The other thing about beta blockers is that they reduce your heart rate which makes exercise difficult. Trying to exercise was like walking through treacle!
Beta blockers and keto
ctviggen
(Bob M)
#22
They do. In fact, I can have this odd effect where, when I’m doing the “high” part of my high intensity interval training, my heart rate will go DOWN instead of up. It’s very strange. They also reduce your normal heart rate.
I hope you are well now.
David_Stilley
(Full Metal KETO AF)
#24
@CrackerJax I still take meds, for life because of my kidney transplant.
Prednisone 5mg. is a hindrance to normal BG levels so it’s taken 9 months to get to 5.6 on my HbA1c.
I still have a clonidine patch which I had hoped to get rid of by now, but I only maintain good blood pressure for 2 weeks or so without it.
I’m on gabapentin because of nerve damage from losing my leg. Tried to quit that, not good.
Omeprazole I still use on demand, instead of nightly. I have a small hiatial hernia so I may never be able to get rid of that either.
But I am on less than half of what most transplant recipients have to take, and also minimal dosages mostly. I have eliminated about 6 drugs since I started keto. So I’m pretty healthy, and happy about it…
@KHAN I took lisinopril for 10 years during reduced renal function before my transplant. Are you a kidney disease patient? Just curious about why it’s prescribed for you. 
CrackerJax
('Jackie P')
#25
Wow, you have been through a lot! I have seen a few of your posts referring to the health problems you have/had. Your positivity and good humour always shine through.
Also it seems quite a short timespan that you have been doing Keto. I wish you well for a contunued recovery 
timebuster
#26
Thanks everyone for your response and information. I do have a cardiologist appointment next week and I’m trying to research and get as much information I can before I see the doctor. I was housebound or three months because of a staph infection in my TKR. During the three months I came off of keto and started eating junk food and gained 40 pounds. Once I had the TKR revision which was 2 1/2 months ago, I went back on keto. Unfortunately, since I’ve been on the beta blocker I haven’t lost not 1 pound in those 2 1/2 months. I’m hoping when I change my medication I can get back into keto and start losing this weight once again.
misterbutters
(Linda)
#27
I’ve lost 65 pounds while on Metoprolol. I have cut my dose in half, but I’m afraid to give it up entirely because I don’t want to go back to a racing heart and palpitations. My pulse used to be over a hundred all the time, even sitting in the recliner. I had been diagnosed with Multifocal Atrial Tachycardia because my heart’s natural pacemaker kept jumping around and caused an irregular heart beat that was very inefficient. I’d get exhausted just taking a shower.
Since my pulse was always very fast even in the best of times, (a family trait) I’m gonna stay on the beta blocker, albeit at a lower dose even if it does make losing harder.
Ironically, when I first started the beta blocker, my blood glucose took a big dive which mystified the doctor. I went from a 6.9 A1C down to a 5.9 even without doing keto. I think the beta blocker helps to manage feelings of stress and that’s what accounted for the A1C drop. Before starting it, I pretty much always physically felt like it was the night before the first day of school, if you get my drift. My body always felt like it was flooded with adrenalin, even when there was no reason.
We’re all different, aren’t we?
timebuster
#28
After searching long and hard for the last month I finally found the solution to my dilemma, high cortisol. For the last five months, I’ve been extremely stressed out from having a two-stage TKR revision. I came across a video from Thomas DeLauer called - Do Keto Diets Increase Cortisol: Low Carb Diets & Stress. In his video he explains how having high cortisol due to stress can convert protein into sugar. I would listen closely after the 4:40 marker. I did more research on how to reduce high cortisol and came across another great video that recommended Ashwagandha to relieve stress and lower cortisol. I started taking Ashwagandha this past Monday 5/27/19. The following day, believe it or not, I was in kurtosis, finally. I’ve been taking Ashwagandha daily since Monday and checking my keto stix all week and every day since I’ve been in kurtosis. Not only that in the last week I have lost 6 pounds. Goes to show you never give up until you find the solution to your problem.
timebuster
#30
Actually, the Ashwagandha stop working a month after I started taking it in May of 2019. From June 2019 to January 2020 I was in a complete stall. Even though I kept my carbs under 20g and calories under 2000 no matter what I did I could not get into ketosis or lose weight.
Just to give you an example of what I eat daily.
First thing in the morning I would have a bulletproof coffee. Grass fed butter with MCT oil.
Around 10 o’clock I would have my first meal of the day which consists of two eggs and three strips of bacon. I eat bacon and eggs seven days a week.
Around 4 o’clock I would have my second meal of the day which consists of one portion of meat and one avocado.
I haven’t deviated from my daily two meals for seven months and I still could not lose weight.
Give you a little background on my weight loss journey on keto.
At 63 years old I lost 180 pounds in 23 months on keto eating two meals a day. That’s right, I once weighed a whopping 400 pounds. Before my first total knee replacement in December of 2018, I got down to 220 pounds. I had a two-stage total knee replacement which turned out to be three knee surgeries in nine months.
The first surgery was in December of 2018 to remove an infection I had in my right knee from a prior total knee replacement in 2012. The old prostheses was removed and an antibiotic spacer was inserted and a rod placed from my femur down to my tibia. I was sent home with a PIC line to self administer daily antibiotics for two months. With the rod inserted in my leg I could not bend my knee for three months. I was homebound I live alone and cooking for myself was out of the question so I ate take-out food and quick microwave package meals that were very unhealthy.
From December until I went back for my second surgery in March between those three months when I started eating carbs again and gained 40 pounds. After my second surgery, I went back on keto and that’s when my keto weight loss dilemma started.
If you read this far I’m almost to the finish line so stick with me LOL
I was frustrated, to say the least, I research and research for months and thought I found my answer with the Ashwagandha but that was short-lived. I knew it had something to do with my cortisol and or adrenal fatigue. I’m not one to give up so easily so I continue researching and the answer was right in front of my face all the time.
Iodine.
I was iodine deficiency. You see I’ve been using Himalaya pink salt daily since 2017 on all my food. I mean I season everything with Himalaya pink salt which now I know the hard way pink salt doesn’t contain iodine, or very little. Iodine is central to healthy thyroid function. The thyroid gland uses iodine to make thyroid hormones and we all know a healthy working thyroid is essential from producing too much cortisol, and too much cortisol can convert protein into sugar as I mentioned in my last post.
Funny I made an appointment with an Endocrinologist, a thyroid Dr. for the end of March. I will still make the appointment to have my thyroid checked but since the last week of this January I started consuming salt with iodine plus taking a thyroid complex vitamin amazingly my the fifth day I was in ketosis and since then I have lost 8 pounds and still losing.
The moral of my story is if you’re an older statesman like myself and enjoying the keto lifestyle, or you are new to the keno life make sure you have enough iodine in your diet to keep your thyroid working properly and healthy.
By the way, the third surgery I had on my knee in June 2019 was because seven weeks after my surgery the plastic spacer slipped out of place so I had to go back in to have a larger spacer put in.
I will keep everyone posted on how my keto journey is going.
Thanks for reading and being patient with my long post.
ctviggen
(Bob M)
#31
You know, I looked into carvedilol and it does appear it inhibits lipolysis, at least to some degree. I have still lost weight on it, but I think it’s one reason I’m having more difficulty fasting now that I’m lighter. I still have plenty of fat, so I SHOULD be able to fast, but it’s become more difficult, and I was getting cold. I think that’s because carvedilol limits the calories I can get from my fat.
It seems like you worked things out, though. Good for you!
Teb_Tengri
(Teb Tengri)
#32
Tons of studies on this. They basically have the opposite effect of clenbuterol, ephedrine and natural epinephrine and norepinephrine.
RightNOW
(PJ)
#33
Some beta blockers drive up glucose.
I was on a new version of one called Carvedilol. I couldn’t figure out why I didn’t seem to be keto despite eating very well. There were other side effects of that particular one as it related to my heart rate and edema. Anyway, not until I was trying to figure out yet another symptom (diarhhea), and finally, frustrated, went on a fast because I couldn’t figure out the causative food and STILL had it – I looked at the med details and discovered all those things were normal side effects.
I started testing glucose and then I dropped the medication. It went down daily until it was finally back at what was normal for me prior to when I began re-taking it. Since it also slowed my heart rate (made exercise impossible) and increased edema (the #1 thing I am fighting against and taking diuretics meds for!), that was a very disappointing discovery, that set of side effects, and I won’t go back on it.
Anyway. It made keto impossible.
Regina
(Empress of the Unexpected)
#35
I was taking 80 a day. Cut down to 60 and within the week had a breakthrough migraine. 60 worked with for a year until I forgot two doses. Heartbeat 166! I think I am on them for life.