Dairy reintroduction + nightmares

[softlysoaring]

Hi all,

 

So I did Whole30 in July and am doing the "slow roll" reintroduction process—just reintroducing things one at a time slowly as they naturally come up in life, rather than following a strict ten-day reintroduction process that includes some things I don't ever intend to reintroduce, like gluten grains. 

 

Anyway, I reintroduced non-gluten alcohol (red wine, tequila) first starting about a week ago and that went fine as long as I keep it to like 1.5 glasses per day (more than that and I wake up in the middle of the night).

 

Last night my husband and I were going out for Mexican so I decided to give dairy a shot. I had a chicken ensalada with lots of veggies and salsa, with jack cheese sprinkled on top and a side of sour cream. I also had one fresh lime juice margarita at the restaurant. Later on, we met up with friends at a bar and I had a couple glasses of red wine. We then walked home and went to bed. (I should note that I was very active yesterday, I walked/jogged at least 5 miles in total throughout the course of the day, and did yoga for 40 minutes as well.)

 

I woke up at 2:45 AM completely wired and unable to get back to sleep, and also extremely nauseous and gassy (TMI sorry). I tossed and turned, watched a little TV, checked Pinterest, cuddled the cat, got up and made a cup of tea and ate a banana to try to help with the bloating and stomach pain. Nothing worked for about two hours, and eventually I drifted off.

 

Between 4:45 AM and 8:45 AM I had no fewer than three sleep paralysis nightmares. I tend to have them a couple times a year and I used to have them more often when I took melatonin supplements, which I haven't taken in months and months and months, and they're never three in a row like that, or quite so terrifying. They were all about being assaulted, harm coming to me and my family, etc. The cat was in my face when I woke up from one of them and I was so frightened I attacked him and scared the living daylights out of him poor thing!

 

I guess my question is, obviously the nausea and gas could be a result of the dairy, but I'm trippin about the night terrors. Has anybody had night terrors or sleep paralysis as a result of dairy reintroduction, or is that just cause I had a glass and a half more than I should have or my hormones were a little wonky yesterday? 

[Loulabelle]

One of my good friends can't eat cheese at night as it gives him terribly disturbed sleep and nightmares; he says most of his family are the same way on his mums side. Sleep paralysis is terrifying so I get why you are freaked out by it.

[jmcbn]

Dairy contains tryptophan which *could* actually induce a more sound sleep, however the high fat content can also cause indigestion.... that coupled with the reduction in sleep quality from the alcohol may well be the reason behind your nightmares.

That said my dad suffered from sleep paralysis (along with hallucinations of 'the old hag') right up until he was diagnosed with & treated for nasal polyps. He'd got to the point where he was actually afraid to go to  sleep. Interestingly nasal polyps are often due to inflammation of the nasal passage, and dairy is known to cause inflammation in that area....