Hi there,
Reaching out because I’m confused and worried. Have been doing Low Carb / Paleo/ Keto for nearly three months. Things were going well, with about 10 kg lost. Had the initial keto flu, followed by weeks of high energy until lately.
I feel I have the keto flu again… No energy, tired, weak muscles during exercise. Have upped salt and even got myself some magnesium and potassium, but can’t see any effect. I have only occasionally tested ketones, it hasn’t worried me too much since I was losing weight with minimal carbs and energy to spare. Today I did (pee sticks) and I would be in the 4-8 bracket. But I feel like carp. Tempted to try some carbs to see if they help… Could it be I’m pretty close to “healthy” weight (only about 2 kg away from a BMI of sub 25)? What’s going on? Any help much appreciated.
3 months in.. Keto flu again?
Thought of that, too. No temp, checked that, but maybe some other bug. Who knows. And I did have a quarter of a slice of toast to see if it would help, but it didn’t make a difference. No appetite, though dinner time here and normally I would be quite “hangry” by now. Oh well, think I’m going just going to take it easy for a bit.
If you are in the U.S., it’s possible that you have contracted type A influenza and are being protected from the worst of the symptoms by your flu shot last fall. This is the strain that killed a boy in New York State and is sending lots of people to the hospital. Apparently even people who were vaccinated against this strain (it was in this fall’s flu shot) are still catching it, but the good news is that instead of making people really sick and sending them to the hospital, the symptoms are mild enough that they don’t necessarily even register as being the flu.
After we were all dragging around the house during most of February, my sister and my niece finally went to the doctor’s a couple of weeks ago, and they were diagnosed with this strain—much to the surprise of all of us—and although I didn’t feel ill enough to see a doctor myself, my sister’s doctor is pretty sure I had it too. We’ve all pulled out of it and are now fine, but the symptoms were a lot like what you described: no fever, but a general lack of energy and a lot of feeling like crap. If that’s what’s troubling you, just ride it out; you’ll be over it soon.
Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I’m not in the US, but in Australia, which doesn’t mean that bugs can’t travel with their carriers around the world easily these days. Nevertheless, I’m more convinced now that I’m battling a virus of sorts. Have since found out that there is a bug going around at my son’s school with symptoms that range from gastroenteritis to just feeling tired and loss of appetite. Thinking that maybe a kid who had a sleepover at our place got sick here kindly shared his germs with me. On the plus side, feeling better, taking it easy, sucking on bone broth…
Which have you been doing? All three are very different.
If you are in true keto (20g net carbs or less per day, high fat, moderate protein.) It’s usually electrolytes or you’re actually sick.
If you are doing sometimes keto, not always keto. You’re probably not fat adapted and just producing ketones without efficient uptake. Urine tests are basically useless beyond telling you if you have ketones in your urine. You want the ketones in your body being used, not peeing them out.
So, if you are just going in and out of keto randomly, it’s not easy to experience the keto benefits.
However, if you are strict keto for those 3 months, illness can sometimes cause an insulin response which can cause ketones to dump which is why they’d be in your urine. Take it easy for a week, keep it keto, don’t eat if you aren’t hungry, get your electrolytes, and feel better.
Australia, eh? You Ozzies had people getting sick from this virulent type A strain about six months ago, which is how we knew we were in for trouble here. I’d be willing to bet that what you’ve been dealing with is either a holdover from the original round, or a mutated variant that’s just now popping up. In any case, do your best to take care of yourself and your son, and get well soon!
Thanks dudes. With the low carb / Paleo /Keto thing… It has been a journey for me, in that order. I would say that I have been consistently strictly Keto for about half of that time. I know that the pee sticks are inaccurate, and I’m not convinced I need to invest in a fancy blood monitor. I rather spend the money on the food… As I said, things were going great consistently until recently.
Anywhoos, agree with you both and my observations, I got a bug of sorts, one of them sneaky ones that doesn’t even give me proper symptoms… But yeah, feeling better already 