I have written about these attacks from time to time almost from the beginning of my journal in the late 1990es. Back then I had no idea what they came from. After 2005 I have concluded that they come from eating fat. I can process small quantities of fat, but if I eat a normal Norwegian diet, I get these attacks frequently. If I stick to a low-fat diet, they don’t happen at all.
Usually an attack start by a feeling of intense cold, coming from within. It feels as if I have already spent a lot of time in a cold place and am chilled through. My muscles are stiff and I start shivering and shaking. The next symptom is usually intense contractions of the bowels, causing abdominal pain and a hurried visit to the bathroom. The stomach is also upset, but not to the point of throwing up, more a deep vague nausea. A sense of dread is typically the third, although these three can sometimes switch places. At this stage my intelligence is reduced – it is hard for me to think clearly, and typing or handwriting is filled with typos; also my senses seem to be dampened, which is why I used to call these attacks “darkenings” before I knew what triggered them. The final stage is overwhelming sleepiness which cannot be resisted. I usually fall asleep in my chair. When I wake up (which I have obviously done every time so far) the attack is over. But my digestion is usually upset for a day or two afterwards.
Today’s attack, if that is what it is, has not been typical. I have been sleepy during the day, napping and waking up just as sleepy. It was similar enough that I thought of Darkening, but without the other symptoms it did not seem reasonable. Then while I was sleepily playing Neverwinter a bit, my heart suddenly started beating very hard. Not extremely fast, but very hard. That certainly made me take notice. Some minutes later, I suddenly started freezing, even though it was not that cold. A little on the chilly side, but nothing as extreme as this (shivering, shaking). And while my stomach is a little upset, I have not yet had colon spasms.
I know my fat intake has been in the borderlands lately, as I have taken to eating a delicious bread made with oats, sunflower seeds and roasted pumpkin seeds. These seeds are full of fat, and I eat it with mustard and a salad spread made with fine-cut vegetables and mayonnaise. (The mayonnaise is not particularly rich, but this ingredient is one of the ones I tolerate the least usually.) I guess it is possible that I have bumped into the border line of fat intake I can handle, but judging from the incomplete symptoms, I may not have gone far over the line at least.
Or it could be something different, I suppose. The heart gallop is not part of the usual sequence.