Below is a list of symptoms I get when consuming food and drinks that contain tannin.
The Symptoms generally start to appear about 10-12 hours after consuming tannin, gradually worsen over the following 12 hours, and then completely disappear.
I will describe the symptoms as I experienced them when I ate tannin all of the time, as I hadn’t yet worked out that tannin was the cause of my symptoms. When I eat tannin now, two to three times a week, my symptoms are not as severe as they used to be, probably because there are gaps where I have no symptoms, resulting in less build-up of inflammation and tension.
Symptoms
- Headaches: Tension all over my head, back of the neck, forehead, face, around the eyes, jaw, throat, and tongue root. Sometimes the tension was so bad that it would affect my speech.
- Migraine Headaches: There are already many websites about migraines, so I will not discuss them here.
- Pressure inside the head.
- Dragging/pulling sensations in the brain. A pressing down feeling in the front of the brain. Probably caused by brain inflammation.
- Spaced-out/stuck in the head. Mind-body disconnect. Feeling sort of locked in the head and disconnected from my body.
- ADHD. Lack of clarity. Trouble focusing and concentrating. Slower reactions and thinking.
- Confusion
- Overthinking/ruminating.
- Emotional Problems.
- Feeling negative emotions: fear, anger, and emotional pain more intensely than when I don’t have tannin symptoms.
I also have an intolerance to nightshade vegetables and fruits, particularly tobacco and tomatoes, which affect my nervous system and cause anxiety and irritability. The combination of nightshade symptoms and tannin symptoms led me to also suffer from the following:
- General anxiety
- Social anxiety disorder.
- Social phobia.
- Depression.
- General muscular tension and stiffness in the body
I think it’s important to mention here that ADHD left me with low self-confidence and self-esteem when I was younger. The combination of ADHD, lack of self-confidence, and the other tannin symptoms led to the anxiety-related disorders mentioned above. Someone with tannin intolerance and good self-esteem and confidence might not necessarily develop a social anxiety disorder or social phobia.
(These days, eating tannin for shorter periods, rather than all of the time, can still cause for me temporary anxiety, headaches, and mild depression, but not the more serious social phobia or panic disorder that I experienced when I ate tannin all of the time).
All of these symptoms were worse when I had PMT.
I am not a doctor or health practitioner, but I think these symptoms result from brain inflammation interfering with the autonomic nervous system and other brain activity.