Anyone else on long term Keto still get Nausea when in Ketosis

#1

Is Nausea a sign of Ketosis even when you have been keto for years

I have been Keto/low carb since 2017. Have done fasts of days duration (not recently) and lost about 40 lbs and still have at least another 50 to go. I am low carb rather than true keto although it changes from day to day. I am fat-adapted although one problem I do have is I get very cold at night (I stop eating by 5 on most days and do not go to bed until well after midnight). I tracked my eating and I am at about 1700-2000 calories a day, I did this a couple of times, do not usually track, lazy keto

The cold is mostly because the room really is cold (DH likes it that way) but in the morning I am not cold usually, at 2AM I am freezing even though the temperature in the room does not change. I have not checked my ketones in many years. When I first started in 2017 the urine strips turned dark. I stopped using them when I ran out. I bought some cheap breathalyzers which never worked well. Even after a 2 day fast they would show point something. I also have Hashimotos.

Lately I have been stricter and have been getting this feeling of minor nausea. It is manageable but I am wondering if it is a sign that I am ketosis. The other night it was bad so I had a gummy vitamin and it went away

(KCKO, KCFO 🥥) #2

I’ve been doing keto since 2016, never had a problem with ketosis causing nausea, a few head aches during early days but nothing since then.

Sorry you are having this issue.

I don’t think pee strips are a good indicator of anything but dehydration.

Good luck sorting yourself out.

(KM) #3

Pre keto, when I felt nauseous I could stop it with carbs - bread or crackers, or sweets, ginger ale. I’m not sure keto causes nausea for me, but it’s harder to treat it when I do feel queasy - caused by black tea or vitamins on an empty stomach, usually.

#4

It happened today and I was fasting, had not eaten anything. The vitamins for me that are a problem are usually either fish oil, selenium (always makes me nauseous full meal, empty stomach, the smell is enough) and anything with iron in it. Interestly, brazil nuts which I eat instead of selenium does not bother me.

I have a family member by marriage who gets extremely nauseous at the mention of tea. Apparently when she was young her mother did not believe in running to doctors. Instead she would have them lie down and drink tea. She apparently suffered with a broken limb for a day because her mother kept giving her tea instead of taking her to the doctor although this is probably not true

(Bob M) #5

When you get nauseous, are you basically fasting? For instance, if you’re having issues before bed, what would happen if you moved your dinner closer to bed (or maybe had a “snack” close to bedtime)?

#6

That’s what I’m focusing on. Have you looked at your numbers lately? Long term keto for many makes thyroid function worse, then add in Hashi’s. Slow Thyroid = Cold. Even with Hashi’s it’s almost guaranteed to need more T3 to keep it where it was when not keto.

Gummies are almost pure Glucose, that fits perfectly. You’re going long periods without food, and Thyroid is reacting from it, which it’s supposed to do, but between the near no carbs and Hashi’s, it’s turning down the thermostat (good pun opportunity!) too much.

(Malin Hallett) #7

Fully agree with this. I have hypothyroidism (not Hashimotos) and have been keto for 3 months now and have had to up my liothyronine by 10mcg a day.

(Edith) #8

Maybe it’s not necessarily the keto but just not enough calories. Keto makes it very easy to not eat enough.

Interesting anecdote for me:
I finally entered menopause almost a year ago. About that time, I lost a fair bit of hair and what was left was growing VERY slow. Same with body hair. I barely needed to shave my legs once a week. I thought it was my changing hormones.

About six months ago, I started reverse dieting because I started getting into more serious resistance training. Turns out, I was only eating about 1200 calories a day (I was mostly eating 2MAD.) I’ve upped my calories to about 1500-1700 calories a day just by making sure I’m eating 3MAD. My hair is growing like crazy. My legs can use a shaving now every few days. It’s a very noticeable difference.

In order to reverse diet, I had to find out what my maintenance was by tracking what I was eating for a week… The thing is I really had no idea my caloric intake was that low. I felt like I was eating a lot. So, I guess my point of this long story is that it might not be keto causing the low thyroid function. It may just be not eating enough.

(Pete A) #9

I never had nausea.

#10

That can absolutely do it as well, when it comes to me, that’s never something I’ve ever been accused of :laughing: But even then, I was a cold shivering mess at times and when I looked back on my labs for the previous could years you saw the steady decline in my Thyroid numbers. For me, eating plenty wasn’t enough. When I switched to the TKD/CKD thing I do now next test my Thyroid numbers were WAY better.

Even with my numbers good now (with a little T3 help :wink:) I gotta stay on Semaglutide to keep my appetite as a level where I don’t need to be chained to the floor. Plus is my glucose levels are a million times better than they’ve ever been. I couldn’t get much below 100 most fasting tests, now I’m in the mid 80’s usually.

#11

Can nausea be a withdrawal from carbs? Like any addiction when you abstain at first nausea is common. You say you’re low carb, not really Keto. Maybe when you actually do get into ketosis its because you’ve limited your carbs low enough at that particular time and then your experiencing withdrawal, and since you never really strictly limited your carbs long term you never fully got past the carb addiction and so never completed the withdrawal cycle? Just spitballing here

(Bob M) #12

I know this is a common theme I’ve seen, but I’m on my 11th year of keto, and as far as I can tell, my thyroid function is fine. What if it was what people were eating on keto, or not eating, or perhaps getting test results we don’t understand, or something else?

If there are some of us who are on keto a long time without thyroid issues, and some on keto who get thyroid issues, what’s the difference between groups? That’s probably where the answer lies, not “long term keto = bad for thyroid”, which is what I see.

#13

Thank you. I have been trying to stop eating after 5 for the last year. Eating before bed would not work. I do take a melatonin before bed which have a couple of carbs in them (work better than pills for me). Does not seem to negate the cold. If I have a cheat meal I am not cold in the same way. There is definitely something.

The nausea is not this terrible thing, more mildly annoying, its a slight feeling in the back of my throat. Nothing much happens and it comes and goes

@lfod14 I have not checked my numbers recently. I keep taking synthroid and wondering. I do feel better. Less draggy than I did 8 years ago. I feel the most tired when I have a carb meal. Then I just want to take a nap. The strange part is that at night I am freezing but in the morning I feel pretty toasty usually and the temperature in the room has not changed and I have not eaten. Right now I am cranking up the AC because I am sweating. What is CKD? Do you recommend a particular thryoid medication or prescription

@VirginiaEdie I thought that was an issue but I have 50 lbs to lose or more (legitimately, to be normal not to be a supermodel) so should have lots of fat. I did track my eating for a few days and found I was between 1700-2000. While this is less than when I did not eat in a window, it is plenty for a middle aged woman of average height and a BMI over 30

@Just_Juju it is an interesting theory but I do not think it is that. While I definitely have the potential to be a carb addict, I really have not been in many years. I have not done it in the last 6 months or so, I have fasted for 3-5 days at a time and it is easy. I do not get unreasonably hungry and I am not really tempted. That used to be the best way for me to lose weight although now I seem to be doing well with stopping eating by 5 most days

#14

If people don’t have issues that’s awesome, but when your Thyroid levels tank, you’re burning less. I can’t see a situation where that’s not a negative. Especially when so many even after years are saying they can’t lose. There’s way too many people that have that happen, I would have never paid attention to mine until I started hearing all over podcasts and reading places of former keto’rs having that issue, which is what made me go back and look at mine only to see my T3 levels dropping the whole time with TSH going up and up.

I think the difference is like everything else, some people respond certain ways, and some don’t. Many people say they feel like crap on keto, I always felt great. Many say they love Carnivore, it was torture for me, which I would have never seen coming.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #15

It likely is, but keep an eye on it. I sometimes get a queasy feeling at the thought of food when I’m not hungry, but it never rises to the level of actual nausea. When I was a carb burner, this was not an issue, because I was hungry pretty much constantly.