Hello from a Newbie

(David ) #1

Hello everybody

Thank you very much for allowing me to join your forums. I’m delighted to be here, I started Peter around 3 1/2 weeks ago, and I’ve lost one stone After many failed attempts at other diets, including a gastric band that went disastrously wrong.

I am a Type II diabetic taking 130 units of insulin per day, which is not controlling my blood sugars. The keto diet allowed me to drop my insulin to about 68 units per day, but I have a little problem. I hope anyone can offer me advice, I am suffering from a horrendous headache it wakes me up in the middle of the night, and I cannot stop peeing. I never have in all my 59 years. I got up multiple times per night since starting keto. Will this go away?

I am in ketosis, as I have checked, With Urne strips.

Thanks David

(Denise) #2

Hi and welcome David, this forum has helped save my life and there are people here to help and support eachother. I am fairly new myself, but been on Keto about 18 months now. Most of what I’ve learned has been here from folks who are succeeding, recommended videos, and studies done.

I am also a T2 diabetic, got my numbers down into the safe zones (HbA1c’s normal) and I stick to my safe foods only. I hope you’ll stick around, I can’t recommend this bunch of folks enough! Denise :slight_smile:

(David ) #3

Hi Denise

Thank you for the warm welcome. I truly appreciate it, and yes, I certainly will stick around. I have had nothing but trouble over the last few years with my diabetes and my cholesterol. I had a gastric band fitted on the NHS, and it nearly killed me. I lost 6 pounds in 11 months. I couldn’t keep it down whatsoever. I was severely restricted, and the band was empty. All I could do was drink liquidised food; I could not eat solid form whatsoever.

After 11 months, when the digestive enzyme pepsin was found in my throat, I had the band removed as an emergency. It was the worst thing I had ever done in my entire life. I’m happy with the keto diet as I am pretty strict with myself, and I don’t have a problem with giving things up and just fed up with this constant throbbing powerful headache.

Good luck with your journey, and I hope everything keeps going well for you.

David

#4

Hi David!

I’m also new around here, I’ve been keto before but fell off the wagon so I’m climbing back on again… :rofl:

I’m absolutely not an expert by any means but from my own experience of keto it’s electrolyte issue which cause my headaches. Once I’ve boosted those the headache gets better. Apparently because your body doesn’t need to retain as much water you end up peeing all your electrolytes out… :flushed:

I’m sure someone much more knowledgeable will be along soon to answer your questions, these guys are fantastic!

(Denise) #5

You’ve been through a lot :frowning: but you are here now and I think it might be the best thing you ever did was to come here. I am learning myself, seems something new every day. Check out the vast amount of topics and I’m sure you’ll find people that can relate to anything we struggle with, or help finding more info.

@alimc gave you info I was getting ready to about the water thing, and glad they mentioned the electrolytes as well!!

#6

I can’t say anything smart regarding your headaches, I have zillion different types of headaches but keto never triggered any.

I just wish to welcome you. This is a nice forum with many lovely, helpful people.
Best wishes!

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #7

Welcome to the forums.

This may not cure your headache, but something to try is increasing your salt intake. Be sure also to drink to thirst. (Don’t over-hydrate, in other words, just be sure to get enough.)

As for night-time urination, I have found that cutting carbs increased my bladder capacity enormously. I have no idea what the reason is, but if my carb intake is low enough, I can sleep comfortably through the night.

(Joey) #8

@David_Gillson Greetings and welcome!

You’ve gotten the best advice I could offer from @PaulL above. Keeping electrolytes (and hydration) up is essential for everyone, but especially critical when restricting carbs. As for urination, that’s a trickier one to address - could be lots of reasons. Keep an eye on it and make judgments accordingly. :vulcan_salute:

(Denise) #9

I so agree 100% on the electrolytes and water. I learned to drink the water when I am thirsty. I also found that when I feel hunger between meals, it’s good for me to drink about 8 ounces, or less because I think it might be true that dehydration sort of disguises itself as hunger. Just stuff I’ve read, I don’t take it as truth but if it works I don’t fix it :wink:

I thought I had a heart attack some years ago and they took me to emergency, gave me tests, no heart issue. What I had was an esophageal spasm. They gave me nitro to take when I had one, had another and talk about a headache, hated the stuff. Kept reading about ES’s and found a daughter of a lady that could stop her ES just by drinking water so I tried it.

I also think my ES’s happen if I’m too dehydrated because yes, the water ends them at the first warning signs, which for me it is aching in my teeth and jaw. I keep water with me needless to say, now :wink:

I’m 69 so some of my getting up at night and going to pee may just be age, but I haven’t found a cure yet in order to sleep through the night. Other body misfunctions like allergies, possibly sleep apnea are things i am looking into, always looking for natural way to fix one thing after another. But I doubt I ever change from Keto, it’s done wonders for me. I’m talking to much, but want to add I am now building muscle working out at a gym, first time in my life.

#10

Hi David,
Welcome. I’m quite new to keto and am also a T2D. My blood sugars have improved greatly. I’m hoping with my next test that my HbA1c will be in normal range. I’ve also lost a lot of weight which has made a great improvement in my health. Regarding frequent urination:

I also have to get up during the night but this was true before I started keto. I’ve improved somewhat as I usually only have to get up once whereas before keto I often had to get up two or three times.

Sometimes, I want progress to be faster, but then I remind myself I was years getting to the point before starting keto. In nine months, I’ve lost the weight that I gained over 15 years.

I ran into a friend I hadn’t seen in months. She was shocked at how much weight I’d lost. She said something to the effect that at the pace I was going I could soon stop keto.

I reminded her that not doing keto was what got me here and that a keto woe would be life long for me.

Great start, David. There are some very knowledgeable people here who will be able to answer questions.

(David ) #11

Thank you very much to all for the positive answers to my question. I have started drinking water with Concentrated6 lemon juice, pink Himalayan salt, and apple cider vinegar with a little sweetener. I have also had a box of electrolytes that you mix with water.

I am grateful I hope you all continue doing well, and I hope that I may join you all on that journey.

David

(Joey) #12

Yes, this mindset remains a popular head-banger. I’d suggest we add the following…

“Since you’ve been off heroine for months now, you can finally shoot up again soon!”

“Recovering alcoholic for 2 years already? Time really flies, so you can start drinking again by now!”

“Haven’t had an insulin injection in 5 years?! Wow, you can start up again soon if you just eat like I do!”

So much to look forward to … :crazy_face:

#13

It’s not exactly the same though… The “you can stop keto” is probably a combination of this 3:

  1. Keto is something one endures in order to lose fat. It’s not like it’s enjoyable to stay away from the tasty carbs. Keto is just a hopefully quick fat-loss diet.
  2. If the extra fat is lost, it’s perfectly fine to go back to the fattening old diet. What could go possibly wrong?

Actually, the 2 works for some and one can do 2-3 weeks keto to lose the fat that they gained during the year but it’s not typical. Though one can do something in-between, being careful… It’s individual.
Some people do need to stop keto for maintenance as they just lose fat even if they are underweight. Or they can maintain pretty easily and unwilling to do keto for long? So many cases happens. Not everyone has the belief that non-keto is unhealthy and bad for them. And it’s not just keto and some bad original diet, there are so many options.

BUT yeah, if something works, why to break it? :slight_smile: I agree with that.

(Denise) #14

Good for you!! I love an occasional ACV/Lemonjuice concoction @David_Gillson. The added salt and electrolyte sounds good too! I was using Endure drops in my water, ran out and didn’t re-order. Maybe I should :wink: You have joined us, you are now one of us!!

(Denise) #15

I’ll add that just in my 18 months, I’ve lost interest in foods like potatos (and chips), sugars (but I like to use stevia in very small amounts) and I find Ketogenic diet so good to eat both taste-wise, and mentally-wise. I don’t miss the old “standard American diet” at all! I hope I never feel different about that but I really can’t imagine why I would change back.

#16

That’s a combination of carb depletion, and the water you’re now dumping because of it. It’ll pass. The biggest reason people dump so much weight at first is typically just water retention. Most don’t realize how much they hold, with as much Insulin as you were taking, I’d imagine it’s a LOT!

While it’s NOT the answer to everything like many think it is, SALT! This is completely overblown most of the time, but in a case like yours… make sure you’re getting it in! Dumping water that fast will always equal an electrolyte imbalance. They all matter, but the biggie is Sodium. The majority of electrolyte drinks couldn’t replenish them if you drank a case of it, which is why so many make their own. LMNT is actually a good one, but a little pricey.

For a type 2 to not be able to keep things in check with 130u a day… you’re bad my friend! So I’d assume you’ve got a lot of water coming out, that and the carb depletion would have probably been worse than most. Good news is, it’ll self correct. You’re already at half, so that’s awesome.

Something to keep in mind, don’t do the butter chugging version of keto while on Insulin (or at all really) Insulin stores stuff, not just carbs. It stores fat too, it also drives nutrients into cells (which is good), it’s not all bad but you gotta keep that in mind. As timing will matter. Also, one of the bigger points is to get Insulin to near basal limits most of the time. Seems you’re good with the sliding scale since you dropped it by half already so you should be good, just keep adjusting whenever you can. It’s only the T1D’s that are stuck on it for good, you should be able to get off at some point, just may take a while.

(Denise) #17

I’m a Type 2 but didn’t have insulin. I had a lot of adjusting to do/figure out and even the little I’ve learned so far, this makes way good sense to me. Very encouraging too. I’d say a pee a normal amount now, but I remember not at first few months!

Thanks for this @lfod14 :+1:

#18

Reversing is possible…

(David ) #19

Thank you for the very detailed post, ifod14. I’m not overly confident that it is because I have retained water, I have suffered with high blood pressure for many years, and I am currently taking four different blood pressure medications, one of them being Lasix at double the usual dose because my blood pressure cannot be brought under control, now that stuff makes you lose water.

I stopped taking the Lasix because I’m struggling to cope with the peeing I am doing I must be going at least 20 times per day. But I’m determined to do it because my health is pretty bad. I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, and I get plenty of exercise, as I always have done. But, unfortunately, up until finding Keto, I couldn’t lose weight.

please accept my apologies for any spelling or grammatical errors I have to use speech software as I am also sight impaired, thankfully it’s nothing to do with diabetes it’s a genetic thing,

Thanks, David

#20

I don’t think apologies are necessary mate.

Wishing you the best of health…and if you figure it out; could you let us know too?

:wink: