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Food allergies causing insomnia

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brian1998
brian1998

Hi everybody , I'm 18 and recently I developed insomnia in the middle of my senior year in high school. I believe it's from stress but there must be another issue as well. Starting in October, whever I consumed a protein bar or protein shake I would stay awake wired like I was on caffeine for 2 days. It's odd because I've been working out for years and have been consuming protein bars/shakes since I was 14 and I've never had a problem. After it started I just started to shift to getting all my protein (200g) a day from natural food. Recently I drank an entire carton of soy milk and was awake for 3 days-.- i always fixed my insomnia by following sleep restriction but this time I was messsed up for like a week. I finally started sleeping 4-6 hours a night and feel much better. But is it possible I developed food allergies over time? Should I go get tested just in case because my allergy might be soy. And is it possible for a food allergy to cause terrible insomnia.

1 like, 4 replies

4 Replies

  • hope4cure
    hope4cure brian1998

    Posted

    I agree insomnia as the #1 cause is stress. School can certainly be a source.

    sometimes it helps to get into sports or other activities that can help with stress and releive the pent up issues. Also stress causes the body to build up crdisol in the brain causing depression and insomnia . Exercise can releive the stressors by the brain producing the good hormones endorphins which envolved the reward sensors in the brain helping the stress. It a good way to help with stressors is school.

    read up on some of the other ways to manage stress on the UK patient forum above,

    take care

    • brian1998
      brian1998 hope4cure

      Posted

      Yeah it has to be something because it cannot be lack of exercise. I workout 2 hours a day 7 days a week and I'm 8% body fat.

    • hope4cure
      hope4cure brian1998

      Posted

      You must be in great shape. If you can see a allergist for food allergies that would be the next step.

      Or can you shut down you thoughts at night thinking can keep you awake. 

       

  • jennifer58561
    jennifer58561 brian1998

    Posted

    I know your post is from a while ago, but I wanted to respond.  For me, multiple foods (and other things) lead to insomnia.  For example:

    - omega-3 foods (salmon, flax seeds, fish oil supplements)

    - MSG (I think most fast food has this. A LOT of packaged food has it. It's often hidden in the ingredient as Maltodextrin, or Dextrine, and Yeast extract. Even a teeny amount is bad news.)

    - brain-boosting supplements (ginkgo biloba, SAM-e, CoQ, ginseng)

    - "stimulating" topical products, even when used in the morning (Rogaine, Strivectin, some hand lotions)

    And, of course, the usual caffeine culprits (coffee, tea, decaf, chocolate), and anti-histamines (Claritin, Allegra). 

    I've seen people mention oats as a stimulating food. Could be! I night I didn't sleep more than 2 hours. I had muesli, and also washed my hair with a tea tree shampoo.  Which was it?

    It's such a freaky thing, and there's so little information about this kind of thing, that it takes a LONG time to figure out if something set me off.  It was years and years before I got clued into MSG and salmon.  Who knew salmon could keep a person awake?

    After years and years of thinking I'm a poor sleeper, I now think that I'm just very, very sensitive to stimulating things. As time goes by, I get more and more sensitive. :-(

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