Electrolytes , dehydration and the heat wave

(Eve) #1

I noticed that despite drinking lots of water over the last few days of a heat wave in the UK, l have become dehydrated. And felt quite ill with a bad headache. I then realised that due to sweating so much l was losing salts, and even though l have a keto electrolyte drink every day, it must not have been enough due to tye sweating. Consequently l was losing water due to the low salt. And then became dehydrated. I have doubled up the electrolytes which seems to have helped. I now realise that due to the low carb impact on the salt balance, l must be wary of times when my body is losing salt and adjust accordingly.
Has anyone else had this experience?

(Joey) #2

@0cac544b99285298bde6 Eve - May I ask how long you’ve been eating keto? If it’s been a while, then I would think your electrolyte balances have been stabilized (since carb-restriction would no longer be jettisoning H20 in the same quantities while losing water weight).

But many of us (myself included) continue to add electrolytes to our daily drinking water for years with no plan to stop doing so (NaCl + Mg). Just how much is somewhat of an n=1 discovery process. Let your taste buds help you once you adapt to trust them.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #3

I used to work in a warehouse that lacked climate control in the summer. On really hot days, the company gave everybody electrolyte drinks, and they worked quite well. I was amused to read the instruction to “drink it until it stops tasting good,” but I found this to be accurate. Between one sip and the next, you would suddenly not want any more. You were then good until the next water break.

These days, on keto, I get quite a bit of salt, so even working outside on really hot days, keeping my electrolytes up doesn’t seem to be a problem. But if I felt the need, I’d put some salt in my water and apply the principle in the preceding paragraph.

(Bob M) #4

I think it’s very difficult. I get cramps…sometimes. I’ll up the salt and Mg, though sometimes I think higher Mg causes cramps (tend to get them worse AFTER taking Mg). But what if taking Mg actually lessoned the cramps? Difficult to say.

Just went through a bought of bad cramps, which I think were caused in part due to steroids I had to take. But it also got hotter. Hard to tell causation, and hard to determine why the cramps stopped. I assume what I took helped, but there’s no clear starting or ending point

(Joey) #5

Making cramps worse would be a first that I’ve heard as I thought that magnesium is a key element in muscle fiber relaxation. But perhaps the reality is a bit more nuanced? …

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8020016/

(Eve) #6

@SomeGuy l have been in ketosis for over 5 months now and have been drinking the electrolytes every day once l heard about needing them , - particularly to help with the keto flu. I thought the low carb would give a permanent need for extra salts rather than it being transitory. But the experience of the last few days has showed that my body does still seem to need the extra salt when l get very hot and sweat, as l was doing. Otherwise l get dehydrated. Its hard to get my head around the fact that even though l drank alot of extra water , l was dehydrated, and actually got a severe muscle cramp in my calf during the night. But l also know that low salt in the body means it can’t hold onto the water being consumed.

(Joey) #7

It can be a bit worse than that … drinking a lot of water in conjunction with not getting enough electrolytes can actually wind up diluting the salinity of your blood serum (below a critical level) while flushing out needed electrolytes with increased urination.

In fact, if you’ve heard of marathon runners who collapse at the end and go into severe shock, it’s due to severe electrolyte imbalance - muscles, like the heart, stop functioning properly.

Someone please correct me if I’m mistaken on any of this.

(Bob M) #8

Yes, the book by Tim Noakes goes into that. Nothing like a book that starts by discussing rectal temperatures of marathon runners.

You have to drink a ton though. If you’re a fast runner, you finish well before you can drink that much. It’s the slow runners who stop at every drink station and chug that can have an issue.

I like that Cochrane article.

(Eve) #9

So , l have now been getting some oedema in my ankles which I have never suffered before. Part of it may be due to the current heat wave (and no air conditioning in most UK buildings) but l also worry that it is a sign my water /electrolyte intake is not balanced.
I drink a solution containing 1/2 teaspoon each of pink himalayan salt, lo-salt and magnesium citrate, every day.
Is that similar to what other peoples intake is?

(Peter - Don't Fear the Fat ) #10

I assume everyone is different on this, especially when starting out but I personally trust my taste buds and add lo-salt to food. Plus a mag spray at night … not sure I need the spray but I’m trying it out

#11

That’s how it works for everybody, the carbs help us hold onto them, pull those out and good luck holding on! I used to always say I didn’t like when people said Keto had a diuretic effect, I always felt that was way to dramatic vs what it actually did, but after switching to TKD I realized that standard keto really is just shy of a diuretic, we lose a LOT without the carbs in there.

(Bob M) #12

I keep getting confused, as when I take magnesium, I often get MORE cramps. Yesterday, for instance, I took Mg at my first meal, and later I got bad cramps, one that was in the fingers of my left hand. That’s the first time that has happened.

The cramps were so bad that I took some large salt crystals and put them under my tongue. I think that might have helped.

For that meal, I ate 50 grams of rice noodle carbs, as it was the first meal after a full body weight training, which took 1 hour and 40 minutes. I’m trying a TKD and eating 50g rice noodles after body weight training (only).

I may have to go get some pickle juice to see if that helps.