psychological reactions

has anyone felt reactions to the macrobiotic diet by feelings of flightiness, of shakiness, lightness, and perhaps feeling "high"? I'm trying to avoid the spaciness and i suspect i should be eating more yang. it's given mixed results. has anyone else has these reactions?

[Blue Dolfin]

Yes. I had some of these effects. I found them not too disturbing, but on occasion I wanted to temper the weirdness and accomplished it by eating a small amount of mozzarella cheese (with full acceptance of the health effects of the cheese). You might try some ume extract. You can't OD on it. It might be just the ticket!

Thanks Blue Dolfin. A lot of my symptoms are greatly associated with fear. I feel like the food is really making me feel fear very strongly. The other day I was at a concert and I had to leave about 30 minutes through because I felt nausea around the crowd and was shaking heavily and the music was really affecting me. The vibrations from the sound and the great masses of moving people made everything around me feel really synthetic and unreal. Today I ate some white bread and already I feel those symptoms have gone away. I don't plan on continuing to do so - but I was just making sure that it was the food. I'm really feeling weird.

gosh, your reactions to the crowd sound like mine many years ago during period of panics. I don't have those panics anymore, but I'm aware of such thoughts as you describe still and they trouble and alienate me, and this type of "vibe" is part of what PULLS me to MB, since I'm hoping that some kind of balancing will help mental/emotional issues as well as physical. I'm new to this diet, so can't say for sure, but it sounds like it could be "discharging" of some sort. Then again, it would be good to ask a counselour or someone used to dealing with such things.

Meeso, I think you're right about the discharging (emotional; fear-based) but the food makes me feel like i'm made of less substance, like i'm going to drift away. I think some of it is related to the fact that I used to be a user of hallucinogens and the reaction resembles the paranoia one initially feels on a trip. It's almost as if the diet is giving me flashbacks but I feel like it's important to go through it. Thanks for your input. Let me know if it works for you.

[Waco]

Ummm, it is my experience that 'I' am made of less substance, moreover that this 'I' is not at all real like we like to think it is. I think that when this 'I' starts to colapse there can be a fair bit of anxiety, but, rest assured, there is something much deeper, much more fullfilling than this 'I' and all the anxiety that goes along with that 'I'

But that is my experience, i am not an expert in anything, i just thought i'd share!

I have also used halucinogenics in the past, i also think that maybe halucinogenics (and many things in life) can effect perceptions in a way that makes this 'I' feel unstable.

I find meditation most useful

All the best

Mark

[Blue Dolfin]

Waco & unregistered, you may be suffering from a mild form of what modern psychiatry calls
Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder. Read about it. Interesting.

[Waco]

Haha, no, i am 'suffering' from zen buddhism!

I have only used haluginogenics a couple of time, and have had no flashbacks.

I have just become more aquainted with the functioning of my mind though meditation

Mark

[Blue Dolfin]

In my case I also did not use hallucinogenics much at all, either, and never experienced any form of flashbacks for a while *after* starting macrobiotics. It went on for many years but the episodes became less frequent and milder with time. I found that they were brought on by becoming more yang with fasting, narrow eating and/or heavy activity. After the first six months or so I could get relief by eating mochi.

I also used hallucinagens (a few times) in my youth (the 80's) and found after only 2 or 3 uses that I had flashbacks when I smoked pot. Hence the end of pot and all drug use for me (a good thing, I suppose). However, with the disclaimer that I am very new to this and uneducated, I would suggest that if you feel like you "lack substance" you might want to eat a bit more of something with substance, say, animal protein or a bit of oil. Please, mb counselors, chime in to give more educated opinion.
--Meeso

Sounds like plain ol' hypoglycemia to me! I'd say more complete protein and less salt might do the trick. And maybe look into heavy metal toxicity - it is famous for causing hypoglycemia. Best of luck. Biology is the mother of psychology.

All of this is really helpful. Waco I agree that there is some strange ego-driven fear that I feel particularly sensitive to after light/ macrobiotic eating. To some extent it may be HPPD because I suddenly get the tendency to zone out, look into space and become fixated in a 'feeling' while colors intensify and sometimes dust particles in the air become very sharp and sometimes when i'm moving objects have tracers. None of this matters as much as the feeling that I'm cold and shivering and very alone. If I'm with other people I feel very seperate from them. All of our connections as friend-to-friend and parent-to-daughter disappear and suddenly everything feels like an empty shell.

When I used to get these feelings on pot or on hallucinogens (though don't get the wrong idea, I was not a heavy user - I used them 3 times) it was expected but I'm just surprised the feelings are coming back on the new shift in my diet.

It's most potent though when I'm alone or before I fall asleep. Also thanks for the bit about hypoglycemia, I've never heard of it. I don't have diabetes though and don't know of any reason that I would have heavy metal toxicity but I certainly will try to eat more protein.

-m

[Waco]

Yes it does sound like there is more going on than just the realisation the ego isn't all its made out to be!

All the best

Mark

[sua721]

This is a very interesting read - I have been suffering from anxiety attacks since last year - right now, I'm usually home based, and try to delegate anything that needs to be done outside of the house to someone else. I do have physical problems like subluxation (effects of misaligned spine), which I'm trying to address with my chiropractor - However, I sense that my reaction to the pain is much maginified with my anxiety disorder - Is it hypoglycema? I have been following macrobiotics for more than 2 years now. And every now and then, I'd also fell hungry but when I eat my food, I loose appetite- maybe the diet is too limited, that's why I'm bored with the food? But that's a side issue.

My counselor says I need to take lots of minerals because phsyc is related to the nervous system, and the nervous system needs minerals - she gave me shiso, lots of sesame and sea vegetables, umeboshi, miso to boost my sagging mineral levels - i've been doing this for 1-2 months - my anxiety has improved, but has not gone away - any suggestions?

[Waco]

Oats are very good for the nervous system