Episodes of weakness, fatigue, derealization, vision changes, and feeling better after eating
Hi everyone,
I’m looking for some opinions while waiting to see my doctor.
I’m an adult male, overweight (currently around 96 kg, down from 101 kg over the past few months through dieting and walking).
For the past several weeks I’ve been having episodes where I suddenly feel very weak, shaky, fatigued, and generally unwell. Sometimes I feel detached from reality or “dream-like” (derealization). My vision is not exactly blurry, but sometimes things seem dimmer or brighter than normal.
Symptoms I’ve noticed:
Sudden weakness and fatigue
Feeling shaky or trembling during episodes
Feeling detached/dream-like
Occasional difficulty concentrating
Sometimes shortness of breath or feeling like I need to take deeper breaths
Reflux/acid symptoms and frequent burping
Dry mouth during some episodes
Sometimes loose stools or diarrhea
Feeling especially bad when my stomach feels uncomfortable
One thing that seems strange is that eating often improves my symptoms fairly quickly. There have been times when I felt very weak or exhausted, then after eating I felt much better within minutes and could walk around normally again.
I recently went to the ER during one of these episodes. They checked my vital signs and blood glucose and told me everything looked normal. My oxygen levels, blood pressure, and heart rate were not concerning. Blood sugar was normal when checked.
Recent blood work was mostly normal except for a platelet count of 466.
I have also been under a lot of stress and anxiety recently, so I’m wondering whether anxiety could explain all of this, but some of the symptoms feel very physical.
Questions:
Could anxiety or panic attacks cause symptoms like this even when I don’t feel extremely anxious at the time?
Are there any medical conditions that can cause weakness and a dream-like feeling that improve after eating despite normal blood sugar readings?
Does the platelet count of 466 seem likely to be related?
I’m not looking for a diagnosis, just ideas about what conditions might be worth discussing with my doctor.
Posted Jun 8, 2026, 12:25 AM UTC