Headaches and Migraines on Carnivore

#23

Just a quick update. I haven’t had many stand-alone headaches recently but I’m still getting pretty frequent ocular auras - once a week at least, which are sometimes but usually not accompanied by headaches later on. I got out of bed about 30 minutes ago and have only consumed water so far today but as I’m writing this am getting an ocular auras. Since I went on a pretty hard hike Saturday, it’s taken quite a bit of time to recover in terms of digestion, mental/physical energy, and sleep quality. Sleep quality is back up but digestion still feels pretty poor.

Wondering if the auras have anything to do with the carbs from eating beef liver… Past couple times I’ve eaten liver, digestion, energy levels, etc. have felt disrupted for a day or two after eating it. It’s only 3 g or so per 3 oz, but that adds up when I eat 9-12 oz in a sitting.

Anyways, it’s been a bumpy ride so far and sometimes I can’t tell if the issues I’m having have been getting more or less frequent. They definitely are disruptive issues so hopefully I’ll find a resolution soon. I’m only carnivore + butter + salt since my last few posts, just FYI. I ought to cut out the butter for a month or two but need to find a source of beef tallow if I do that so I don’t set off the smoke alarm every time I cook with no grease :stuck_out_tongue:

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #24

My experience is that eating a couple of pinches of salt will clear up an aura within five minutes, if not immediately.

#25

Hello,

another quick update. A few months back (late June/early July) I stopped using butter to cook my food. Just a bare skillet instead. Since then, I haven’t had a single migraine. I still have occasional crippling headaches - about one every two weeks or so, as well as 1-3 days where I’m totally exhausted before/after. Still I am not sure if that is some sort of detox process going on, as I can’t relate it to anything I’m doing.

This last month I’ve also switched to completely local grass-fed beef. So at the moment my diet consists entirely of grass-fed beef and salt. There’s been benefits to switching over - mainly I feel a bit more calm/happy, and that I haven’t gotten food poisoning since switching. But I’m not sure how long I can or will want to sustain this diet. It’s certainly been good in some ways, but almost a year later there are still issues that are growing or haven’t resolved. Biggest one is bloating/gas. I get a lot, and it seems like it may be getting worse slowly. If I eat just one meal per day it’s greatly reduced, but I like to eat 2 meals on the days I work out, and those days it becomes very uncomfortable. I do not believe constipation is an issue as I’ve become quite regular, with bowel movements becoming much closer to the “ideal” than they have been in a long time. I started taking some digestive enzymes before eating and that has helped a bit, but something’s not digesting correctly. Whether it’s low stomach acid or some bacteria that is able to feed on the meat to create gas I’m not sure. I also am totally knocked out for a couple hours after eating. If I do 1 meal during the day, I almost definitely need a 20-60 nap afterwards because I basically go into a “food coma”. If 2 meals, I get knocked out after my first meal but to a lesser degree. And this is with me making significant effort to stay hydrated - usually about 32 oz of water in the 2 hours before the meal. I also need a lot of sleep at night (8-10 hours) and don’t sleep too well past the first 4-6 hours. I basically sleep soundly for a solid 4-6 hours, then wake up every 30-60 minutes afterwards, sometimes with it taking a long while for me to fall back to sleep.

Other issues include frequent muscle cramping (most significantly foot and leg muscles) and lack of muscle stamina (muscles wear out very quickly. It’s very hard to do cardio exercise because of this). Lastly, it’s an overwhelmingly expensive diet. $12k on food per year won’t be sustainable if I need to tighten up my budget for any reason.

Overall I think my condition is improving. I’ve been able to gain about 15 lbs of weight (mostly lean muscle mass) since starting, I plan to see a functional doctor in the next couple months to try and sort these other issues out. Biggest benefits are still that I am mostly functional for most of the time. I think that I need to solve these other underlying issues before health is optimal.

#26

I dont have all the answers, but Just a few things you could consider and are often overlooked:

Make sure you don’t overcook your meat, because the taurine in it will be lost. Taurine is vital in regulating electrolyte balance.

Another thing to be aware of is rendered fat. I react very badly on it, and for that reason cannot eat large portions of ground beef, which of course are full of rendered fat.

Other things could be: too much or too little fat consumption. Too little or to much protein consumption. Too little fat can cause energy problems, too little protein can cause issues with gluconeogenesis.

The carnivore diet can be pretty complicated. What I noticed in general is that people who keep it very simple (for example ribeyes & water) do best. I guess it’s the best fat/protein balance, no overcooked meat, minimal rendered fat, and no organs that potentially can cause electrolyte imbalances.