Can keto cause shortness of breath?

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #104

Ketoacidosis is very unlikely in anyone whose pancreas is producing any insulin at all. The diagnostic criterion is hyperglycaemia in combination with serum β-hydroxybutyrate over 10 mmol/dL, though symptoms don’t appear till around 20.0 mmol/dL. By contrast, nutritional ketosis is in the range of 0.5-2.5 mmol/dL, an order of magnitude lower. Fasting ketone levels are higher, but still under 5.0 mmol/dL.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #105

This sounds like unusually strenuous fat-adaptation. We generally advise taking things very easy for the first couple of months on keto, before trying to return to a strenuous exercise programme.

#106

Ditto on air quality and medications.
I am in Australia and we have just had the worst grass pollen season ever, due to the abnormal rain we have had the last few years.
And bushfires predicted, so, I just got a new aircon in my bedroom that filters out pollen and small particles.
I developed a dust mite allergy in my 40s following a medication that I was sensitive to. Have had allergic asthma ever since.

(Berta) #108

I just joined your forum because I have been battling shortness of breath as well. I’m more of a ketovore but have done keto for years cycling off weekends and on during the week etc.

I just eliminated dairy (I would get horrific nasal congestion, coughing, and tightness in my chest after I had any sort of yogurt or butter even the grass fed) but still have shortness of breath and have been thinking about the histamine connection.

The other thing I just realized (anew) is on low-carb/ keto/carnivore, dehydration can be a problem and I am very much someone who will sometimes forget to drink water and into that I typically will add electrolytes. Drinking enough fluids is something I forget about often.

So sitting here realizing, that if you are dehydrated, you have a tendency to have less fluid volume in your body (fluid volume deficit) which equates to less blood volume, which could cause less oxygen availability, because less blood means less oxygen carrying blood cells available for use by the body, since the blood carries oxygen. This could possibly cause oxygen or “air” hunger.

Additionally, I read on another forum that our body is more acidic while carbs are low, which could affect the way our body handles oxygen, but I am looking more into that as I am not really sure.

The oxygen, carrying capacity of blood is well known and could be a possible reason as well. Does anyone have any information about that?

So, after spending several hours this morning trying to figure out why I was short of breath, realizing I hadn’t drank much fluids yet, I decided that I better get something to drink!!! :bowing_woman:

I had been sipping on fresh ginger tea which does help open up my chest, but I also (!!) did not drink any other fluids since I woke up this morning till 2 this afternoon.

So having my electrolyte water definitely made me feel better almost immediately and my air hunger has diminished. Hoping this issue is resolved! :crossed_fingers::crossed_fingers::crossed_fingers:people, don’t forget to hydrate! :upside_down_face:

  • List item
(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #109

You are absolutely spot on with the effects of hypovolaemia. It’s one of the reasons Dr. Phinney is so passionate about taking a cup or two of bone broth every day. It’s electrolytes and hydration combined.

This business of acidity, however, strikes me as a bit far-fetched. I’m not sure what “our body is more acidic” is even intended to mean, so please be a bit sceptical in your reading and be careful when following this up. There may well be something to it, but then again, there may not, and I’d hate to see you led down an unhelpful path. I don’t mean to criticise you personally, just to warn you to be on your guard. There is a lot of bad advice out there, along with the good.

With that out of the way, welcome to the forums, and we hope to see more of you.

(Berta) #110

Thank you for the welcome and heads up!

I am definitely aware there is a lot of not so helpful information out there. I look forward to some in-depth conversations in these forums.

I have been doing low carb since 2006 and more recently in the past couple of years keto, and now ketovore and will often cycle off occasionally so that I can be a little bit more metabolically flexible ie able to handle fats and carbs efficiently.

Whenever I cycle back on keto, I have to remind myself to drink more fluids. You would think I would’ve learned that by now :joy: Also I have been using an electrolyte powder for a few years and cycle on and off of it. I just sometimes forget.

So I know that consuming a lot of protein can make your body a little bit more on the acidic side, whereas coming from a plant-based diet you would tend to be a little bit more alkaline from my experience. This is generally well known, so this is what I meant.

As far as the body having “air” hunger as a result of being a little bit acidotic from the consumption of alot of protein, I am not sure is a thing, but I am going to look into it as it does explain a few things.

Thanks again for the welcome and the response!

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #111

You will never lose the ability to metabolise glucose. It’s an evolutionarily ancient ability of every cell on the planet. Mitochondria, however, are the only living creatures to be able to metabolise fatty acids, which is presumably why they entered into symbiosis with one of our unicellular ancestors. This means that when they become damaged, whether from too much glucose or from some other mitochondrial toxin, that’s when we lose our metabolic flexibility, because metabolising fatty acids becomes difficult for them, if not impossible.

You are most welcome. Please keep us abreast of your progress, and feel free to raise any questions or concerns that arise. No guarantees that we will be able to answer every question, but we can certainly share whatever we’ve learned that might be relevant.

#112

Hello PaulL and All. Thanks for these explanations and experience sharing.
I am two weeks in keto, and training for triathlon, but experiencing exactly same issue with short of breath.
5k run is lets say doable but I just feel my lungs presence - like something is not right. But today I was not able to finish 10k run due to short of breath and had to start walking on 7k.
Reading here, it should get better after full adaptation to keto, let say after 4-6 weeks or increase carbs intake, which slow down my weight loose.
How about getting glucose (Energy) gels for example 15min before running, usually it last 1h, then 2nd gel, etc, just to overcome these issues? Will this work? What do You think?
I want to stay in ketosis, but want to burn glucose during exercise to overcome short of breath issue.
My HR is between 130-140 during run, and I dont have this issue on bike, but HR is between 100-120 there usually, so it make sense.
Will my body be able to switch burning carbs from gels instead of using ketons?
Here is example of energy gel GU: 100cal, 22g carbs(7g sugar), 450mg amino acids, 60mg sodium, 20g caffeine.
Thanks.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #113

I think that in a couple of months you should see a vast improvement. In the meantime, perhaps it would be wise not to over-stress your body. It is re-adapting to a new (old) source of energy that it is no longer accustomed to using. As the adaptation progresses, you should see your performance returning.

The need for glucose before a race is a contested topic. Some well-known endurance runners don’t use it, others do, even if they train in ketosis. You should go with whatever works best for you and makes you feel the best. Your glycogen stores will return more slowly than your endurance, but by two years into keto-adaptation, your glycogen levels will be indistinguishable from those of carb-adapted athletes.

The ability to metabolise glucose is almost as old as life on this planet. It is certainly an ability that every human cell retains. The ability to metabolise fatty acids is a gift of the symbiosis between our cells and our mitochondria (which were once independent bacteria), so while it goes back to very early cells, it is not as ancient (in evolutionary terms) as our ability to metabolise glucose.

At any rate, never fear–if your muscles can’t get enough fat, they will easily switch to glucose. But they prefer fatty acids to glucose for most of their metabolic needs, once they are fat-adapted. They even prefer fatty acids to ketones when given the chance. This adaptative nutrient-sparing leaves the glucose and ketones to cells in the body that absolutely need them.

#114

This describes me. Air hunger. Kinda scary for me since I stop breathing at night even with CPAP.

I have obstructed sleep apnea. When I am in keto it switches to central sleep apnea. It’s my 3rd time going through it. At first I thought it was just stomach issues (reflux) causing inflammation and bloating putting pressure on my diaphragm.
Today I called my Dr after reading your post just to let them know what was happening.
I was told to start eating at least some complex carbs.

I’m 99.99% certain keto is causing my shortness of breath.
My CPAP machine detects the shallow breathing and turns up the pressure. At some point during the higher pressure air goes to my stomach. Which makes me stomach very unhappy. And puts pressure on my diaphragm.

Now my understanding is you gotta have glucose for electrolytes, vitamins and minerals to be absorbed.

I’m sure there is a fine line somewhere. I just have to balance it out.

I do it for insulin resistance and weight loss. Dr wasn’t super happy I dropped 25 pounds in 17 days.