Pain in right side 3 months into Keto when fasting

liver
(Alec) #37

Sorry, but this is just plain wrong. Your max HR is your max HR, regardless of what diet you are on. The 220-age calc is a gross generalisation average across the whole population. Many are over that number, many are under.

The 180-age is a MAF (ref Phil Mafetone) calculation that provides a guide for what you should aim for during long slow distance training that trains the body to use fat for fuel. In no way is it a max number.

I personally have found I can go faster on all my runs (minimum 5k) on keto than carbed up. My opinion is as long as you are very fat adapted you can go as fast if not faster fuelled by fat.

(ianrobo) #38

I do believe that as well Alec, my max HR at the moment is 187 and I am 46 … and because fat adaption means a much larger aerobic base it gives you much more when you really need it !

(Kris) #39

I wish that people would slow down on the response to people with fatty liver – “keto is the best diet for fatty liver! It heals it!”.

While I completely agree that the keto diet heals the fatty liver for people, I do think (from personal experience) that going on the keto diet exacerbated my fatty liver symptoms. Up until that point, I wasn’t aware that I had anything like fatty liver (and still it is not diagnosed, because my doctor acted like nothing was wrong when I asked about pressure under my rib cage after eating my evening meal).

I’ve been reading as much as I can about the situation, and I think that it may have been written by someone on this forum that they too, had lots of pressure/mild pain while on the keto diet. It continued for weeks, and the only way they could solve the pain was by eating some quinoa/rice/ some kind of small amount of grain.

That makes a lot of sense to me. Maybe people like me can do one of two things 1) grin and bare the pressure that eating fat causes to our liver, knowing that in a few weeks it will get better, or 2) eat a small amount of grain because it makes us feel better – knowing that our weight loss will be slower. Whoever it was who suggested this maintained that eating this small amount of grain EASED THEM into the Keto lifestyle and habits, and then later once they felt better, they were easily able to get off the grains and do the full Keto fats, etc. While others can do Keto (including people with fatty livers) and not feel any pressure, there is a number of us who do Keto and feel pretty awful – making us wonder if we are doing something bad for our bodies. Maybe it’s purely that we need to be slightly more moderate in the removal of our carbs from our system.

(Stephen Mc Nally) #40

To all and @Mevysmoon , look into choline supplementation. I’ve done 23 and me and have a bunch of choline inefficiences. Low choline is also related to NAFLD in that choline is required for allowing triglycerides to exit into the bloodstream from the liver. I’m nearly a week into keto and added 600mg choline choline bitartrate which turns into about 300mg bio available choline. Unless you are going to be guzzling egg yolk… or starting to eat beef/chicken liver, highly recommend a choline source. You can also go the CDP-Choline or Alpha GPC route but its more expensive, but worth it if you are also into nootropics. Cheers.

(Andrea) #41

I also experienced intermittent right upper quadrant abdominal pressure/pain, however it started after about 6 months on keto. I was tolerating it for over a year. I did a gallbladder flush which eased it somehow but then it returned. I thought I had gallbladder stones but u/s was negative. I started to add more carbs in form of sweet potatoes, yams and squashes and even occasional sushi and it went away. I wonder if some of us are genetically predisposed to have more carbs in our diet. Once I eased up on fat I lost additional 8 lb. I was not even trying to loose any weight since I never had weight problem in first place. I am 52 y and back to my high school weight of 120lb.

(Kris) #42

That’s very interesting … sounds very similar to me. This week I am traveling, and although I am staying mostly Keto, I am allowing some small amount of carbs to slip into the diet – and I feel MUCH better. Very good to hear that you added some carbs and felt better, AND that you lost weight (especially when in your 50’s, as I am!).

#43

Hi just came across your post and am having the same exact issues, and same set up (no gallbladder, fasting). Has anything come of this or did it finally go away over time since it’s been about a year and half?

Thanks!

#44

Seven weeks in and this just started for me a couple days ago. (I have been very good about being under 20 carbs except one day when I went a little over.) I thought it was just a muscle cramp at first, but now I am wondering. It is upper right side and lower back right side. Not a pain, but more of an ache or thick feeling. It doesn’t quite seem as bothersome when I am standing though. Now I am wondering … Hmm …

(Jane Dauwer Dabrieo) #45

i have that same pressure, and also pain in my right shoulder. Started Ox Bile & enzymes with meals, not sure how long they take to work since I only eat once a day usually. also tried castor oil packs with heat on liver/gallbladder. not much relief

#46

I just posted my own thread, probably not right to do, but I am concerned. Got the results back and they want me to come in for elevated liver enzymes.

(Michelle Santos) #47

Hi @Kage did you get back what it was? I’m new here and to the Keto Diet. I just had a check up and I have to go to do blood work for elevated liver enzymes. Also, I have no gallbladder either.

#48

Sorry for the delay responding. It has been a busy couple weeks. Because of the elevated liver enzymes I posted about in another thread related to this one (when I was in a bit of a newbie panic, admittedly), the doc sent me in for a liver ultrasound and for another blood test after that. The ultrasound showed my liver was “unremarkable” and the second blood test showed the enzymes way down. One was normal and the other just three over normal. All good.

I’m still getting the pain from time to time, but there isn’t anything to say what it is. I’m keeping an eye on it. I tend to think it is how I have been sitting at work and the way my bra’s underwire (TMI?) is sitting against my body now that there isn’t as much fat under it by my rib cage. Shrug Weirder things happen.

In other news, I am still doing well, in ketosis, and on about week 10. Scale has stalled a bit, but whatever. How are you?

(Bozidar Sadak) #49

I would like to join in on this problem.
I have pain in the middle and on the right side if I press.
And its like this since I started keto 7 months ago.
After reading, it seems nobody has a definitive answer what is the cause of it.
I just hope it doesnt turn into something bigger.

#50

Hi Bodizar. I had right side pain that turned out to be a calcium oxalate stone. Depending on the foods and drinks in your version of the ketogenic diet you may occasionally remove oxalate from your body through the kidneys. The other consideration is gall bladder pain. If you have a gall bladder.

I haven’t read all the posts in this thread, so those things may already have been mentioned.

If you have abdominal and pain are concerned go to the doctor and they should send you for abdomen imaging of some kind and maybe some blood tests for various organ function.

(Bunny) #51

Had those once and did a gallbladder flush, olive oil extra virgin, lemon juice and little epson salt and apple juice three days before the flush.

Really painful if you press on the area and feel them grinding together. But that’s what happens when you try to cut the dietary fat completely out of the diet for long stretches of time. Drinking lots of Alcohol really helps create them gallstones even faster especially cola type drinks with the high fructose corn syrup mixed with the Alcohol will help form a fatty liver along with the stones.

Lots of stones will cause an agonizing pinching pain right where the liver is located that will temporarily lock all your muscles up so you can’t move or if you dare move the pinch becomes so painful that you have to stay still until it dissipates.

You will also feel that pinching pain it right between the shoulder blades and you have to rotate the shoulder blades really slow to try to control the pain.

(Lesley Raynor Mike) #52

I have started experiencing a dull throb on the lower edge of my right ribcage. I am 24 days into keto eating. I first experienced the pain last month when I started another keto plan but I panicked and stopped when I read of possible link to the gall bladder. However what I did notice, twice, was that the pain subsided when I ate starchy carbs. In this instance the pain started yesterday - I was eating, almost daily, small amounts (60g max) of sweet potato up until about 3 or 4 days ago. I will start up the sweet potatoes again and see if the pain goes away. Hopefully as suggested in an earlier comment some of us need to move into keto eating gradually.

(EJ) #53

I am dealing with the same issue. Gallbladder ruptured when I was young and liver pain started 3-4 days ago. Ordered bile salts and started taking choline today.

(Gina) #54

I’m 3 months on Keto and fasting and have pain in the right side under ribs to. I was diagnosed with Fatty liver just before I started . I had the odd pain there over the last 3 months.Took a bit of a break for a month and am 4 days back on. The last 2 days the pain has been constant, especially at night. Not sure what to do either as my doc isn’t very helpful at all.
.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #55

I answered this question in the other thread:

#56

Two main differential diagnoses for your doctor to consider are a kidney stone, and gall bladder pain in that area. Kidney toward your back, gall bladder toward the front.

I had similar pain during keto. The tests to consider are blood tests to try and identify any organ damage, like when fatty liver elevates liver enzymes. If those numbers go up in the presence of right side pain a liver work up is indicated. The other test is abdominal imaging. Usually ultrasound is a first step.

My right side pain, like a runner’s “stitch”, was post-operative for the destruction and removal of a kidney stone from my right side ureter. The kidney stone pain was different to the right side abdominal ache that was from smooth muscle spasm of the irritated ureter. The stone was calcium oxalate (the spikiest one). The kidney stone pain was crippling and put in an ambulance after putting me on the floor in the foetal position wondering what had ruptured inside. So, that’s not the right side pain under the ribs that you are describing.

Another family member had similar pain but a different diagnosis. They had gall stones and gall bladder pain from a low fat diet.

Look up the symptoms of oxalate dumping that can occur early in keto depending upon your previous diet. Oxalate dumping can lead to the formation of calcium oxalate kidney stones.

These are things to check in about with your doctor, or a new doctor that listens to you.

:joy: my answer is the same, close enough as the one I gave in Feb 2020.