Keto Rash? maybe? questions. Help

(Sky) #1

Hello There,
So I started lightly dieting about a year ago, I was not doing keto but began gradually restricting my carbs without really thinking about keto or anything, just avoided carbs. I was also doing intermittent fasting on weekends. I’m 6’4 and have lost a total of 45 pounds. About 7-8 months in I started developing rashes, thought it was a million different things, didn’t correlate it to diet or anything, doctors/ dermatologists are pretty much stumped.

My wife began doing the keto diet about one week ago and took the pee strip and confirmed she was in ketosis. I was talking to her and said “I bet in ketosis due to my carb restriction”, never confirmed that but at that moment I somehow remembered hearing about the keto rash at some point.

I googled the keto rash and everything seems pretty spot on with my symptoms. I’ve read it can be caused by severe carb restriction as well.

So I ramped up my carbs about 24 hours ago and plan on just keeping a balanced diet in hopes of maintaining my current weight.

So my questions: how long after introducing carbs will this go away if it is keto rash? Also, how long are ketones present in the body after introducing carbs?

I’ve done a lot of research on the keto rash but never really got those answers. Any info would be very helpful.
Thank you.

(Greg) #2

It usually takes about a day to see some changes in the rash. Personally, I’ve always seen the greatest changes in my keto rash after waking up. The redness will start to go brown and the puffiness will diminish. It of course depends on you and your body, but from there it’ll take another 2-3 days before the nasty effects of the rash are almost entirely gone. Hang in there!

Now, the sucky part is that you’ll have those brown spots for quite a while. They will go away, but man it takes a LONG time. They’ll be kinda like really big freckles.

I’ve had the rash quite a bit for almost 2 years, and I generally kept up my carbs to combat it. Until I found black seed oil. That stuff works amazingly well. I saw results after a day. The bad side is that it smells REAL bad and it’s pretty greasy and it sticks to your clothes. There are creams out there, and I personally recommend SciZenna.

Now, it’s to my understanding that ketones don’t just go away when you introduce carbs. Ketosis and glycolysis aren’t mutually exclusive. It’s like a spectrum (to a point). It’s really when your insulin levels start increasing to counteract the carbs that kicks you out of therapeutic ketosis. You’ll still have ketones, but the production will be significantly lowered.

If you want to stick with carbs, I say get a ketone meter and experiment on the lowest number of grams of carbs you need to fend off the rash while still being in keto. Or just use black seed oil!

(Sky) #3

Thanks for the info. I hope 2-3 days is right, it is driving me mad.
I’m going to go get black seed oil today. Does the black seed oil cure it our just mask the symptoms?
I thought it was a fungus Candida overgrowth for a while, most of those creams seem to make it worse but I did stumble upon lotromin Spray, it has talc powder in it and that is the only thing that makes the itching go away, doesn’t clear up the rash but helps living with it. It’s not messy at all either.

(Greg) #4

Hah, I wish we knew the cure. In fact, I wish we knew the exact mechanism that causes the rash. The closest research I could find on any keto rash treatment was either antibiotics (not for bacteria, but for the anti-inflammatory properties of the medication), waiting it out (which sucks, but good on you if you can do it), or anecdotal remedies that appear to work person by person.

I like the black seed oil for two reasons. First, it was the only thing that worked. And second, my research crawling on TQ convinced me that there was something worth pursuing. So now I’m entirely convinced xD.

As of now, so far the oil by itself doesn’t mask symptoms - it treats the inflammation (which is essentially what rashes usually are). Unfortunately I can’t give you extensive documentation or experiments (other than what I’ve experimented on myself) on why, but one day I’ll know. SciZenna is so far the only cream out there that I’ve seen that both treats symptoms (itching, burning) and has TQ to fight inflammation.

I’ve never considered the rash as fungal, but I can see why that spray could help, if you wanna go the “wait it out” route.

(Paulene ) #5

I have an unusual rash as it is more on my shins than anywhere else - just a bit on my chest and neck. I picked up some black seed oil today on @Greg_keto_man’s recommendation and am trying it on one leg to see how it compares to the tinaderm spray I’m using on my other leg. If it works, I might also try taking it orally and see if I get a systemic response.
The oil I have doesnt smell at all anf just tastes like nigella seeds. Hab Shifa brand -
made in Australia so not sure if it’s availiable outside Aus.