New here and need some help troubleshooting

bloodpressure
(Henry) #5

I cut back coffee from about 20 to 12 ounces a day and haven’t seen a change in the week since doing so.

(traci simpson) #6

I had coffee just now but other than that the last time I had it was on Monday so I’m just starting this journey.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #7

I think it sounds like even though you’re doing electrolytes you might not be getting enough sodium. You really don’t need a lot other than sodium on KETO IMHO. That’s the key to balancing potassium and magnesium. Maybe you’re a little potassium deficient right now too. Eating an avocado or two weekly can help. I had restless limb for years. I used to have to eat carbohydrates to calm it. It got better on KETO. But when I do get it now I swallow about 3-4grams of salt with a large glass of water. It disappears in 10 minutes. You need 2-3 teaspoons/10-15g of salt daily. About 5000mg of sodium.

:cowboy_hat_face:

(Full Metal KETO AF) #8

Magnesium

(traci simpson) #9

My go to!

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(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #10

Check out this:

(Marianne) #11

Hello and welcome.

Did you have this problem prior to keto?

I don’t know but will offer a couple of things to consider. I think maybe you aren’t eating enough/getting enough calories, and then working out (cardio), on top of it is a lot. I think it can be a strain on your body, especially if you aren’t yet fat adapted. In spite of doing clean keto from the beginning with no cheating, it still took me over four months until I knew I was fat adapted. Before that, I didn’t have sustained energy, would get winded and I’d have a rapid heart beat with doing anything even mildly strenuous.

I would suggest increasing your calories. 1300 for a taller man is not much. Keto is not a diet, although what gets most of us here is the desire for weight loss. That happens because of ketosis, the process of burning fat vs. carbs - not from calorie restriction. You can eat more and still lose weight. It will be better for you metabolically if you do. If you continue, you risk slowing your metabolism because your body will start to think you need to preserve calories because you are eating so little. You can eat hearty, rich meals without needing to count calories or keep them as low as you are. You will still lose weight and I believe it is better for your body.

Good luck.

(Henry) #12

I’ve been trying to not take too much salt because I am still eating daily, not fasting longer than 12 hours. But I think you may be right that I could be taking more of each.

(Henry) #13

I would suggest increasing your calories.

Thank you for the reply. I do plan to increase my calories deliberately when I get closer to my body fat goals. I’m still about 20% fat, and while I’m very happy with the progress, I want to get to 12% and maintain that.

I haven’t been restricting calories at all since I started. I skipped a few dinners just to see how it felt, but generally I’ve been eating 3 meals a day, as much as I feel like eating. It just turns out that without carbs, I am having to make a lot of adjustments to how much of other stuff I eat. I’m sure a lot of people here have experienced the need to prepare a much larger % of their food since changing diet.

Convenience now takes a lot of planning and work. Too often I didn’t plan well in advance and my choices end up being “eat some nuts”, or sit around and think about doing some work to make something more interesting, then deciding to eat nothing because I’m not all that hungry anyway.

That I need to fix. I’ve expanded my keto snack selection a lot, but as for meals, it’s still a lot of work that I have to plan ahead for. As I get closer to my BMI goal, I’ll also be getting better at that preparedness since I’m doing more cooking all the time.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #14

What does this have to do with it? You need salt, eating or not. If you eat sodium rich foods you don’t need to eat that much extra salt. I honestly don’t measure but I Salt my food pretty well, more than most probably. And if I feel punk, Salt is my first go to to see if it helps. Usually it does. :cowboy_hat_face:

(Henry) #15

If you eat sodium rich foods you don’t need to eat that much extra salt.

Like you say, if I’m eating, I’m assuming I’m getting some electrolytes that way. So I try to not add too much supplemental salt with water. But it very well could be that I’m not getting enough in my food to start with.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #16

Extra sodium is lost through urination, you don’t need to be cautious about too much salt unless it’s a lot too much, then you get diarrhea. :frowning:

(Henry) #17

People seem to agree that most of us are magnesium deficient no matter what style of diet we are eating. It seems safe to go up to 1000mg daily of magnesium for a while, and back off to 500 or so.

I’ve read that too much potassium can cause immediate and serious heart problems. Usually only if taken as a supplement, not in food. I’ll need to look more carefully into what exactly is “too much”

Too much sodium can raise blood pressure. I’ve certainly seen my BP go way up after some meals. So I might be sensitive to this. But my typical pressure is so low that it probably isn’t much of a worry.

I once did a cleanse that involved drinking a quart of water with a tablespoon of salt all within 5 minutes every morning. I can attest to the effects of too much salt all at once.

Thanks for all the feedback! I increased my magnesium last night and felt better within an hour. I’ll keep increasing that plus potassium and sodium and report back on the results in a few days.

(hottie turned hag) #18

This intermittent pounding HR doesn’t sound cardiac in origin to me based upon the neg diagnostics you report.

It sounds more like a systemic reaction to something; the cardiac response is just that: a response. The heart itself functions properly and is sound.

A transient inflammatory response, perhaps?

Sodium can cause fluid rentention; THAT (increased fluid volume in the vessels) is what actually causes elevated BP. High carb intake can also cause fluid retention in some individuals; it does so markedly in my case whereas high sodium does not.

Because the symptom’s source isn’t cardiac nor vascular in nature.

Sounds benign and transitory; could be a food reaction as in ingesting something to which you have a sensitivity or actual allergy.

These are hardly “spikes” and are normal fluctuations

(Henry) #19

Thank you for adding that. I’m fairly confident that wheat products cause negative responses in me. Many beers (especially my favorite IPAs) often cause me to go into a sneezing fit in addition to making me feel fatigued.

But while doing keto, I’ve been avoiding wheat and everything made with it except for about once a week when I eat some bun with a burger or low carb tortillas with burritos. The symptoms described in the OP are present for days at a time. So I don’t think it’s that specific known thing.

I also suspect tomatoes may be a problem for me based on past reactions when eating SAD. But again, I’ve been eating nothing with tomato in it except about once a week when I make keto tika masala or butter chicken. Those meals don’t seem to cause me any change for me at this time.

The “spikes” may not be all that dramatic considering cardiologist (on youtube anyway) talk about people getting up over 200/90. Certainly I’m not worried about 137/88 taken by itself. But I guess I don’t know what normal fluctuations should be when I’m hydrated, but haven’t eaten in a couple hours, and am just siting at a desk. Should Diastolic rise by 12 points over 10 minutes for no clear and obvious reason?

Being able to measure things like BP or glucose is probably causing a lot of people to get worried about fluctuations unnecessarily because the measurement is far easier than understanding what’s ok and when. I personally feel like my lack of knowledge in this area has caused me anxiety over it, coupled with the heart palpitations.

I do think what I’ve been experiencing is food related, not a “mechanical” problem with my heart or vascular system. But if so, is it something I’m eating? Or something I’m not eating enough of?

(Failed) #20

You may find this discussion of potassium of interest. I did extensive research and posted my findings as well as my n=1.

(hottie turned hag) #21

This is so no bigs, trust me.

Ya. You sound a tad hypochondriacal :grin:
I have anxiety though with many triggers so I’m not saying that meanly :blush:

What you described is NOT a “palpitation”; it sounds more like vessel expansion (the walls of the vessels expanding with each heart contraction). You said your actual HR remains steady duing the episodes.

Honestly it doesn’t sound diet related; I just had occasion in another thread to say “correlation needn’t indicate causation”.

It may be a sensitivity to something you ingest, thence triggering a transient inflammatory response, but unless you have other symptoms to report, this one event occurring alone doesn’t indicate anything worrisome; your doc must agree as you don’t mention him recommending any further diagnostics.

(Henry) #22

The posts on potassium supplements was indeed a very good read!

I feel a lot more confident taking more Potassium than I have been so far. My kidneys are fine, so I don’t think I need to worry about it at all. I’ll stay well under 5g anyway.

(Henry) #23

I might be a tad hypochondriacal. :slight_smile:

I definitely have a tad of OCD. Allow that to exercise itself on personal health and you get a problem with fixation and maybe some self fulfillment. I’m aware of it and try to stay rational and use ranges when looking at numbers. Kind of like staying in between the lines while driving. It doesn’t matter too much how close you are to the center of your lane as long as you stay between the lines when you need to.

It’s hard to find clear guidelines on this stuff. I’m sure it’s out there, but there is so much conflicting advice out there too. Bodies are complex. Fortunately they are also pretty tolerant within ranges.

I’ve been feeling quite good today for the first time in about 4 days. My forceful heartbeat got quiet over the hour after I took some magnesium drops and has stayed in what I would call a normal state since then.

I’ve had my normal coffee, fats, and water with salts today. But I increased the salts and switched from Magnesium chloride to sulfate. Also took a single 200mg Mag Glycinate. My plan is to try to build up Magnesium stores at 800mg intake for a couple weeks and then cut back to about 400mg supplementation a day to sustain.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #24

Glad to hear it Henry. Stay well. :cowboy_hat_face: