Need help, physical health is very bad

[chamomile]

So I'm 17 and I went vegan a month ago and since then I feel very bad physically

Sorry for mistakes, english is my third language

1. My ears feel clogged very very often. I never had this problem before.
2. Strong pressure on my head
3. Headaches (I had a problem with them before, but not as severe, they are very bad now, I'm so tired of them)
4. Something weird with my vision, like sometimes it blurs a little bit
5. I get tired very quickly

I take vitamin B12, and I can't say I eat super healthy, but I do try to do so. Like I would say I eat better than when I was an omnivore. I never really ate a lot of meat, mostly dairy and eggs. But even then I rarely ate healthy meals, and now I eat way better. But something is wrong. Like before I could go days without food (i have problems with appetite) and i was fine, now i feel awful if i dont eat for couple hours.

I assume since I never ate healthy maybe I already had some deficiency and it just became obvious when I went vegan? I take a big dose of B12, but what else can cause that?

It might be easier for people to give me advice if they know what I usually eat, so: I eat 1-2 times a day, I eat a lot of tofu, I drink protein soy milks, oat milk, I eat vegetables (mostly broccoli, avocado, tomatoes, corn), a lot of pasta, sometimes oatmeal, rice rarely. A lot of fruits and berries. Bread with vegan butter made from avocado fats. Different soups, baked potatoes and mushrooms. I also eat different unhealthy stuff like vegan ice cream with a bunch of sugar but I don't think they make me feel THAT bad. Also before I was almost never drinking water, now I started to.
And I don't think I don't eat enough or something, I only lost a tiny amount of weight this month.
So what is the problem. I eat so much healthier and more, but I feel so much worse.

Is there something I should start eating? Or some supplement I need to take?

 

[silva]

Seasonal allergies? A cold or sinus problems- that'll cause the ear, vision and pressure problems. Sometimes it's just a coincidence when problems start with other changes.
One month of a diet change wouldn't cause those kinds of symptoms, though headaches and fatigue can be from not eating enough calories.
Your diet sounds good, though can't tell how much food you're getting, esp if only eating twice a day. Beans and lentils?
Take a check at how many calories you're getting, and maybe up some snacks

 

[chamomile]

Seasonal allergies? A cold or sinus problems- that'll cause the ear, vision and pressure problems. Sometimes it's just a coincidence when problems start with other changes.
One month of a diet change wouldn't cause those kinds of symptoms, though headaches and fatigue can be from not eating enough calories.
Your diet sounds good, though can't tell how much food you're getting, esp if only eating twice a day. Beans and lentils?
Take a check at how many calories you're getting, and maybe up some snacks

I don't think I have any allergies, I was tested at some point in my life and I almost don't have anything.

Yeah I know that one month wouldn't change that much, that's why I think that I already had problems, like my body was already at its limits with my lifestyle and it just couldn't handle it anymore when I randomly went vegan.

I know that I might occasionally eat not enough calories, but it's not an everyday situation, and I don't think it would make me feel THAT bad.

 

[Second Summer]

Hi chamomile, I think I remember you from before.

Sorry to hear you're still struggling, but glad to hear it sounds like you're eating at least a little bit better.

That said, I would recommend going to your GP. A simple, standard blood test might reveal a lot about what's wrong. The GP might have some other ideas too.

 

[Lou]

And... allergies can develop at any time. some allergies are to food. Now that you are going vegan you might be eating something or more of something you hadn't eaten or much of before.
Again I second the notion of seeing a doctor.
There is a pretty simple test that they can do in the doctor's office that tests for most of the most common allergies.

 

[chamomile]

And... allergies can develop at any time. some allergies are to food. Now that you are going vegan you might be eating something or more of something you hadn't eaten or much of before.
Again I second the notion of seeing a doctor.
There is a pretty simple test that they can do in the doctor's office that tests for most of the most common allergies.

Tbh all the products I eat now I ate before my whole life, the only new ones were soy products. But I'm not sure soy is a common allergy and I don't know if you can get tested for it... I mean, maybe. I will need to look into it.

 

[Lou]

Soy is not a un-common allergy (as far as food allergens go). it's in the top 10. But still only about 0.4% of the population. Most people who are allergic to soy are born with it, but it can develop later in life.
There is a test for it. I think there is a skin test and/or a blood test. But both are pretty simple. Also not sure how they do it where you live. but here if you give you a skin or a blood test they test you for a bunch of allergies all at once.
you probably should talk to your GP about this. he may want to send you to a specialist but over here they just do the test and only send you to a specialist if an allergy shows up.
In the meantime you can do an experiment with yourself. Stop eating all soy products for a week or two.
Also you may not have an allergy to anything but just have a sensitivity or intolerance to a substance. either way there are treatments.

An allergy to peanuts is very concerning and I have read that they are now treatments for it.

Oh, I just thought of another thing. Thyroid issues. Which is not uncommon. I think it's like 10% of women. Again it's a simple blood test. people with throid issues have all kinds of different symptoms. It's hard to diagnose unless they regularly test for it. It's also treatable with medications.

Women who have thyroid issues don't have to take medications - but most do. Some can manage it with just a healthy lifestyle.

What made me just think of thyroid issues is when you mentioned your appetite. the thyroid does play a role in appetite.

Again, you should speak to your doctor.

I don't know what kind of health care system you have in your country, over here in the USA there is a big effort to cut costs. So they don't do tests unless they have a reason for it. Even then the doctors may not figure out what to test for. Anyway the bottom line is still the same. Talk to your doctor and ask questions.

 

[fakei]

So I'm 17 and I went vegan a month ago and since then I feel very bad physically

Sorry for mistakes, english is my third language

1. My ears feel clogged very very often. I never had this problem before.
2. Strong pressure on my head
3. Headaches (I had a problem with them before, but not as severe, they are very bad now, I'm so tired of them)
4. Something weird with my vision, like sometimes it blurs a little bit
5. I get tired very quickly

I take vitamin B12, and I can't say I eat super healthy, but I do try to do so. Like I would say I eat better than when I was an omnivore. I never really ate a lot of meat, mostly dairy and eggs. But even then I rarely ate healthy meals, and now I eat way better. But something is wrong. Like before I could go days without food (i have problems with appetite) and i was fine, now i feel awful if i dont eat for couple hours.

I assume since I never ate healthy maybe I already had some deficiency and it just became obvious when I went vegan? I take a big dose of B12, but what else can cause that?

It might be easier for people to give me advice if they know what I usually eat, so: I eat 1-2 times a day, I eat a lot of tofu, I drink protein soy milks, oat milk, I eat vegetables (mostly broccoli, avocado, tomatoes, corn), a lot of pasta, sometimes oatmeal, rice rarely. A lot of fruits and berries. Bread with vegan butter made from avocado fats. Different soups, baked potatoes and mushrooms. I also eat different unhealthy stuff like vegan ice cream with a bunch of sugar but I don't think they make me feel THAT bad. Also before I was almost never drinking water, now I started to.
And I don't think I don't eat enough or something, I only lost a tiny amount of weight this month.
So what is the problem. I eat so much healthier and more, but I feel so much worse.

Is there something I should start eating? Or some supplement I need to take?

If you introduced new products or changed the proportion in the diet this may be the cause, maybe you are consuming substances you are allergic to or have negative reaction to.

If you are consuming more sugar than usually and more grains is natural you feel more thirsty. Sugar however is not very good since it depletes the body of vitamins and minerals, and although a whole grain vegan diet may cover them because they may be less easy to absorb, the consequences may be even worse regarding that than if you consume animal products, for that reason it's better to stay out of sugar.

Some of those symptoms may also be related to the spine, which again may be caused by the new diet, may be muscular, may have to do with gas in the stomach or bowels.

IF it is dietary one solution would be to tune the diet with particular attention to new products you introduced.

 

[shyvas]

The only advice that we can give you, is to see your GP asap.

None of our members are qualified to fork out medical advice. I would certainly not listen to anybody except a qualified doctor. The symptoms that you describe can be an array of various medical conditions.

 

[fakei]

One month of a diet change wouldn't cause those kinds of symptoms, though headaches and fatigue can be from not eating enough calories.

If I eat garlic one day, next day will have a lot of difficulty reading. It doesn't take a lot for a new substance to have effect.

 

[missbeckman]

Are you feeling better now? I definitely have those times in life when my energy just hits rock bottom. That’s usually when I start browsing the Canada Pharmacy Partner website and loading up on extra vitamins and supplements. I try to add a few more healthy things to my meals too—anything to get that energy back on track. It’s funny how you don’t think about this stuff when you’re younger, but now I’m way more tuned in to what my body needs.

 

[chamomile]

Are you feeling better now? I definitely have those times in life when my energy just hits rock bottom. That’s usually when I start browsing the Canada Pharmacy Partner website and loading up on extra vitamins and supplements. I try to add a few more healthy things to my meals too—anything to get that energy back on track. It’s funny how you don’t think about this stuff when you’re younger, but now I’m way more tuned in to what my body needs.

Hey, idk... some of the symptoms I described kinda disappeared, or became less strong, some of them (like ear clogging) could be related to my other physical health issues, not necessarily veganism.
But I have new issues, when I get up it darkens in my eyes for a long time, longer than usual "stood up too fast" feeling, also everyone around me says that I look very skinny and pale.
I also have troubles with supplements... I struggle to find vegan ones. When it comes to B12 because I had obvious strong deficiency I just bought the usual one (it wasn't like not vegan for sure, but it could be not vegan since they didn't provide info on the packaging) because you could only find vegan one online and for some insane price. I really need an Iron supplement, but I can't find vegan iron anywhere, like at all, even online, without it being from some other country with 30€ delivery cost

 

[chamomile]

Soy is not a un-common allergy (as far as food allergens go). it's in the top 10. But still only about 0.4% of the population. Most people who are allergic to soy are born with it, but it can develop later in life.
There is a test for it. I think there is a skin test and/or a blood test. But both are pretty simple. Also not sure how they do it where you live. but here if you give you a skin or a blood test they test you for a bunch of allergies all at once.
you probably should talk to your GP about this. he may want to send you to a specialist but over here they just do the test and only send you to a specialist if an allergy shows up.
In the meantime you can do an experiment with yourself. Stop eating all soy products for a week or two.
Also you may not have an allergy to anything but just have a sensitivity or intolerance to a substance. either way there are treatments.

An allergy to peanuts is very concerning and I have read that they are now treatments for it.

Oh, I just thought of another thing. Thyroid issues. Which is not uncommon. I think it's like 10% of women. Again it's a simple blood test. people with throid issues have all kinds of different symptoms. It's hard to diagnose unless they regularly test for it. It's also treatable with medications.

Women who have thyroid issues don't have to take medications - but most do. Some can manage it with just a healthy lifestyle.

What made me just think of thyroid issues is when you mentioned your appetite. the thyroid does play a role in appetite.

Again, you should speak to your doctor.

I don't know what kind of health care system you have in your country, over here in the USA there is a big effort to cut costs. So they don't do tests unless they have a reason for it. Even then the doctors may not figure out what to test for. Anyway the bottom line is still the same. Talk to your doctor and ask questions.

Thank you for thr response and sorry for a late reply, I couldn't find my password and then I kinda forgot about this post...

So there are some reasons I can't do a blood or allergy test now, so I guess I will have to figure this out myself. I can try not eating soy products for a week or two sometimes maybe when I have enough motivation for that test, cause soy products is like 50% of my food now... so I really hope I don't have soy allergy.

The symptoms I described are not that strong now, so idk. The thing is I have a bunch of other health issues so it's hard to say when it's my diet and when it's something else. For example the ear thing could be related to the problems I have with nerves in my face because they are kinda connected? Or muscles? I possibly have pretty strong bruxism. The eye thing could be related to my migraines (I'm not sure though, cause vision problems during migraine feel different but whatever).. Dizziness and being tired could be because I still don't eat a lot. So idk. I just hope I don't have soy allergy cause that will be like really really sad. Maybe becoming vegan that fast with no preparation just made my body weaker so my other health issues became more obvious.

I will try to eat more and more healthy in the next couple months and maybe try to quit soy for a week or 2 sometime during these months and see how it goes.

 

[Lou]

But I have new issues, when I get up it darkens in my eyes for a long time, longer than usual "stood up too fast" feeling,

how is your blood pressure?

 

[chamomile]

how is your blood pressure?

Hard to say, I had that yearly health check up like a month ago and they did check my blood pressure and i don't think they found anything abnormal? At least they didn't say anything was wrong with it, so I assume it's okay.

 

[Lou]

Hard to say, I had that yearly health check up like a month ago and they did check my blood pressure and i don't think they found anything abnormal? At least they didn't say anything was wrong with it, so I assume it's okay.

Yeah, they would have/ should have said.

I just know that if you have issues with standing up too fast it's indicative of LOW blood pressure.

Oh, I had to look up bruxism...
Maybe pick up a. mouth guard at the local drug store.

 

[silva]

Hey, idk... some of the symptoms I described kinda disappeared, or became less strong, some of them (like ear clogging) could be related to my other physical health issues, not necessarily veganism.
But I have new issues, when I get up it darkens in my eyes for a long time, longer than usual "stood up too fast" feeling, also everyone around me says that I look very skinny and pale.
I also have troubles with supplements... I struggle to find vegan ones. When it comes to B12 because I had obvious strong deficiency I just bought the usual one (it wasn't like not vegan for sure, but it could be not vegan since they didn't provide info on the packaging) because you could only find vegan one online and for some insane price. I really need an Iron supplement, but I can't find vegan iron anywhere, like at all, even online, without it being from some other country with 30€ delivery cost

This is NOT the time to worry about everything vegan. B12 is likely vegan, unless in a gelatine capsule, but even so--take it!
Iron seriously needs to be tested and not supplemented on your own. Again, I don't suggest you worry about it's source.

I always suggest cutting things, or adding things in stages. I knew a woman who went vegan and complained about how awful her hair was, and blamed the diet. I asked if she switched shampoo and sure enough, she switched to a vegan shampoo I tried, and my hair reacted the same way!

 

[chamomile]

This is NOT the time to worry about everything vegan. B12 is likely vegan, unless in a gelatine capsule, but even so--take it!
Iron seriously needs to be tested and not supplemented on your own. Again, I don't suggest you worry about it's source.

I always suggest cutting things, or adding things in stages. I knew a woman who went vegan and complained about how awful her hair was, and blamed the diet. I asked if she switched shampoo and sure enough, she switched to a vegan shampoo I tried, and my hair reacted the same way!

Yeah, thank you, I probably will... Also it's more the animal testing part that worries me about vitamins, cause some supplements are being tested on animals and I can't always find information about the brand I'm buying.

You are probably right, I just didn't know what else to blame, cause a lot of those symptoms showed up after I went vegan. But maybe it's just that sudden change just gave a lot of stress to my body and already existing issues became more obvious.

I will try to figure that out, take vitamins and eat better, maybe my health will improve

 

[chamomile]

Yeah, they would have/ should have said.

I just know that if you have issues with standing up too fast it's indicative of LOW blood pressure.

Oh, I had to look up bruxism...
Maybe pick up a. mouth guard at the local drug store.

Yeah I will try, I just feel like it might make it even harder to fall asleep and well we are still not sure it's 100% bruxism, not something else..I'm pretty much now trying to treat that problem with my jaw, my doctor suggested botox injections... cause those problems can cause serious damage (it's already causing big damage to my teeth and face nerves), but I'm not a fan of the idea of botox, so for now we are gonna try some more mild methods
But the good thing I guess is that some of the symptoms I mentioned maybe are not related to veganism