Back to feeling ill and can't nail down why

#1

Hi all. sorry in advance for the long intro, but wanted to give you complete story up front. I am a Newbie, but not a novice and do not have unrealistic expectations. I will try to give you all the info so that you don’t have to ask for it. I am male, 50s and have been keto for about 2 months. I am also following the AIP suggestions and staying away from nightshades, lectins and all inflammatory foods. My history… I have autoimmune issues for 20 plus years (as runs in my family) and worsening arthritis for last 2 years that curtails a lot of my activities and work. I have also been gluten free for 10 years and vegetarian. I have had gut issues for 20 years and GERD that doctors have not seen the levels of. Twice in the last 10 years, I have had spontaneous perforations of my colon and underwent major surgery to remove a large amount of it. More recently, I have been having neuropathy in hands (fingers) and feet (toes) and inwardly seeing my father, who died of complications of diabetes.

I should add, that in additional to my regular career, I am also a volunteer medic for 30 years and have seen all that comes out of ignoring the inevitable. The light bulb finally went off in my head and I watched and read everything I could get my hands on for weeks before starting. I was on a good amount of Naproxin everyday, 3 Prilosec (1 morning, 1 midday and 1 before bed) to control my GERD. I had swollen intestines and abdominal cramps / bloating on a daily basis and the fatigue was getting so bad, that carrying a market bag home 2 blocks knocked me out for an hour or so to recover.

After going keto/AIP, I had a good 2-3 days & was excited to see what it brings. Then on day 4, the keto flu hit (my fault for not prepping slowly). It was horrible for 5-6 days & each day, I told myself it will be better tomorrow. Eventually, tomorrow came & I felt better. The first 8 days, I lost about 10 lbs (I know mostly water) and thereafter, things cooled down. I lost another pound in the next few days and then another pound in the few days after that. Eventually it leveled off & I not only did not loose, but showed a pound gain. I ignored it, as I could see & feel the fat loss. Over the next 30 days, I lost 3 belt notches & by week 6 all my clothes were noticeably loose & none of my belts had a hole left to use.

More importantly, my arthritis was noticeably better, the neuropathy that woke me up at night, was no longer doing so, my abdominal swelling and sore/painful intestines were gone! & I was off Naproxin & 2/3 of Prilosec. I thought I had rounded the hump & was heading into better days. However, about two weeks ago, I started feeling ill again during the day. I felt good in the morning & good before bed, however, starting about an hour or two after breakfast, I began feeling dizzy, brain fog, blurred vision in my left eye & fatigue.

I tried running the process of elimination. I take a well know & reviewed brand of keto electrolytes in the morning & before bed. I take a low dose magnesium supplement (I have been mag deficient since my colectomy), I take a multi vitamin powder every day & I drink about 75oz - 90oz of water a day. I thought perhaps it was a low diastolic causing it (postparandial??), but my pressure is good & I take it whenever I feel symptoms (before keto 200/102, now 8 weeks later, averaging 140/80), my resting pulse is about 78-80 & SaO2 sat is now 99% (was never higher than 94 before keto). Then though maybe causing insulin spike after meal lasting most of daytime, but my levels were getting very high pre keto (200 after eating) and now are fasting around 104 & after meals around 114. Finally, I thought perhaps low sodium level & I would purposely drink a himalayan salted veg broth (I am vegetarian) or take a powdered electrolyte drink in the afternoon. Sometimes it would seem to help & other times not at all. I really need to knock this feeling out of me. When its not there, I feel full of energy & ready to take on projects etc. & then it hits again and I feel like I just want to lay there. Headache, aching around the eyes & sinuses, dizzy, etc.

My eating regimen is pretty consistent. A BP coffee with an egg & a little goat cheese in the morning, nothing for lunch or once in a while a small scoop of tuna salad with a piece of lettuce & dinner is 4oz fish, either cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts, asparagus or small leafy green salad with ACV, lemon & EVOO. I occasionally nibble some goat cheese.

Please let me know if you have heard of anyone with these symptoms & how I can knock them out. I am in this for the long haul & already feel so much better & can’t wait for summer so I can go out & walk more & again enjoy life as a thinner, pain free, fog free person (I wish I could say stress free, but not in my current life & career).

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #2

Hi there. Sorry you are feeling so bad and glad you’re off the NSAID, it can really do a number on the gut!

Here’s what sticks out to me in your post: What you’re eating, or rather, how much…

BPC, one egg, a little goat cheese
+/- small scoop tuna salad, piece of lettuce
4 oz fish and some veg or small salad

(Edith) #3

It looks to me like you are not eating enough. I would up the calories. I am a 5’3”, 53 year old woman and I eat around 1500 calories a day. What you mentioned looks like 1000 or less.

(Bunny) #4

I echo the suggestion above, about when you start feeling not so well? Start eating some kind of a source of protein immediately when you start feeling ill like that, seemingly it appears your becoming hypoglycemic and you may need to initiate glucagon to ramp up the release of any stored glycogen if your not fully ketogenically adapted.

I would really look into doing bone broth fasts (eat nothing within 4 hours or 4 hours after) to help with those auto-immunity esp. the arthritis issues because your probably have a leaky gut (ketogenic diet and autophagy, macroautophagy, microautophagy just elevates the symptoms not the cause i.e. malnutrition?), I personally do not think hereditary traits are to blame, it is a generational nutritional deficiency that crosses over into the gene pool from malnourishment specific to your genes and types food chosen as the primary source of nutrition and the only way to seal up a leaky gut is with bone broth?

Gerd? Not enough stomach acid to breakdown the protein your eating, may need to eat foods more rich in zinc (the precursor to hydrochloric acid) and supplement your protein intake (temporarily) with betaine hydrochloric acid with pepsin (take just before you eat the protein) and/or a Bromelain supplement (pineapple core) which is the equivalent of a protease enzyme to breakdown protein (will help you not gain weight also), the reason being is that you need to break down that protein (and preservatives in foods) and other foods to get the nutrients from what your eating, the HCL helps breakdown the foods you eat for the digestive enzymes and peptides to break them down into simpler substances and compounds. And also more digestive bitters (anything bitter) to stimulate the cells in the stomach to produce HCL, don’t rely solely on the ACV for GERD to get the stomach PH up to normal? Your stomach is too alkaline so the spincter valve in the esophagus is staying open and up comes what little stomach acid you are making and into the esophagus?

(Ellie) #5

I would echo the others who have commented on the amount of food you are eating. It is very low.
Perhaps try a few days having a bigger breakfast of the same foods to see if you still get the low feeling later on. Try 3 eggs scrambled in butter, and goats cheese. Similarly increase the amounts for lunch and dinner.

(Alec) #6

Not even close to eating enough. Have bacon and eggs 3 times a day for week, then report back.

#7

Well, bacon won’t be right for this person, nor will bone broth.

Fruit is allowed in this diet, when not overdone. Someone suggested bitters. Grapefruit is an awesome source, which appears to have quite some health benefits at only 1/2 a day. You could have a little at each meal.

Take 1 tsp acv in some water before each meal. It’s supposed to help with a lot of stuff, and there’s no harm in trying.

I am a little worried about your fat intake. What if you make a spinach stew with lots of olive oil, and eat it with each meal?

As you are a vegetarian, I strongly suggest that you take a vitamin B complex, just to be sure. Keep track of vitamin K sources as well (spinach helps with this).

And as others have pointed out, you likely need a lot more protein. Even a protein shake wouldn’t be too bad. I have seen a vegan powder that was unsweetenened, so there are quite a few interesting options if you can afford them. I personally get a headache if I don’t get enough protein, so I’m learning to make sure I get enough at every meal.

(Sheri Knauer) #8

Beets and beet greens are also great for digestion. You may also want to add in some fermented foods on a daily basis, a good sauerkraut perhaps. Fixing digestion and leaky gut is the most important thing you can do. I agree with what everyone else is saying about not eating enough. Im a 52 year old 5’6" woman, weigh 120, and I average 2000 to 2200 calories a day.

I would research what you can regarding healing your gut. If your digestion is not working the way its supposed to, then your body will not have the ability to utilize the nutrients you are putting into it and leaky gut tends to trigger auto immune issues.

Im sorry you are having such a difficult time. I hope you are able to get some relief sooner rather than later. You may want to consider seeing a functional practitioner, nutritional therapy practitioner, or holistic nutritionist to help you come up with a dietary plan to help heal your leaky gut and ensure you are eating enough of the right foods to meet your macro and micro nutrient needs.

(Carl Keller) #9

Hi as25.

Sorry to hear about your issues. In regards to your sinus problems and headaches, low sodium, low magnesium and/ or dehydration might be the problem. You say you’ve focused on two of these three areas with moderate success but I wonder how much sodium you are getting per day? Two+ teaspoons of sodium per day might get things righted, the magnesium won’t hurt and up to 2 liters of water might get your properly hydrated.

#10

I think you are drinking too much water and peeing out your electrolytes. Also, see if you can go without breakfast and eat your main meals in a short window of time doing a 16/8 eating schedule. You may feel eating between noon and 8pm will help. Maybe 11am-7pm, and don’t go to sleep before 10 pm. You also don’t seem to be eating enough healthy fats. That is a big mistake. Your body needs it for fuel. Google Dr. Berg in conjunction with any problem you might be having and I bet he will have a YouTube video on it. You are not alone!

(Alec) #11

Why? Looks like the OP has been vegetarian for 10 years and is not doing well on it. Please explain why eating bacon is not right for this person.

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #12

Also, OP eats fish so might be open to trying other animal based foods to feel better.

#13

If I were vegetarian, I would want advice as to what I could eat that is vegetarian before considering meat. Fish and eggs are great sources of protein. Olives, avocados, certain fish, coconuts, chocolate, butter etc. are good sources of fat. The macros are easy to get right on vegetarian. Micros aren’t much harder.

(Alec) #14

The OP has not asked for only vegetarian advice.

#15

True. Though my vegetarian colleagues tell me that eating meat on a rare occasion really doesn’t feel good. Can’t remember what they described it as, but it wasn’t pleasant, despite tastiness. It might take time to get used to meat after being vegetarian for a long while.

(Sheri Knauer) #16

If he did decide to eat meat again, going very slowly would be wise. I would think it would take some time for his micro biome to get used to digesting meat again. There is a book by Dr Will Cole that may be of help called Ketotarian. https://drwillcole.com/ketotarian/

(Rosemary Easter) #17

This person is not vegetarian as they eat fish. They obviously are not eating enough so adding a little bit of meat can’t hurt.

(Rosemary Easter) #18

I was vegetarian for 30 years , became Paleo and switched to meat with no ill effects.

#19

Many vegetarians eat fish. Some would even eat wild game. The ideology may vary from vegetarian to vegetarian, but the ones I know firstly abstain from eating kept animals. Some eat cultivated salmon, but there are also those who only eat wild fish.

You may have done it differently, but I personally wouldn’t say that this person is not vegetarian just because of fish.

(Rosemary Easter) #20

I am sorry but I cannot agree with you. Vegetarians who eat fish are omnivores, you cannot have it both ways.