Hello,
I’ve been on keto for 3 weeks now and over the last week or so I’ve been gradually getting more and more severe pain in my upper abdominal area. It has particularly flared up since I ate a meal of fatty lamb chops 3 days ago, and I have been in more or less constant pain since with very bad nausea in the evening.
I have been to the doctor and had an ultrasound of my abdomen which ruled out any gallbladder issues.
Has anyone else experience symptoms like this?
Could be acid reflux? Some battle to identify this at first?
I have seen a few people comment that reflux flares up in the early stages of the keto diet (first 1 month). Interestingly it will then cure most people of this once you can get past the first phase.
Also lamb will cause my relux to flare up even after being keto / ZC for a year now.
The first thing came to my mind is the gallbladder but since it turned out to be OK I suspect you are not digesting the food very well. this can be due to insufficient stomach acid or digesting enzymes .
to check that try few droplets of lemon juice or Apple cider vinegar . Also you maybe low on electrolytes as they are necessary for complete digestion .
If that does not help the pain I still suspect the gallbladder.
Interesting that you mention insufficient stomach acid - I have been on nizatidine and pantoprazole for around 5-6 months for acid reflux issues that could well have caused that issue. Will try cutting those out, they aren’t helping a great deal anyway!
Also have just gone and got a digestive enzyme supplement - have heard they it can be helpful transitioning to the fat adapted state.
This may or may not be related to the OP issue.
I also apologise for the long post.
I am not saying this is scientific research I am not even saying that it should work for everyone. I just state what I observed on my self for long long time.
I spent a good time of my life struggling with my digesting problems.
The only time I got better is when I stopped listening to this hi acid crap and stoped the acid channel blockers which caused me stomach bugs.
Actually it is exactly the opposite. It is lack of acid not too much acid.
But once a person gets ulcer which caused by proper environment for the stomach bugs you can not tolerate any acid. So it becomes a delima. You have first to kill the bug before you increase the stomach acid.
Once you have no ulcer what worked for me is to take some light acids like pine Apple, diluted lemon or viniger.
Never had any problems after increasing my dietary acids.
One way to prove that, is when I drink lots of water directly after the meal.
It will increase what people call acidic stomach. How does diluting stomach acid increase acidity?
Another way to disprove this acidity issue is to drink very cold water after meals. You will get this feeling of what people and doctors call acidic stomach.
the proper temperature inside the stomach is necessary for the stomach acids to work. The low temperature retard the acid from doing its job. So it is lack of acidity not too much acid.
Possibly GERD? I guess that’s what I have. At least that’s what the doctor recently put me on Prilosec for. Not sure I 100% agree with the diagnosis, but I have t had any flair ups recently.
It was bad my first few weeks on Keto though.
I agree, drinking ACV when getting acid reflux helped reduce this much quicker and longer than taking medication.
Hi alan, I saw in an older post a few months ago you mentioned you suffered from nausea in the beginning, did that gradually go away as you became fat-adapted?
Long time sufferer of Gerd. When I first started keto, it was even worse. I didn’t realize it but coconut oil has something that literally creates a fire in my belly. Opposite popular opinion, quite a lot of heartburn stems from too little acid, not too much. Antacids only prove to prolong or create a worse issue for most. I do not have a gallbladder so my issues may be a bit different but I take apple cider vinegar in the morning and at night. I have also added a ox bile supplement that has dramatically reduced my Gerd issues. Night and day. My Gerd not only had symptoms that were a lake of fire in my throat but pretty substantial stomach pain.
I think it was more down to my gut microbiome adapting to the different foods that finally fixed things & the gearing up of the correct enzymes to deal with the fat / protein etc.
I’ve always battled with digestive issues and moving to keto was no different. But in time things settled down.
Elimination of foods helped. MCT oil was a big one if I remember correctly, or the taste of coconut oil!
I’m now carnivore / zero plant matter, this has been the biggest improvement to my health & digestion but not my weight.
Hi Mandy,
Keto for 1 month. Very slow weight loss of 4-6 lbs. Interested in your method of reining in GERD issues. Could you please tell me how you take your ACV and about the Ox bile? I’ve had GERD issues on/off for years. I want to get off the prilosec and antacid, but the pain is real. Thanks
Hey there. If that’s slow weight loss, mine is glacial. I’m 3 months in and just very recently started to lose ounces. I think i had (and still do have) lots of internal healing to do. I think my GERD was only one issue showing up. Just recently I stopped the ox bile. I found it was having a terrible side effect of 5-6 daily watery stool events. Ouch. Even without the ox bile, I’ve manged to keep from having Gerd. Do you drink coffee? Alcohol? I did both. I just quit coffee and quit alcohol a few weeks ago. I cant be certain either was the magic bullet or if the keto WOE has helped heal my gut. I am still an avid ACV consumer. I mix one tablespoon in a little water with some salt when I wake. When I was still having Gerd, I would do the same when it came on. If you aren’t doing some ACV, I’d highly recommend it. I also eat a lot of fermented pickles. I also take a turmeric supplement as it supposed to help inflammation. We probably have a lot of that in our gut. Ox bile helps some and it possibly helped me in the beginning. Maybe over time it just started to impact other portions. Maybe my gut healed some and I do not need it any longer? Who knows how the body works! I know this is a lot of info but I’d start small. I took nexium for years. I know what happens when you miss a dose. Rebound heartburn. I’m not a doctor of course but I really believe you have to push through the initial rebound with natural solutions to get back to any sense of a stable gut flora. My 2 cents.
Chronic acid reflux, also known as GERD,causes a painful , burning sensation in the upper stomach and chest and often into the throat. GERD is caused by a relaxation of the lower esophageal sphincter (LES), which is necessary to the passage between the esophagus and stomach.
I’m 3 weeks into keto and for the past week have had severe 'contraction Like pains mostly at night. I have started to try and sleep sat up to ease the pain, it does ease it but not getting much sleep. I don’t think it’s GERD, also my waterworks are fine. As a previous heavy drinker, so we 4 months now, could it be my pancreas ?