any real positive health improvements from it. While it's a little hard to say if it's causative, I started the nose breathing a few years ago, and these years I've seen the worst anxiety of my life, including my first ever panic attacks. I read a ton about how bad mouth breathing is, but hadn't stopped to wonder why I was doing it in the first place, and if it was compensatory for something else.
My sister, dad, grandma, and aunt also seem to be pretty much exclusive mouth breathers, so there is some family history going on. Maybe we all have some condition where we're not able to buffer acid well enough (ie: chronic low production of bicarbonate) and mouth breathing is a compensatory mechanism to expel CO2 and raise the bloods ph. If this is the case, I wonder if I could simply up my intake of buffering minerals like calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium.
I may be way off here, but I feel very hopeful, because I've been exploring this blood sugar angle for years and seemingly only getting worse. If anyone has any insight on my situation, I'd be very appreciate of hearing it.
Is this a plausibly theory?
What should I do to test it?
What foods, supplements, etc. will be useful if this theory is correct? NOTE: my digestion doesn't like much dairy, so please don't suggest I drink a gallon of milk a day to buffer acid. Believe me, I'd love to if I could :)
Coffee makes me feel amazing for at best an hour or two, and then I tend to have just an annoying uncomfortable/anxiety feeling that is often accompanied by a feeling of shortness of breath and desire to curl up away from people. This can take hours to resolve, and even eating a ton (like a whole box of cookies or quart of juice) doesn't seem to resolve it. No matter how much I eat with my coffee, it generally seems to be the same situation.
I get low blood sugar sometimes, from going too long without eating, and it is a very different feeling. I get shaky, maybe a tad anxious, but it's not the same kind of uncomfortable, and I don't feel short of breath. It also resolves very easily by simply eating.
The other day I happened to read something about acidosis on the forum, mineral balance, etc. and it got me thinking. It's now starting to make more sense if I view the issues with coffee (and other stimulants) from a viewpoint of the effects of acidosis. The shortness of breath is because my body is upping my respiratory rate to dump CO2 to raise blood ph, and the anxiety seems to be explained by the link from elevated lactic acid effecting the fear centers in the brain. From what I've read there's a strong interaction between acidosis and anxiety.
This model would lead to the conclusion that my body either produces too much lactic acid, or that I'm not efficient at getting rid of it. As a kid I was healthy and fit, but remember having almost no tolerance for coffee. I'd expect that in such a state with my metabolism humming along, I wouldn't have been producing an excess of lactic acid, so I'm wondering if there is something about my physiology that prevents me from being able to rapidly balance out low blood ph.
There are a couple aspects of my personal and family history that may shed more light on my situation. I've been a mouth breather pretty much my entire life (I'm a 33 y/o male btw). I've retrained myself to mostly breath through my nose, but I haven't seen any real positive health improvements from it. While it's a little hard to say if it's causative, I started the nose breathing a few years ago, and these years I've seen the worst anxiety of my life, including my first ever panic attacks. I read a ton about how bad mouth breathing is, but hadn't stopped to wonder why I was doing it in the first place, and if it was compensatory for something else.
My sister, dad, grandma, and aunt also seem to be pretty much exclusive mouth breathers, so there is some family history going on. Maybe we all have some condition where we're not able to buffer acid well enough (ie: chronic low production of bicarbonate) and mouth breathing is a compensatory mechanism to expel CO2 and raise the bloods ph. If this is the case, I wonder if I could simply up my intake of buffering minerals like calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium.
I may be way off here, but I feel very hopeful, because I've been exploring this blood sugar angle for years and seemingly only getting worse. If anyone has any insight on my situation, I'd be very appreciate of hearing it.
Is this a plausibly theory?
What should I do to test it?
What foods, supplements, etc. will be useful if this theory is correct? NOTE: my digestion doesn't like much dairy, so please don't suggest I drink a gallon of milk a day to buffer acid. Believe me, I'd love to if I could :)
