Hi folks,
Starting my fifth week on keto, and for the last 3 weeks, I’ve had a mild lightheaded feeling that has become much worse over the last couple of days.
When I posted about it before, some answers suggested it was due to electrolytes, or just sodium deficiency. Well, I upped my salt intake and also my potassium and magnesium. I track all my foods and supplements in cronometer, and I an now virtually maxing out on everything. So, I’m fairly sure it’s not hydration (I drink loads and loads of water) or minerals. I keep well below my 20g net carbs, in fact below 10g most days. I am doing keto, mainly for any weightloss I can get, but also for the general health benefits. On average, I consume around 1700-2000 calories per day doing 2mad 16:8…Male, 56 yr old, 198lbs, my wakening GKI was 2.88 this morning, so well into a ketosis state ( I assume).
So…what is causing this horrible lightheadedness and feeling of tiredness too??
Lightheaded feeling getting worse
Yesterday, for example, I ate 1175 kcal of fat, so well into normal keto recommendations. In other words, I was full, and never felt hungry.
Is it possible, that I still have keto flu? From what I’ve read, it doesn’t last this long? It’s bad enough, that at times I have to give serious consideration as to whether I drive or not!
Don’t overdo the water. You can flush out the electrolytes your body is needing. How much extra salt are you eating a day?
I use all the recommendations on here and add salt to my food, also lots of salt from my food, plus electrolyte tabs in my water a couple of times a day. So, in general, following the advice on here. Yesterday’s sodium intake was 2300mg from everything ( as I said, I use cronometer set to keto for logging)
That’s about half as much as you need at the start of a keto diet. Two teaspoons is recommended and that’s double what you’re having.
That was just yesterday…
27 th June: 5961.2mg
26th June: 5081.5mg
25th June. : 5761 mg
24th. June: 4749.3 mg
Etc etc.
Yesterday’s was low due to not eating much at all. The lightheadedness makes me queasy and nauseous. So, going by my diary, plenty of sodium.
Ok, I agree. 5000 mg should be plenty. If you’re getting the fat and the sodium hopefully it’s just a long induction period. Everyone is different. But at five weeks the worst should be over.
Can you post what you are eating in a day?
Ok… yesterday:
Matteson smoked sausage 90g
Blue Stilton cheese 30g
Avocado olive oil blend 20ml
Heinz Mayo 10g
French’s yellow mustard 1 teaspoon
Pea shoots 1/2 retail pack
Tomato 34g
Nescafé gold blend coffee 2 teaspoons
3 large eggs
Mushrooms 80 g
Back bacon smoked 6 rashers
Cathedral city extra mature cheddar 80g
Mix of sea salt and so low salt ( for potassium)
Vitamin b complex
Mag+pot supplement
A-z multivitamin
Water… 3.25 litres not inc coffee.
Total kcal 1724
Fat 74%, carbs 2%, protein 23%
Please don’t ask to see more details, as this is easy to ask for, but way too labour intensive to be enjoyable 
I vary what I eat every day. I never eat the same diet, apart from my lunch ‘salad’
The food all looks decent. Are any of these supplements new since starting keto?
Only the mag, potassium. But only new by 3 days. The symptoms preclude those. I’m stumped! Only logical thing I can think of is prolonged keto flu!
If it continues much longer try increasing carbs slightly. It’s what’s recommended for people who get keto rash. A half cup of berries (not blueberries) twice a day. You can taper it off once you start feeling better. Chances are you will still lose weight initially at that level.
Thanks Llana, I’ll give it another day or so and try upping carbs a bit. I suppose, even taking it up nearer to 20g wouldn’t do much harm at this stage.
Thanks for taking the time to help, I really appreciate it 
@Mtb with all due respect for @Ilana_Rose, my advice is do not up your carbs. Up your fat. Yes, you are still in carb withdrawal (aka keto flu). You are not eating enough total calories or total fat. Try eating 200-300 more calories of fat for a few days. Add MCT oil, 20-30 grams per day min. More is better until it causes diarrhea, at which point cut back a little. MCT oil has little to no flavour and does not taste ‘oily, slimy, greasy’ at all. If it does not upset your stomach, drink it straight before each meal. If it upsets your stomach, add it to food. Anything, doesn’t matter.
I know you are trying to lose weight but your brain is not getting enough fuel. In my opinion, giving it more glucose will only prolong the agony. Until your brain is using β-hydroxybutyrate more efficiently, give it lots more. At this stage of the game it is far more important to get enough fuel to your brain than to worry about weight. MCT oil is the fastest and easiest way to up your β-hydroxybutyrate concentration. Once you give it sufficient fuel, your symptoms will go away. Then you can adjust your intake for weight loss.
When my blood sugar use to get much lower than it normally ran at, ( pre keto) I would feel light headed and tired out. I fixed that with more sugary things. I’m not saying my blood sugar was low, but it was lower than I guess my body expected it to be, for someone with diabetes. The GKI doesn’t tell me what your blood glucose level is, so just a thought to add to many others you are receiving.
Thanks. I appreciate your input. Still being in keto flu does make sense. It was the only thing that really fitted with my symptoms, and with me being in the first few weeks of this lifestyle change. Adding fat isn’t an issue, and I do generally have a few hundred cals left to play with each day anyway. The MCT oil however, will need to wait for a few days…it isn’t easy to get a hold of locally, so will need to wait for it to arrive by mail order during the next week. Hoping that this fat increase fixes things!
Your quotes aren’t working right because of the extra letter at the beginning, that happens to me a lot accidentally during my post edit. I have no advice, @Ilana_Rose was quite comprehensive in her posts. 
In many ordinary grocery stores and/or supermarkets it’s called ‘Liquid Coconut Oil’. Same stuff for the hoi polloi. You might find it locally under that description. Just make sure it’s ‘cold pressed’. Some of the cheaper stuff is extracted under heat and high pressure, and some using chemicals.
In case you’re interested, I suspect that you’re probably somewhat insulin resistant. Most people eating SAD all their lives are to some extent so that’s not particularly unusual. Being even slightly to moderately insulin resistant will interfere with endogenous fat metabolism. That in turn will interfere with ketone synthesis. That in turn will result in a lower concentration of ketones, specifically acetoacetate, and its slightly more stable form β-hydroxybutyrate, in the blood.
Normally, you can expect gluconeogenesis to synthesize sufficient glucose to keep the brain functioning normally when blood glucose drops as it does from eating keto. However, insulin resistance interferes with this process as well. So it’s a double whammy: not enough of either glucose or ketones for the brain to function normally. Result: your symptoms.
Increasing glucose by eating sugar is like putting a band aide on a wound. It might work short term to stop the bleeding, but does nothing to heal the wound. The real solution is to make more ketones available for your brain to utilize. Since your endogenous synthesis is not yet working efficiently, eating exogenous MCT will introduce ketones directly. Exogenous MCTs don’t even have to go through the liver to get to your blood stream.