Transitioning - two weeks

amelie

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  1. Vegan newbie
Hello! I have few questions regarding my new lifestyle. So, I decided to become a vegan two weeks ago.

First week: I had a horrible headache for two days, now it is fine.

Second week: I am starting to feel weird during the night before sleeping. My legs and arms are numb and I have a tingling sensation, hand shake a bit, chest and heart feel funny as I lay (like it beats faster?) and head is spinning.

Is it normal? Is this because I am transitioning?

Also, I saw my doctor and my blood test was fine six months ago. They suggested to go again after the summer to see if anything changed.

Thank you for your help.
 
First off congrats on becoming vegan and welcome to the forum.

This has become a trend here at Vegan Forum. A new member shows up and the very first thing they do is list a bunch of symptoms.

I'm not complaining. New members, new vegans, are all good things in my book. The transitioning problems are a little worrisome but I figure that for every new vegan with issues there are lots more without issues. This sort of reminds me of Yelp and Amazon reviews where the negative tends to outweigh the positive.

Anyway, I have no idea what your symptoms might mean. You probably should call or see your doctor and have them checked out. It could be diet related or it could be something else. Actually, now that I have thought about it for a minute, your symptoms sound more like the nervous system or cardiovascular system than the digestive system. Not that they all aren't related but it seems like maybe it is even more reason to make that Doctor's appointment.

I still think you should call the doctor. but one thing you could do at home as a self-check is count calories. Maybe the most common mistake that new vegans make is that they aren't getting enough calories. This is probably because plant-based food is usually less calorie dense than animal-based foods. Not getting enough calories is the first step in becoming malnourished. Although nutrient deficiencies usually take way more than 2 weeks to manifest.

That blood test you took months ago could be a useful benchmark.
 
I still think you should call the doctor. but one thing you could do at home as a self-check is count calories. Maybe the most common mistake that new vegans make is that they aren't getting enough calories. This is probably because plant-based food is usually less calorie dense than animal-based foods. Not getting enough calories is the first step in becoming malnourished. Although nutrient deficiencies usually take way more than 2 weeks to manifest.

Yeah that seems to be the case quiet often with new vegans I have met, not eating enough calories often due to avoiding the more calorie dense vegans foods. Don't forget the beans, seeds nuts, lentils and whole grains! Oh and since Lou forgetted to mention it, cronometer is a useful site to see what nutrients (and maybe more importantly here calories) you are consuming.
 
@Lou and @SapphireLightning Yeah, the headache sounds like calorie deficit...

But the other symptoms doesn't sound like calorie deficit to me... and it's weird, if those appeared out of nowhere during the last two weeks.

I think that when people go vegan, they start to become more aware of their health, which is good... But at the same time some might also become paranoid, and the paranoia is fed by their relatives who can't stop complaining about veganism "you are going to starve" "how can you live without meat?" "veganism can't be healthy, why won't you stop this foolishness." "I think that you have an eating disorder." etc.

I'm not saying that the symptoms aren't real, but kinda like in the rotting teeth -thread, I think that the symptoms were there even before, but because of all the brainwashing "you are going to die if you don't eat meat, dairy and eggs." the symptoms seem to get even worse. When you are worried about your health every minor detail is more prominent.

But I'm not a doctor, and I do not know anything. I just know the symptoms of paranoia, because I am very paranod and anxious person. I'd recomend @amelie to go see a doctor, just in case.

I know that calling you paranoid isn't helping. I'm sorry for belittling your problem. I can't give you an adequate answer, only a doctor can.

Take care and good luck!
 
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