Super High Heart Rate

(Stephanie Manino) #1

Hey All–Pretty new to this forum and loving the context.

I started Keto on Monday and have been doing pretty well. Last night 6 days in while watching tv my heart was pounding in my chest I could feel it in my ears it was pumping so hard–around 107-110, this had happened once or twice in the week and I googled about it and learned that this could happen. Today when I worked out my BMP were around 145 for at least 35 minutes a couple times hitting 160’s that is pretty high for me seeing I am a group fitness instructor and usually have a super low resting heart rate and usually have a really hard time getting it up at all. When i was driving home from the gym it stayed about 110 bpm for at least 2 hours. I chugged water and ate as soon as I could.

I hear this goes away eventually and on another post someone told me to get potassium and magnesium I am just not sure of home much to take!

Any advice?

Thanks from a newbie!

High resting heart rate
(mike) #2

Make sure you are hydrating properly and replenish your electrolytes. Salt, potassium(careful not too much), and magnesium are key when going keto and exercising. When you sweat you lose more than just moisture and your heart is very reactive to electrolyte depletion.

Additionally your heart can beat at a higher rate when keto adapted.

Look around here to find lots of info on these topic.

Good luck.

(Ron) #3

Start lite and work up. Maybe 400mg of magnesium and 600mg potassium.
Like suggested though…you can overdue potassium so proceed with caution as increasing. With my food included, I end up around 3500mg’s.
My Mag is around 600mg’s daily.
Sodium levels are between 6000 and 9000 mg’s.

This is a topic discussed a lot here so do a search and read up. And KCKO!

#4

I feel like potassium and magnesium are always mentioned but sodium is the one that people need the most. Dave feldman says that he needs 10g of sodium a day to feel good. I had an increase in heart rate too and found that it goes away when I get more pink salt in my diet. I dropped the potassium and magnesium and increased my sodium. There has to be a balance. Too much potassium and magnesium can cause a flush in sodium.

(8 year Ketogenic Veteran) #5

Too much potassium, yes!

(8 year Ketogenic Veteran) #6

@Stephanie_Manino
See your physician and get labs tested for electrolytes. Then get a recommendation from your doctor about supplementing. Never supplement potassium without a doctor’s guidance.

(kjetil høyland) #7

If I take too much potassium, this happens to me aswell.

(icky) #8

Damn, I’m starting to get this as well. I have a resting pulse of 88 beats per minute right now.

I feel like I feel worse after taking the electrolyte drink I bought for Keto.

It’s a fasting powder, that you mix in water and gives you 720 mg magnesium (citrate) and 600 mg of potassium (citrate) per day plus calcium citrate, zink citrate and vitamin D3.

I’ve been taking this in addition to upping my sodium intake.

Is this electrolyte supplement making me WORSE?

I feel super uncomfortable with a heart rate this high.

(Leslie) #9

CProblems with electrolyte imbalances are fairly common as your insulin levels drop. Sodium is very important, potassium is crucial, magnesium is also essential. However, the sources of those minerals are equally important. Sometimes supplements are just not effective in managing symptoms.

I suffered from mineral deficiencies during my journey with ketosis and intermittent fasting as well. I saw a nutritionist who is keto minded and she suggested roasted, salted sea weed and spirulina. Along with kombucha and apple cider vinegar diluted in my water.

These additions to my day completely resolved my issues in an extremely short period of time. I still put pink Himalayan salt on everything, but I also use a sea weed seasoning now.

The addition of apple cider vinegar to my water was done to address being too acidic. I thought this was actually bordering on junk science but I tried it anyway. The improvements in my symptoms speak for themselves. I don’t know if my ph is normal now or not but I feel great!

I hope you find this helpful
Keep calm and keto on

#10

Some of the things I do “wire down” are:
-Meditation (I use a biofeedback software heartmath).
-Supplement with magnesium.
-Cold baths. This is the most immediate one. I go down at least 20 BMP when doing this for about 5-10 min

(icky) #11

Hmm, my resting heart rate went into the mid 90s last night. I was not happy with it.

I’ve decided to take no more potassium supplements at all for now.

At the moment I do not trust the potassium supplement at all.

And if potassium or Keto are mucking up my heart rate to the point where I need to take cold baths to counteract it, then something is wrong!

I used a high-quality supplement and was no where near the daily recommended dosage but for whatever reason, I think my body hates it.

If I get any potassium deficiency symptoms at any point, then I will revisit the topic of potassium and what to do about it.

But for now I’m going nowhere near that supplement again.

Thanks for your thoughts! :blush:

(Sommer Strickland) #12

This started happening to me around week 6 and is still going on at week 8. Everyone says, it is electrolytes, magnesium, potassium, but I went to the doctor, all of my levels were all normal. I had also asked the doctor about taking magnesium and potassium and he said that there are no health benefits to taking it and didn’t feel that I should. Mag and potassium can mess with your heart, so I would ask a doctor first and possibly a pharmacist for correct dosage. My resting HR is normally around 58 and mine has been as high as 130 not even doing anything. It will suddenly stop and start and sometimes when it is a normal rate, it feels like it is pounding. I also get very lightheaded and dizzy too. I have no heart history or ever had a problem either. I can feel it pounding out of my chest, so I am seeing a cardiologist on Monday. I do work in the medical field and I wouldn’t start taking magnesium and potassium without talking with a doctor first.

(icky) #13

Yeah, I know.

I certainly didn’t think that the (small!) amount I was supplementing would be causing any issues! I’m aware of the risks and “officially” the amount I’m supplementing should be “fine”.

My body is quite sensitive to stuff tho, so even if I got a blood test, the results could be “fine” (i.e. within certain parameters) and my body could still be over-reacting to it.

How are your sodium levels? I’ve been finding this more of an issue. Getting enough salt.

But yeah, I’ve been reading about quite a few people getting super-high heart rates with Keto initially.

If I had a resting heart rate of 130, I’d be pretty damned upset.

No matter how “healthy” Keto is - if it’s giving me that kind of heart rate, I’d consider it “unhealthy”.

I’m pretty sure it is some kind of electrolyte thing - I mean, what else could it be right, with quite a lot of people reporting it.

But I dare say the tricky part is working out WHICH electrolyte is causing the mess and whether you need MORE or LESS of it.

Right now, I’ve got my potassium supplement pegged as the bad guy that’s doing this to me so I’m going to see how I feel in a week. My heart rate is down to 80 again today, so I will see how I go. My heart rate has never been super low, but last night it did not feel okay at all.

Let us know how your cardiologist appointment goes?

How’s your heart (rate) going today? :heart:

(icky) #14

I wonder if it can be related to our body readjusting its insulin stuff?

If you google “insulin” and “heart rate” or “insulin” and “tachychardia” you get people reporting heart-racing due to using (injecting) insulin etc.

Maybe we’re getting tachychardia as an insulin response…??

(Sommer Strickland) #15

Well, all levels were normal, sodium, potassium, and magnesium. I have read this about many people on keto, but I found it strange that it started for week 6 for me. I started adding salt to my water, which I think has helped some. It seems it doesn’t happen as much, but it is still happening. It kinda freaks me out a bit and I just don’t want to stroke out or anything else. I keeping calling to see if I can get in sooner, but no such luck.

(icky) #16

Yeah. It definitely seems to be a “thing”. Keto and (some) tachychardia.

We’ll work out what is going on : )

I’m sure we’ll be fine.

The others who have posted about it seem to have gotten it under control eventually.

(icky) #17

Hey @sommer_strickland

Here’s an overview of ALL (!) the possible electrolyte imbalances.

I’ve been having a lot of salt, so that I wouldn’t get an electrolyte imbalance with keto, but it seems tachycardia can come from having too much salt too.

I’m starting to get super frustrated with this and am really annoyed that I can’t tell whether I need MORE or LESS potassium and MORE or LESS sodium.

This is really annoying me. I’ve never had this problem before and I’ve been doing extended fasts for 10 years. Ugh.

(Stephanie Manino) #18

Thanks Biohacker! I was running on the treadmill and was literaly talking myself down as I was trying to still get my workout in. I need to look up and see exactly how much magnesium I need!

(icky) #19

“Potassium deficiency, called hypokalemia, also can cause the heart’s electrical system to produce palpitations. This usually occurs with severe hypokalemia. Similarly, too much potassium, or hyperkalemia, can cause the heart to fibrillate, which means the heart’s electrical system is out of synchrony, causing rapid and irregular beats.”

So both too high and too low potassium can make the heart go wonky.

And tachycardia and polyuric (peeing too much) can actually be due to having too much sodium (salt) too. It’s not just that peeing a lot can cause sodium levels to be too low.

What really frustrates me too is that if I go to the doctor and have a blood test, I bet you it will come back “normal” like your blood test.

My body is sensitive to these things, even when the official bloodwork still says “everything’s fine”.

(Stephanie Manino) #20

Wow resting is 130! I am not going to lie, if my HR was that high I would def be at the ER–I panicked at 107. When i was working out it was 147 and stayed there and I was seriously talking myself off of the ledge. HOw are things going?