Am I having the Keto flu or doing something wrong?

#1

I’m feeling depressed and don’t really want to do anything with my family. I just want to be by myself. My memory and concentration is very bad. I don’t seem to be able to enjoy anything really except trying to figure out whats wrong with me. My motivation activity level is dropping. I do almost nothing except surfing the net for solutions.

Could this be Electrolyte issue? Or Keto flu? I think I’m gettin enough salt though.

Forgot: I’m also having a pumping heart and anxiety in the mornings and don’t really sleep well.
This could be from other anxiety drugs that I am taking or other problems in my life.

Edit 2: Could this be a problem with my Thyroid?
Ive been pretty seriously eating keto since 1. des. And started thinking about electrolydes (well just salt) a few days ago.

Advice on how to ease out of the diet
(Davy) #2

"Could this be Electrolyte issue? Or Keto flu? "

Probably both! Pumping heart, anxiety and sleeping issues, all sound like lack of Magnesium, which is a main electrolyte. Find a good magnesium supplement (not Mg oxide). Remag is great stuff, a bit expensive. At least buy some Milk of Magnesia to take 30ml just before going to bed. OR get some Calm if you can get it.
Get some ‘No Salt’ which is a potassium supplement that can be used as salt. Potassium is another top electrolyte that most people are deficient in.
You think you’re getting enough salt. What is the source of that? Pink Himalayan salt is probably the best salt…and you need at least 3000mg of salt/sodium per day.
Yep, Keto flu is a challenge, but if you can quickly do the above things, the Keto flu will very quickly go away, perhaps in 24 hours. Hang in there.

#3

Sounds like Magnesium/Potassium, search for ketoade and start chugging. COULD be a lot of things, but those symptoms and being new to keto it fits.

(Anna ) #4

I just joined this forum today and was about to post my own first post when I saw this one and needed to reply. I’m feeling the same way @thejohn since about Dec 9th. That’s 3 weeks now. I could just curl up on the couch and stay there forever. This is very unlike me. I have very little energy and no motivation at all. I could just lie down and sleep several times thought the day. I don’t feel like doing anything at all.

At times I’m having a very high pulse, with my heart feeling like it’s going to pop put of my chest other times I’m having heart palpitations and at other times I’m having low blood pressure with a chest tightness or a feeling like I can’t take a good deep breath of air. It’s almost like asthma or maybe an anxiety attack. This happens 2-3 hours after I wake up, until just about an hour or so after I eat my first meal, but not at any other time of the day.

It feels like my body hasn’t adapted yet to using fat, but it’s been cut off from high carbs and is running on fumes, since the amount of carbs it’s getting is just not enough to function. A few days ago I thought maybe upping my carbs just a little bit would help until I adjusted to using fat, but that made things even worse. This is pretty bad. I am having a hard time functioning because my memory and my thinking is so slow right now. I read about the keto flu and I thought I was doing everything to avoid it.

I started to put salt into my tea in the morning, since I’m not eating until 11am. Making sure I’m getting salt all day, even between meals. I do use salt in my food and eat a lot of salted butter. I’ve tried supplementing with potassium as well. I already take 600 mg of several kinds of magnesium each day, so I’m really reluctant to up my dosage. I’ve even tried to supplement with calcium to see if that would help.

I think 3 weeks is kind of long to be going through this, and now I’m researching and wondering maybe I can’t use fat as fuel?

(Central Florida Bob ) #5

Welcome to the forums, Anna.

In my experience, three weeks isn’t that long. I’ve read of people taking months to get fully fat adapted. Adding the carbs back may have made it worse and stretched that time out, depending on how much you added. Do you monitor ketosis with any of the testers? Blood, urine sticks or breath acetone meter? They could confirm that you’re burning fat. The subject is a little deep to get into in a paragraph or two, but you’re likely to be producing all of those ketones since you’re new at this. Any one of those tests could show you that you’re in ketosis and could tell you if adding back some carbs kicked you out of ketosis and made you start over.

Your heart racing sounds like electrolytes, as the other comments in this thread have talked about. Magnesium, potassium and sodium are the big ones. The Ketoaid recipe here is popular, but lots of people take salt a few times a day in a drink. I take Magnesium glycinate, which is better absorbed than the Magnesium oxide that’s in most supplements.

Once your body gets adapted, life gets much easier. I don’t recall how long it took for me to feel normal, but nowadays if I accidentally get too much carb, I slip back into ketosis easily.

Hang in there! It does get better.

(Anna ) #6

Thanks @CFLBob I will survive. I just didn’t think it was going to hit me this hard, considering how much research I did prior to going keto and how slowly I was lowering my carbs.

I was checking my ketones using the urine strips but they were always showing middle range ketones. I think I did bump myself out of the mild ketosis a few days ago when I increased my carbs.

I have migraines so I’ve been balancing electrolytes for a long time now, but now I’m needing different amounts. I’ve been experimenting but haven’t found the right amounts yet, or which one I need more of.

(Jill F.) #7

I literally felt like death for almost a month when I started keto a year ago. I ate a very carb heavy diet and quit and jumped straight into keto and it was a shock to my system. I found that drinking sugar free PowerAde helped and I also tried to drink broth and anything else I could think of to help my electrolytes level out. Once I did that it was around end of 3 to 4 weeks and I started feeling great.
Another consideration is that you are eating to fuel your body, not emotional eating. I used to do a LOT of that and honestly I have been struggling more with my anxiety over past year that I have been on keto. I just dont know what to do with my emotions. I see a therapist and take antidepressants and they help a lot as well.
I am in this keto lifestyle for the long haul so I am slowly figuring it all out. I hope some of these ideas help and I hope you get to feeling better soon.

(Keto Koala 🐨) #9

I’m on day 4 and my legs are aching and so is my stomach. I have no energy at all. Just gotta ride through it I guess

(Keto Koala 🐨) #10

I relate to the anxiety thing. It’s awful. I worry all the time and also have very severe social phobia. One reason I started Keto (It’s only day 4) is to get my confidence back. I too are loads of carbs before.

(Jill F.) #11

You will get to feeling better for sure and your confidence will improve. Dont forget to take some before pics and measurements so when you feel frustrated you can look back on when you started and see how far you have come! Our keto victories aren’t always on the scale, sometimes we lose inches, self doubt, etc, and those are even better than pounds.

(Keto Koala 🐨) #12

Thank you. When I was anorexic I weighed myself every hour if I was home. I would be in a bad mood if the numbers didn’t go down in the mornings. I hate looking at myself, but will force must to take a before picture.Will take some mesurments too.