I’ve been keto for about 8 months. I actually started out zero carb for 2 months but couldn’t maintain it so I went keto because I can eat more variety. I sometimes fall off the wagon and binge for a few days, I know I know I shouldn’t do that. That’s the reason I’m doing this diet, because I’m a binge eater and I will end up with diabetes and alzheimers since they run in the family. I know I have an eating disorder, I binge and then go anorexic to get rid of the gain. So I’m hoping this diet can help me get some control of my eating habits. And I usually feel great, so much better than before.
Anyway, I’ve noticed the last week or so very high ketones on the ketostix. And I’ve been having lots of pins and needles in my left hand and foot. To the point of tingling as if I layed on it and it went partially asleep - almost numb. So, tonight I tested 16 mmol instantly on the stix and the tingling was intense as well. I’ve been doing an hour of cardio and fasting for about 18 hours per day because I cannot seem to lose weight anymore. It has started working, I lost a couple pounds this week.
The tingling was about to make me scream from annoyance, so I treated my frustration with candy (yes i have a problem) - mnm’s. But lo and behold, about 10 min after eating 3 single serve packs (about 33 grams carbs) the tingling completely stopped! WTF?
Do other people get pins and needles from keto or zero carb or very low carb? And does eating some sugar cure it?
Pins and Needles Tingling cured with sugar!
Pins and needles- carnivore
I don’t know if mine is the same as yours but I do know that sugar doesn’t fix my issue. From time to time I get tingling in my arms, up my neck, sometimes into my face, up my scalp, etc. It’s been happening for years and I’ve gone crazy trying to figure out what causes it and what makes it stop. I THINK mine has something to do with my thyroid hormone levels… whenever I change doses of Synthroid I seem to go through a phase of this frustrating and bothersome tingling.
I’ve researched this for years. I’ve tried giving up soy, gluten, dairy, artificial sweeteners, etc. etc. I’ve chalked it up to not enough B vitamins, then I chalked it up to too much B vitamins. Nothing seems to make a difference… it just comes and goes sporadically. So I have to believe that in my case it’s something hormonal because it definitely happens every time I change Synthroid doses.
Hope you can get to the bottom of your mystery. If you do, please share. But I know mine wasn’t solved by sugar because I only gave up carbs and sugar 5 weeks ago and this tingling has been going on for years.
Sue
Yes, i try to eat some nuts every day. But i have found that i can eat 50 grams of carbs in one sitting and never get out of ketosis.
Good observation. It would probably help if you added some simple carbs such as dextrose (Smarties are dextrose, but other candy would probably work) around your cardio. That way they’d be readily available for your body, would be burned quickly, and allow you to drop back into lipolysis faster. Perhaps 20g before and right after would be a good start. After eight months having the occasional Carb meal is probably beneficial.
That sounds like a good plan, I will try that. Is dextrose better for the body to utilize? Do you think that maybe my nerves are just starved and they need some sugar? The same thing happened today, I woke up feeling fine, then as the day progressed I started getting pins and needles. I used a ketostix and immediately turned it deep magenta, practically black. So this time I ate a tangerine, the juice of two limes, some almonds, and an apple with some chicken veggie broth. It took a couple hours this time but it got better. Just wondering what could be going on. Apparently i now have to keep my sugar in a very strict range or i will suffer nerve pain, makes me wonder if this keto diet is good for us after all. I wonder what i have done to my body, maybe i am now clinically diabetic. I mean, shouldn’t my liver and kidneys make enough glucose for my body 's needs even if I’m not eating any carbs? I never felt like this when i did zero carb for 2 months. It doesn’t make sense. Thanks
I get the same thing. I had an MRI in 2003 which showed nothing thankfully. After that I ignore it. I have Hashimotos and take Synthroid. Recently my dose was too high and I got this. When it is too low I get minor muscle twitches especially in my eye areas
Dextrose is also referred to as Glucose-d. It goes right into your system. It’s the same concept as a MCT, but a Carb instead of a fat. Other sugars such as fructose need to go through a digestive process, needing an enzyme. Fructose requires fructokinease for example. One roll of Smarties has six and one half grams of dextrose, so three rolls would get you 19.5g. I use them for TKD, I use a stick blender with a cup or two of water.
You can also consider flipping your macros one day a week. Going to a Carb based day but still eating under maintenance. If you’re experiencing other, more severe starvation signs you can go for weekly glycogen recompensation, if necessary.
It sounds like your body is well adapted to using fat. If you’re following a high fat macro, I’d consider dropping to the 60/35/5% one, making more protein available for cellular functions and encouraging your body to use more stored fat. The additional protein will contribute to satiety, and if you add in a few more fibrous veggies it would probably be beneficial as well.
Don’t count the pre and post cardio carbs as part of your macros.
I started getting mild pins and needles this morning. So i bought some b1 and took 100 mg in the morning and chewed up the tablet in my mouth so it would absorb faster. Within about an hour the feeling went away and never came back all day! I also had more energy today, alot more energy. I think my body was so depleted of b1 that it was literally starving of energy. Apparently the b1 helps cells utilize energy, so my cells were starving, thus my body ramped up its ketone production to compensate. Kinda like diabetics when they get ketoacidosis because their cells cannot uptake glucose since there is no insulin around. I knew something was seriously wrong because I was eating way too many carbs to be turning the ketostix dark purple. And I have never turned them that dark even when I first started the diet. It was pretty scary, but now the stix are back to normal - around 1 to 3 mmol, and I ate alot less carbs today so they technically should have been higher instead of lower. I am pretty well fat adapted I believe, and I have started cutting back on the fat consumption in hopes that I would burn up a little more body fat, so I will keep that up for now. And if I keep feeling as great as I did today I will continue the 18 hour fasts, which are pretty easy for me anyway.
The funny thing is that I started taking b12 and b complex about a week ago because I had read that the b vitamins are needed for nerve health, but they didn’t help the pins and needles. This morning I looked at the bottle of complex and it didn’t even have b1, b7, or b9. It figures the one I really needed wasn’t in there.
Im curious, what are other starvation symptoms?
I will definitely try the smarties before and after my work out to see if it helps boost energy and recovery.
I wonder if my binge eating is what caused the deficiency in the first place. Because when I binge its out of control, so bad that I’m embarrassed to even talk about it. My body gets all cramped up from the excess sugar and all caution gets thrown to the wind. I think I need a support group because I am a food addict, I wish I could say I was joking.
I want to say thank you to everyone for the most precious information and I am very grateful to have found the help I needed.
So so so happy to be feeling better today😁
He mentions kefir at the end there. I’ve had this going for a while now and the yeast builds up as I generally just drink the kefir. Great, now I know there’s a good reason to use it!
Patty, in all kindness, please consider contacting a therapist or organization and getting hooked up with support resources. What you are describing is beyond the scope of basic food or exercise advice. I’m very happy for you that you are working to take care of yourself, so please carry it a step further and get with a group that will aid you.
http://www.greysheet.org/
http://www.foodaddictsanonymous.org/
http://www.foodaddicts.org/
If you’re B-1 deficient, (the other B vitamins as well) the real answer is a higher protein macro, not a supplement. Protein supports many other functions, besides providing B-1. Roughly 35% would be a good place to start.
Terms like Carb binging and Cheating are subjective terms with negative connotations. I prefer more accurate terms, oriented towards the Science. Carbs eaten periodically/occasionally within a lipolytic nutritional pattern merely, and temporarily halt lipolysis. Kept to a non-adaptive frequency so as not to lead to chronic overcompensation of glycogen, they will not affect the efficiency of the adaptive lipolytic process. If fat loss is the focus, they should only be occaisional, for metabolic purposes, and if in maintence, to a level that doesn’t result in chronic overcompensation of glycogen.
One Carb meal, or even a day or two, is fairly insignificant within the context of a fat based, lipolytic nutritional pattern. Any weight gain within that small period is not fat, only water or glycogen.
What would be the metabolic purpose for overeating carbs periodically and within the ranges you described? How would it benefit us metabolically? Thanks
It doesn’t have to be a question of overeating, that’s really another subjective term. The real question is the potential metabolic effects of periodically eating carbs. It’s all about attaining a normal metabolic state with no detrimental effects like metabolic rate reduction, cortisol secretions, energy levels, etc. This is more relevant the more active a person is, like an athlete or someone who trains regularly.
Simply reversing your Carb/fat macros for a meal is the most basic level, especially if you’re following caloric restriction. Doing this for a day or two would be the next level, and going to a full glycogen recompensation by eating enough excess carbs to refill glycogen would be the last. None of these things really qualify as overeating, because if the recompensation doesn’t turn into chronic overcompensation of glycogen, no adaptive changes resulting in fat gain will occur. The effects will all be metabolic. It does require some expermentation, in order to find what works for you.
I brought up nuts because the have anti - nutrients and physic acid. For many people they cause problems such a joint soreness. My husband has noticed his tinnitis gets worse when he eats peanut butter or nuts.
Yeah i know they have phytic, oxalic, salycylic acid, and probably more anti nutrients and I have even soaked them before to try to get rid of therm. But I do so enjoy an apple with some almonds. I’ve stopped eating dark greens because they have so much acid that they leave my teeth feeling gritty all day and I hate it. But with these health problems I’ve been having I might just start eating some again since they are so full of vitamins. Thanks
Well the last time i went on a “recompensation” (I love that term, it makes me feel like i didn’t lose my mind for a week and a half eating anything i could get my greedy little hands on) it lasted for about 10 days before I came to my senses. My body probably started going glycolytic again, and I had muscle cramps, headaches, diarrhea, I physically felt horrible but I couldn’t get a grip on stopping. But that’s old news, I’m back on the wagon again.
I actually eat alot of meat. Mostly meat with some veggies and fruit and cheese and nuts. I’m still getting the pins and needles but it has been milder, maybe it takes a while for the nerves to recuperate?
I bought some nutritional yeast, and some bee pollen in hopes that I can boost my b vitamins more naturally. And I suppose I can start eating some greens again. I guess I will stop IF for now to see if eating more helps with the nerve problem. And start eating at least twice per day for a week or two. Maybe my body needs a beak from losing fat.
You said other signs of starvation? What would they be, and does that mean that pins and needles could be a sign of starvation?
So if I understand correctly, I should switch my carb/fat macros for one meal once a week. If I feel like that’s not enough I could do this two days in a row for one meal each day. If that’s still not enough I could do a full glycogen recompensation.
What’s a proper full glycogen recompensation look like? As in how much food, carbs?
You mentioned the grehlin response, so is it good to have a sustained grhelin response?