Very new to this Keto thing. Been on it a few weeks lost a bit of weight. So far so good…
Got med problems with feeling very tired (take hypertension stuff). However I do suffer from Oedema in legs due to a CABG, they removed some veins in both legs for my by-pass. I’m a 60 year old male who also is Type 2 Diabetic (which I also hopping to stop taking Glucophage shortly, when I get my weight down) I’m not expecting miracles, but does anybody know if the Keto diet will eventually rid of my Oedema in my lower legs and if so how long does it take? A year or two or 20 years? So far my Oedema is the same but I’ve only been on the diet for a few weeks and yes my keto sticks go purple but only in the late afternoon/evening. Ta for any advise. I have got about 70lbs to lose and so far lost about 10ibs…
Oedema in legs
I have 4xCABG and they took veins out of my left leg. I have had edema for 30+ years. CABG at age 48. Then it got worse. I wear compression socks both legs.
Before that I had a reaction to some BP meds when I was very young. I’m 65yo now. So my left leg would swell even before CABG. I went lazy keto 3 1/2 years ago and the swelling improved a little. Been strict keto for 5+ months and the and the swelling most days is gone. It took maybe 2 months for it to go away. Even to the place that I had to adjust an ankle orthotic because the original one became too big.
A few days ago I had a meal that has more carbs from cabbage and diced tomatoes than I should have. My left leg swelled. Did an IF 18/6 and then a OMAD and the swelling is gone. Back in ketosis. Probably never dropped out because I am fat adapted but just had too much BG.
I’m curious to know if KETO affected your blood pressure? And if so I take it reduced your meds…
Ta for your response…
My blood pressure improved with keto and after about 6 months I was able to discontinue my blood pressure medication which reduced the swelling in my lower legs. My sleep also improved and I think that helped too. To improve my blood sugar I’ve made it a habit to take a brisk walk or do a little exercise after each meal. This also helped with the swelling. Then I discovered and corrected a mold problem in my home and it got better again. I learned I had an infected molar and a couple months ago had a root canal. Afterward my legs looked great, all swelling had completely vanished. Last week I caught a mild cold and a little swelling has come back. I hope/expect once the cold is gone and I resume more vigorous exercise the swelling will again vanish.
All of which is to say in my experience while diet plays some role there are likely other factors at play and the more you can identify and address the better your results ought to be.
I’m on 3 meds for BP. Doctor says I’m on max dosages. After about 3 months BP started to go down. Just this past couple of days it is going down a lot. I’ve been on BP meds since I was 26 or so. I’m like to get off all of them but I’m expecting to need the beta blocker longer term.
I the trend is my friend I might be off of one med by January.
That’s fantastic…
I can’t stand taking meds for BP. At the mo I’m on Losartan, Doxazosin, Lercanidipine, and Bisoprolol. Plus Simvastatin and aspirin. They are all low dosage because as soon as they increase one to a higher dose I just get fatigue. Fatigue is rather unpleasant very similar to jet lag.
One can just do nothing (a waste of time). Completely screws ones body clock up as well…
I hope I can stop taking these BP Meds in the future.
Here are some more things to consider.
Deep breathing can help for short perioids of time:
I’ve seen my BP drop -5/-2 to -25/-13 with deep breathing. I do 50 deep breaths so about 5 minutes. I have tried less and that seems to not work as well.
Blue light appears to help as well. I’m hoping to find out about the bulbs they used. The research is behind a paywall.
I don’t count the immediate lowering of BP when I say mine has goon down. I plot my BP daily and have two plots, one with breathing and one without.
My most recent BP drop appears to be associated with OMAD fasting and frequent IF 18/6 fasting. Until the last week (stressful week) I have been IF 4 or 5 days a week and 1 to 3 OMAD / week. I’ve lost 5 lbs in the last 3 weeks so it may be less insulin or lower weight. It is likely both but I’ve been at my current weight beforte without fasting and my BP was higher.
Reducing my BP and geting off 1 to 3 meds is my biggest remaining KETO goal. I need to lose more weight, ideally 50 lbs but I am more concerned about BP and its effect on my healthspan.
Good luck.
Be careful of using blue light past say 4pm. Then it can mes with your sleep cycle. Stick to morning time.
I have had edema for several years. Been Keto for a year now. It does help a bit, but what I also need to do in conjunction is to get my 7 hrs of sleep every night. All week long my legs and ankles have been growing, and I’ve been skimping in the sleep. Over the weekend I have been getting 7-8 hrs and the swelling is gone. It didn’t matter that I was in actual ketosis, the sleep is what helped the most.
I have post-surgical edema in my arms from damage to the lymph system, and keto has done nothing to help that. I didn’t expect it to; it is a mechanical problem.
My blood pressure completely normalized by a year on keto. Two years ago, it was routinely 130/90, the last time I had it checked, it was 112/70. And this is with the increased salt intake necessary in the absence of carbohydrate. Going keto seems to have resolved all my inflammatory processes, and my arthritis has improved. Of course, that improvement is probably due as much to my lower weight as to reduced inflammation.
@Eppy I really hope that your ketogenic diet will eventually allow you to get off all your meds, especially that statin. Statins are really nasty, from all I’ve read, and they don’t really do all that much to reduce cardiovascular risk. David Diamond and Uffe Ravnskov have published several papers drawing attention to the statistical manipulations the statin manufacturers have performed on the data to make the benefit look far more significant than it is.
I hope I see the same BP improvement. Been 5+ months and just now it is starting to decline while still on 3 meds. I have hope.
Edema is what started my journey to better health.
About 3 years ago I was taking pictures of a house that was being remodeled. I thought I had been alone in the house but when I got home and it looked at the photos I saw the puffy and swollen lower legs of another woman reflected in a mirror. Then I realized that those were actually my ankles and calves!
I knew I had gained a lot of weight but I had been in denial about it. Seeing those legs I didn’t even recognize as mine was the shock I needed to finally start taking care of my body.
3 years later, my ankles and calves have never looked better than they do now. I have gone down a shoe size since then.
The doctor recommended me to elevate my legs above my heart frequently. I got this pillow that really helped.
I still use it today, not for edema but just because it’s really comfortable.
Well the funny thing is that I’ve been taking statins for a very long time due to high cholesterol, etc the so called dangerous combination of HDL and LDL… And yes I did have a 3+CABG. However my prognosis after my angiogram was that I was born with a very short left downward artery (LDA feeding my heart) which apparently will give any person high cholesterol from what I’ve read. So now I’m still given statins and my cholesterol is extremely low. Here in the UK British doctors hand statins out like sweets… But recently past 6 months my BP has gone up and my meds have been increased (which is knocking me out). But my BP won’t come down… I’m doing the Keto diet as I’ve recently been diagnosed T2D which I thought I could beat doing a blood sugar diet which did work for a while. But one can do a BSD for about 12 weeks so after about 6 months on I just put the weight on quite fast… I reckon this Keto thing will be able to keep one maintained for a number of years…I see the lowering of BP and Oedema as a side effect as getting rid of T2D is my main goal.
Anyway thank you all for your encouragements and information…
I’ve been toying around with this as when I was in Hospital I raised the lower part of the bed at night which did help a lot…
@Eppy You’ve only just begun to live! Give yourself at least six months eating keto before worrying about what your numbers are doing. I just watched a new video by Prof. Diamond, in which he argues that cholesterol has absolutely nothing to do with cardiovascular disease, except as part of the body’s healing response to damage to arterial walls.
As Dr. Phinney says, blaming cardio-vascular disease on cholesterol is like blaming fires on fire engines!