Lightheaded, dizziness advice

(Christie) #6

Thank you! Def. I was surprised because I thought that only happened in the first week etc. but I know upping my salt intake is key. I’m def taking it easy for the. Rest of the day!

(LeeAnn Brooks) #7

Yup, I even missed a couple days work because of it, and I NEVER miss work. When I was walking up the stairs with a laundry basket at home and suddenly had to sit down or I was going to pass out, it was really scary. My husband tried to make me quit Keto because of it.

Finally in a moment of desperation at work, I went out and bought some ZipFizz as it had all the electrolyte minerals in it. I added some salt for good measure, and it worked so well I now do one ZipFizz a day. It has 2g of carbs, but I’ll take it considering how well it worked.

(LeeAnn Brooks) #8

Oh, and I keep pink Himalayan rock salt at my desk and pop one under my tongue every so often.

(Christie) #9

Oh I’m glad to hear his story actually! I went to get my hair done today and acted a fool. Thank goodness my hairdresser was so nice. Got me like 2 liters of water and the whole time I was hoping I could finish the appointment without puking or passing out! I’m going to get some zipfiz. That’s been on my list to try! Thanks again for the info!

(Troy Anthony) #10

I experienced the same thing as well with heart rate. It completely went away when I chilled out on my normal workout routine for a few weeks. After that I went back to more intensity with no problems.

(Bunny) #11

Possibilities:

  1. Orthostatic Hypotension?
  1. Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS)?
  1. Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) Axis?
  1. Intermittent Fasting & Hypoglycemia?

References:

  1. 12 Strategies to Improve POTS Naturally?
  1. How to Test Your Adrenal Function?

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  1. Two Ways Your Brain Breaks And Exactly What You Can Do About It: Part 2 “…Interestingly, HPA axis dysregulation is 100% linked to the neurotransmitter imbalance issue you learned about earlier in this chapter. For example, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor anti-depressants can actually be very effective at treating panic issues. This is because as as serotonin levels rise, levels of norepinephrine fall. Of course, as you also learned earlier, this is not the best way to treat stress, since you’ll simply need more and more anti-depressants as time goes on, and your body becomes desensitized to serotonin (2). But it is a good way to point out the fact that as your neurotransmitter production becomes enhanced, you become more equipped to fix HPA axis dysfunction. …More
  1. What To Do If You Have Adrenal Fatigue
  1. How to Overcome Adrenal Fatigue

Note: bullet proof coffee or exercise will make some people feel really wacky (viz. dizziness, adrenal spiking, cortisol etc.) sometimes!

High HR, BP, poor kidney function since Keto...advice/insight appreciated
High Heart rate after drinking Full fat coconut milk
Heart rate during Keto adaptation
(Christie) #12

How long did you wait in the beginning before you started back up? I hate to get out of my routine but I def want to get passed this.

(Christie) #13

Thank you for the info!! I’ll def test some things out and see what it is.

(Troy Anthony) #14

I’m the same way so I totally understand. I still stayed active but stopped anything intense for a couple weeks. I would just try it again when you are feeling high energy and great, because the transition lasts longer for different people. I was forcing it during the transition and it was only making me feel worse. Just look at it as a time to chill out and be gentle to yourself, your body is going through some huge changes!

#15

…me too…or a 1/4 teaspoon washed down with water!

(Christie) #16

Ok sounds good. Thanks for the pep talk!

(Christie) #17

Doing it! Thanks :slight_smile:

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #18

It sounds like postural hypotension (which basically means “low blood pressure from standing up too fast”). As people have mentioned you probably would benefit from a lot more salt and from drinking more liquid. Dr. Phinney recommends home-made bone broth as a solution to both challenges, and it is certainly tastier and healthier, but you could in fact make do with store-bought stock cubes (try to get ones with as few nasty chemicals as possible). The reason this is necessary is that the body retains water and salt when we eat carbohydrate, and the kidneys flush it out at a much greater rate when we go keto. Also, recent research at McMaster University suggests that we need far more sodium than people have previously thought.

One advantage of home made bone broth, by the way, is that while you are making it, magnesium and potassium dissolve out of the marrow, and they are also important electrolytes.

(Christie) #19

Thank you for that info. I actually bought some bouillon cubes tonight and am starting that as well as the calm brand magnesium. I appreciate the advice and am hoping to kick these symptoms soon!

(Ashley) #20

I would highly doubt pots disease, unless there’s a active feeling of passing out/tired and fatigue. I’ve felt horrible years before keto. It’s super low chance of having it. I had it as a child and never got any better but just found out what it was exactly.

(Alec) #21

Christie
Have you checked your blood pressure? If not, might be worth doing to check all is fine. You MAY find that your BP is in the lower end of the range. This can cause light headedness/dizziness.

BP is easy to check these days as you can get cheap BP monitors.

Just a thought.
Cheers
Alec

(Christie) #22

I agree it has just been the last 3 days I’ve had these symptoms and it’s not with a change of position. I can just been sitting at my desk and getting surges of dizziness

(Christie) #23

Yes! I’m actually a nurse and checked my blood pressure yesterday. I normally run on the lower side, so my thoughts were maybe my volume is too low. It was a little higher than I normally sit so that doesn’t appear to be the issue. I bought some bouillon and extra magnesium last night. I’m hoping to fix this soon! :pray:

(Ashley) #24

Make sure your electrolytes are up. Make
Sure your eating enough. Salt salt salt. Also pickle juice always helps me. I’ll drink it and usually will feel better after.

(icky) #25

Hi Christie,

Electrolytes are tricky.

Not only does each electrolyte have to be balanced, but they also have to be balanced with each other.

Salt (sodium) is also an electrolyte.

Here’s the important electrolytes and the names for having too much (hyper) or too little (hypo) of each:

calcium: hypercalcemia and hypocalcemia
chloride: hyperchloremia and hypochloremia
magnesium: hypermagnesemia and hypomagnesemia
phosphate: hyperphosphatemia or hypophosphatemia
potassium: hyperkalemia and hypokalemia
sodium: hypernatremia and hyponatremia

The thing seems to be that if for example you are getting “too much” of one electrolyte (lets call it Electrolyte A) then your body will down-regulate that electrolyte level by making you pee a lot.

That has that electrolyte and water flushing out of your system, but also the other electrolytes.

So now, for example your Electrolyte A levels would be fine again, but you’re deficient in the other electrolytes, will get those deficiency symptoms (a lot of them seem to be fatigue/ dizziness and muscle related like cramps, including heart muscle) and will then need to supplement those other electrolytes.

You can get these symptoms from any of the electrolytes and you can get them EITHER from having too much OR from having too little OR from them being out of balance with each other.

So you need to try and find out which electrolyte it is and whether you need more or less of it.

Electrolytes are really powerful body chemistry.