Long term symptoms from keto

(cerastez) #1

I have been on keto for a year and six months. In that time I have lost 50 pounds, so I am very happy with the weight loss. I have had some symptoms the whole time that I have been on the keto diet and they are starting to concern me. I am wondering if anyone else has these symptoms and know how to fix them. I have rapid pulse, night sweats, constant thirst, and excessive urination. And in the last two months the surface of my tongue as gone numb.

I do drink an electrolyte drink every morning. About 3 months ago a blood test revealed that I was low on B2. Since then I have added B complex to the vitamins that I take. I take a lot of vitamins, C,D, calcium, magnesium, E, and potassium.

I also have a keto-mojo blood tester and use the Carb-Manager app, so I am getting into ketosis and I am doing well with my macros. Any help would be appreciated.

(cerastez) #2

And I am pretty sure Im not diabetic.
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(David Spector) #3

I would see a doctor, or send your doctor a message. While the symptoms are not concerning if temporary, you say they have lasted over two months. You donā€™t say how much potassium you take; use care, as large amounts can be dangerous, unlike all the other supplements you listed.

(Joey) #4

@cerastez Welcome to the forum. While echoing @david3ā€™s suggestion to have things checked out, Iā€™d add a minor point (unrelated to what youā€™re describing) and that is that calcium supplementation is rarely wise.

We get plenty of calcium in our diets and a larger concern is where that calcium winds up (absent sufficient D3 and K2, very common shortcomings in our modern food sources). Instead of bones and teeth, calcium tends to get deposited in arteries without the K and D requirements being properly met - especially in the presence of systemic inflammation (which carb restriction is thought to significantly reduce).

Again, calcium is not going to cause the issues youā€™re citing, but food for thought.

(David Spector) #5

This is an important point, thanks.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #6

Constant thirst and excessive urination are among the symptoms of Type I diabetes. Unlike Type II, which is insulin-resistance caused by excess sugar consumption, Type I is an autoimmune disease, the cause of which is not known (though I did read a post in another thread suggesting that certain viral infections might play a role). Although Type I diabetes used to be called ā€œjuvenile-onset diabetesā€ because it was most frequently seen in paediatric patients, it can actually develop at any age. The old diagnostic for Type I was a sweet taste to the patientā€™s urine or perspiration. Today, they do blood tests.

Whatever the problem is, something is not right, and I strongly urge you to consult your physician.

(cerastez) #7

Thank you for the input. I do have a doctors appointment next week and I am going to ask about these symptoms.

I will report that I spent a lot of last year trying to get help with the rapid pulse. I average in the mid 90s and thatā€™s averaging in times when I am asleep. When I am awake my pulse is in the high 90ā€™s although I am often well above 100. I nagged until I got to see a cardiologist. They did a cardiogram and concluded that my heart is healthy. My normal is just faster than most peoples.

I take it that a fast pulse isnā€™t something that other people on keto are experiencing?

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #8

Iā€™m sure it varies from person to person. My experience with keto is that, far from raising my pulse rate, it lowered me from over 100 bpm to 72, a year after I began eating keto.

(Edith) #9

How much salt and potassium are in that electrolyte drink? I bet not much. I think you probably need more salt. My first four years of keto, I needed to supplement about 2 teaspoons of my salt mix every day and that was on top of whatever salt was in my food. The salt will help you hold on to water and most likely slow down your pulse rate.

Also, how much water do you drink each day? If you think you need to be drinking such-and-such amount of water and you are drinking when you are actually not thirsty, you could be flushing electrolytes out of your system.

Finally, you say you are taking a lot of potassium and other vitamins. What is a lot? Maybe you are taking in too much potassium. If you take in enough sodium, you should not need to supplement a lot of potassium. Some of your symptoms: dehydration, thirst, frequent urination are symptoms of vitamin D toxicity.

(cerastez) #10

I added potassium to my regimen about 5 or 6 months ago, in hopes that it would lower my rapid pulse. The pill is 99mg of potassium,which I take once a day. From what everyone says, I am going to stop taking it. It didnā€™t slow my pulse any.

I have been taking electrolytes every morning for more than a year. I started out with some expensive high end ones but I got tired of the expense. Now I take Mio drops.

Salt intake is an interesting thought. I am crazy for sugar free jerky so I probably get quite a bit of salt in my diet, but I have never tried to quantify how much salt I actually get.

I will ask my doctor about vitamin D toxicity. Maybe it can be tested for in a blood test. I do take 10,000IU a day. I live in the pacific northwest (land of no sun) so I have taken vitamin D for decades, but maybe it has become an issue.

Thanks for your thoughts.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #11

A couple of studies that came out three or four years ago both indicated that people seem to be healthiest when they get 4-6 grams of sodium daily (from all sources), which is 10-15 grams of table salt (one U.S. teaspoon contains about 5 g of sodium chloride). Keeping sodium intake in the healthy range greatly aids in keeping calcium, magnesium, and potassium regulated, as well. The risk curve rises slowly for daily sodium intakes above 6, and quite steeply for intakes below 3 or 4 g. The exception being salt-sensitive hypertensives, whose risk curve rises steeply on both sides of the sweet spot.

(Kathy) #12

My Dr. who is Keto all the way, told me at the very start to not take Calcium supplements, enough in our food.

#13

Not a doctor but if I had weird symptoms the first thing I would do is stop any supplements that my doctor did not order. Then see what if anything goes away. Of course do not stop any prescription medications or any supplements your doctor put you on without talking to him. I would also make an appointment and let them evaluate what is going on

#14

A number of metabolic diseases have polydipsia PD (xs thirst leading to xs drinking) and polyuria PU (xs urination). As well as type 2 and type 1 diabetes, there is diabetes insipidus, which is a central hormonal dysfunction brain disease.

High heart rate can be associated with low blood pressure as a compensatory mechanism, especially associated with chronic dehydration.

Kidney dysfunction is another reason for PUPD. Also thyroid dysfunction and adrenal gland dysfunction.

Sounds like youā€™ll need to work with your doctor and do some diagnostic tests.

#15

Totally agree! Vits A,D, E and K are fat soluble and can become toxic in excess. But with his symptoms he definitely needs a medical workup!

#16

drop ALL the supps ya added.

start life with real food. donā€™t even ā€˜pretend to thinkā€™ ya know what you might be low in, or ā€˜needā€™ thru guessing.

have a vit/mineral panel done after taking nothing and eating well on Keto for like at least a month or so and see then, thru this report IF you really need anything. You could SO be working against yourself so easily thru ā€˜the harmlessā€™ supps in full force that are kinda not harmless for many soā€¦

back to extreme basics.

do this, rely on real good food for life and then later get tested in a simple vit/min. report from Dr and ā€˜then ya knowā€™ real truths.

it is SO simple to unbalance your body thru supps when not knowing if they are doing anything for ya or working hard against you :sunny:

we change longer on our plan if we hold it and eat well, what mighta felt good to the body then is now poisoning you in some aspect?

wishing you the best moving forward.

#17

My resting pulse has been 90-120 for the past six years, even after sitting still for over an hour. It was accompanied by high amounts of stressful situations. But I sit here today enduring one of the most stressful weeks Iā€™ve had this past year (over a tragic circumstance with my son,) and taking my pulse just now showed 76. I havenā€™t seen a result like that in too long to remember. A continuous high resting heart rate is a real thing because I lived it, but I donā€™t believe it is normal.

Two things have changed between then and now:

  1. I had parathyroid surgery in December which removed three tumors and returned my out of whack calcium blood levels and PTH back to true normal, and requires I take calcium supplements along with D, magnesium, and K; and
  2. I started Keto on March 6th of this year.

Which one lowered my heart rate? Maybe both? Maybe just one? I donā€™t know. But Iā€™m experiencing a host of other amazing health benefits that were not present prior to the week of March 6, so I give Keto a lot of the credit.

I personally donā€™t believe Keto can cause a pulse to be higher. If it could Iā€™m a prime candidate and should be sitting here with it well over 100 right now but it is not.

Just thought Iā€™d share to help you gather more info and ideas for where to look next.

(Todd Allen) #18

I had that cluster of symptoms before going keto which I attributed to being borderline T2D. Those symptoms diminished rapidly upon going low carb and then keto. After about 1 year I tried shifting my diet to higher protein but still very low carb in an attempt to boost body composition improvement by gaining more muscle and not just losing fat and those symptoms started coming back but resolved as soon as I returned to a moderate protein diet. A few years later when my metabolic health was much better I have been able to increase dietary protein much higher without any symptoms other than a slight increase in fasting blood glucose and lower ketones.

One factor that might have contributed to those symptoms on my first failed attempt at higher protein is lead poisoning but I didnā€™t know about it then. A couple years later it got really bad as I did another aggressive weight loss phase and I finally got the right blood tests done and discovered and fixed the problem. Lead and many other toxins are sequestered in tissues such as bones and fat where they are somewhat less of a problem but can be released back into circulation with significant weight loss. If your symptoms come and go with weight loss and rebound then you might try testing or just boosting intake of things supporting detox pathways such as glutathione precursors NAC, glycine and zinc, vitamin C, etc.

#19

Iā€™d double check the electrolytes, unless its something like LMNT, or one youā€™re making, it probably doesnā€™t have enough of anything in it. Add in the constant urination itā€™ll only make that problem worse.

Easy to get stuck in a negative feedback loop with electrolytes.

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Head for around those levelsā€¦

#20

I take Dr Bergā€™s electrolytes - but the potassium is 1000mg and the sodium is only 40. But I had a significant shortage of potassium. I could never get near the recommended daily amount. Not even half of it. My average per day after tracking what I ate for a month was around 900 mg. Far short.

Are his electrolytes ok? Since they are opposite your LMNT numbers?
Here are the stats:

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