I just finished a 3 day fast, I consumed bone broth, BPC, magnesium supplements and additional salt. The third day I started having lower back pain, it’s equally painful on both sides. I know it wasn’t from muscle strain because exercise is not my forte.
Even today after refeeding it hurts. Is this normal? Any idea what could have caused this or how I could have avoided it?
How low was this pain, might it have been in the area of your pelvic bones?
This was a possibility mentioned in another thread.
It felt more like lower back, kidney area. Honestly if I had been exercising, I would have attributed it to muscle strain.
I kept up with liquids, my urine was clear so I don’t think it’s dehydration.
I believe that kidneys are located higher, right under your ribcage. I have experienced aches and pains in my left shoulder and elbow while fasting. They are alleviated when I put a big pinch of pink Himalayan salt under my tongue (sometimes I have to do this twice). Over several days of fasting my ketones get higher each day. My understanding is that the higher your ketones, the harder it is for your body to hang onto fluids and electrolytes. So my achiness seems to be related to electrolyte imbalances. I don’t know if this information will be helpful for you.
Good luck in figuring this out!
Thank you so much for your response! You are absolutely correct about the kidney placement, I showed my husband where it hurt and he said it was way too low to be kidney related.
I did use the Himalayan salt trick too! It’s very useful. I luckily replayed the 2KD podcast with Megan Ramos and that helped set my expectations
I’m thinking because of the location that I must have strained my back somehow.
Okay, I’m officially an idiot.
Just went into my closet, and thought “how nice is it that I FINALLY put that large heavy box on the upper shelf”. Then I remembered how hard it was to precariously balance on the step stool, twist and shove that box up there. I must have pulled my back out then. The timing fits too.
Classic mistake, independent health issue occurring concurrently with fasting/keto and blaming the diet.
I do appreciate your advice though!
My back, which is messed up to begin with used to do that every time I fasted once I hit the end of day 2-3. Started taking BCAA’s and it hasn’t done it since. If you’re fasting for autophagy you don’t want to take BCAA’s but if it’s just weight loss I’ve never seen a negative result.
I did a 58-hr fast (water) last week and the second night (last meal was a breakfast) I had such a painful low back that I had a hard time sleeping (it did not matter whether I was laying on my side or my back, it hurt!), and again, the third night, after I’d broken the fast late afternoon, still ached terribly. The only way I was able to get to sleep was after I’d taken two acetaminophen tablets (rarely take painkillers). I do not recall anything I could have done to have tweaked my lower back, so it’s interesting to think it may be related to autophagy.
Paul, I once had horrible leg pains that I finally figured out were caffeine withdrawal. If you’re normally a coffee drinker and you’re doing a water fast, that might be it. I think I saw at least one other person on here who found that it was a caffeine issue.
