Abdominal Cramps and Nausea After Six Months of KETO

(Martin) #1

Hey guys,

I’ve been doing KETO for about six months now and I feel great (lost weight, hair got dark again, etc), but for about two months, I’ve been getting progressively more nauseated, now accompanied with abdominal cramps (mostly at both sides of the stomach) and some back pain. Discomfort is intermittent, just flares up some time after eating (possibly around bowel movement) and slowly goes away. No easily identifiable sharp pain. I get looser stool, but rarely go more than the usual once a day. Still, my energy is high and feel great, otherwise.

My usual meal would be afternoon lunch - roughly 200g meat, 300g-400g broccoli and 3 eggs, and sheep plain yogurt with blueberries and nuts for dinner.

After a while, I noticed never getting nauseated after dinner and after another while, I noticed further ease of symptoms by cutting veggies. If I eat maybe half a snake cucumber a day, it seems to almost go away.

What do you guys think it could be? I was thinking maybe I grew too much bacteria and got SIBO, since I get a flare up only after eating veggies, but you’d know better!:slight_smile:

Thank you so much for any help, guys!:slight_smile:

(Rebecca ) #2

Maybe try some digestive enzymes?

(Martin) #3

Hi Rebecca, that’s exactly what I was thinking - eat some enzymes, stupid!:smiley:

I ordered these, so hopefully, they will help with the problem, but any other idea would be really appreciated:)

#4

Those are pretty close to what I use, an enzyme for everything. I’ve also had good luck adding a probiotic and fiber.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #5

I had random bouts of nausea and vomiting when my appendix was starting to fail. Your description of the pain sounds very much like what I experienced. I was given an EKG a couple of times, to rule out a heart attack as the cause of the pain.

It was not until the appendix got seriously inflamed, however, that the diagnosis became certain, and despite all symptoms’ pointing to appendicitis, the surgeon was reluctant to operate, because I didn’t fit the profile (I was forty, instead of twenty). The surgeon’s father, who was also a surgeon, took one look at me, operated, and told me afterward that the appendix burst in his hand just after he got it out. The moral of the story? Take this stuff seriously and get checked out.

(Martin) #6

That’s great and you’re right! I was taking probiotics religiously. I still haven’t ruled out SIBO and Berg says to stay away from probiotics for a while, because you’re just adding more to your gut. Foods like sauerkraut are giving me a toilet run, which according to Berg, is a clear giveaway. I’d love to eat fibre, but right now, I guess I’ll have to cut down on that, too!:smiley:

(Martin) #7

Wow, that was so last minute! Glad you got it sorted out! Fortunately, my appendix has already been removed when I was 18. In my case, nothing was pointing to an inflamed appendix, but the surgeon offered me to remove it, just in case, which I though was a good idea. You never know with those appendixes!:smiley:

#8

FWIW: Berg is a Chiropractor and self appointed keto guru, not a medical doc or a nutritionist. No shortage of insane crap has come out of his mouth over the years. Not saying everything’s wrong, just don’t make too many decisions based on him without verifying it elsewhere.

(Martin) #9

You’re right, it’s like a minefield out there, but you know what, Berg says so himself - always get second, third and fourth opinion before committing to a decision :slight_smile:
What do you think about Dr. Stephen Phinney from Virta Health?

#10

Haha, honestly, I can’t f’ing stand Phinney and Volek and here’s why. I read both the Art and Science of Low Carb Living / and performance. I tried for years to re-gain the strength and endurance I had back in the carb days being keto for years… it never came. I listened to Jason Fung and destroyed my metabolism, I tried to use Phinney/Volek to rebuild assuming they worked with all athletes and how could they not know right?

My conclusion, unless you’re a skinny, wirey low muscle endurance type, most of their info is crap. If I was that I’m sure their stuff would have been fine. But I’m the protein eating muscle building heavy lifting want to look awesome with my shirt off type (not vain at all right? LOL) .

Seriously though I had every issue there was, wrecked my metabolic rate, gained a bunch of fat while still strict keto, lost a ton of muscle, and that was after loosing almost 100lbs. So not like I started things messed up. What I’ve come to is find somebody that’s achieved the goals you want… and take their advice. They’ve done it. On Berg, my breaking point with him was his video on muscle building… the guy that’s clearly never lifted a weight or seen the inside of a gym in his life, yet referencing Dorian Yates like he wasn’t the complete opposite of what any Keto’r would ever do.

Hard to find people with good info these days!

(Martin) #11

I see! I guess if you have a specific goal like that, yeah, Berg&Co are definitely an average person focused. And even when he mentions Yates, it’s like for people who want to get “some” muscle on their bones. :sweat_smile:

You know what they say, you first need to get healthy to lose weight, grow muscle, etc. If the advice were not making you feel better, than I’m not surprised you haven’t reached your original strength, yet. I also think you should never follow anything 100%, but figure out your own unique variations. Staying healthy in civilised lands is like a part time job!

I’m predominantly following Berg’s advice and while I’ve never been into working out, I am gaining strength and muscle mass steadily by doing a mere 20 minutes a day of calisthenics. Steady steps.:muscle:

Amen!:sweat_smile:

(Jane) #12

Berg recommends an insane amount of salad every day. Do you follow that also?

(Martin) #13

I would love to! I worked my way up to almost those magical 7 cups and then the issues I mentioned above started happening. Getting used to a healthy diet isn’t as easy as one would think :slight_smile:

(Jane) #14

You don’t need that much salad to be healthy - stop causing yourself pain. Not many nutrients in 7 cups of salad compared to a ribeye :wink:

(Jane) #15

I am not anti-salad. I LOVE a fresh salad from my garden lettuce or indoor hydroponic now that it is too hot for garden lettuce.

But my salad has maybe a cup of lettuce, some onion and tomatoes and cheese, topped with olive oil and vinegar. I can’t imagine eating 7 cups of lettuce - my system would revolt on me! LOL

(Martin) #16

Ribeye…

I think that, in an ideal world, 7 cups of veggies are a thing. I just would never have thought that it’d be such a problem for us to eat that much :smile:

Growing your own food is great! Quality always beats quantity. They tested food grown on a really fertile soil and compared it to the regular stuff in supermarkets - the compositions were night and day!

(Martin) #17

UPDATE:

Yep, I’ve just been diagnosed with SIBO - some methane and a significant increase of hydrogen gases. Fortunately, there are specialists here offering four-month herbal antibiotic treatment focused on dealing with SIBO permanently (as opposed to two week antibiotic treatment in a hospital that not even the doctors here recommend).

I think the problem was eating big meals of meat, veggies and eggs - all at the same time - which really slowed down the digestion and most likely caused probiotic supplement pills (that I was taking with the meals) to break down sooner, in the small intestine, over time causing SIBO.

So, in case anyone is dealing with the same symptoms, it could be SIBO :grin: