Hi. This is my second time doing keto. Last time I did it I started getting the keto flu and I up’d my sodium with chicken broth and Gatorade zeros and it went away.
This time I started feeling bad and I up’d my sodium and electrolytes. Now for two days my hands tingle sometimes during the day and my lips and I feel swollen by the end of the day. Has anyone had these symptoms?
Hi Autumn. Yes, I’ve had similar symptoms when changing the way I ate. I described it as almost like pins and needles sometimes in my hands and feet.
I used to eat a lot of leafy greens and almonds/ almond based food substitutes.
Could be the Water soluble B Vitamins are leaving your body or being depleted and are not being replenished fast enough?
Water Soluble B vitamins leaving your body fast like that is very common on keto and will give you a pins and needles feeling in hands and other extremities, but it could be something else also.
Usually happens when you first start keto because sodium, potassium and magnesium leave your body a lot faster. But usually does not effect the vast list of other electrolytes. The tingling combined with urinating more often is a good sign it is a Class of B vitamins being depleted including the three major electrolytes?
I love tingling lips as long as I’m controlling the tingling…lol
Yup
Odd you bring this up
Totally forgot
Wow
For me it was the fingers
And nose
I had the Samantha Bewitched thing going on
Darrin would always get scared 
He never got the warlock thing any ways
A lot of this had to do w me fasting and not knowing about salt
Later, it turned in to drunk-ish like and staggering swaying
Not good 
Lessen learned!! Or learnt
You may want to watch a Thomas DeLauer youtube video on the untold theory about the keto flu.
Ok thanks everyone! I bought potassium pills and I feel a lil better but it still comes and goes. Hopefully it passes after this week!
This happens to me with low calcium which happens when I am dropping water (like if I was off keto briefly or am fasting). If the condition becomes too extreme, it can end in a bodywide hypocalcium seizure. This happened to me Jan 2019, had to go ER. Now when I feel it getting strong I take calcium, magnesium, and some protein (helps digestion of calcium) and ideally vitamins A, D3 and K2. Have always been able to turn it around since then, it’s happened a few times.
It happened to me earlier on. For me, it was my fingers. I just was not taking enough electrolytes.
I take about 1.5 tsp of salt these days (in addition to any salt in foods) and about 3000mg potassium a day through food (avocadoes, veggies etc) but you can supplement if you want…I just prefer getting it through food.
This is really interesting, I’ve been doing keto for about a year, and just recently experimented with eating high carb for a few days to see what would happen. Predictably I gained ~10lbs during the high carb days and lost the same amount after a couple days back on keto.
I’ve been back on strict keto again for several days now and now I have a tingling/pain sensation on the bottom of my big toe. I remember getting something similar when I first started out. I’ve been supplementing Himalayan salt and magnesium, but I haven’t been supplementing potassium, so that’s a possibility. Worth a shot.
How long did it take after you started supplementing potassium for your symptoms to improve?
Only time I’ve had the hands and lips simultaneously tingle was the first couple times I fasted, my blood sugar was low vs normal, not actually low though. Made sure I stayed hydrated and since I had a glucometer I checked to make sure I wasn’t in trouble, since I wasn’t I ignored it and it stopped the more I fasted. Have you ever checked your blood sugar?
It still hasn’t gone away with the potassium… Its back again today. I think Im having an allergic reaction to something.
Hi Autumn. Please, if you are willing, what are you eating as your ketogenic diet at the moment?
What were you eating, in general, before this keto re-boot?
Here is another reason for the sensations to consider:
Im not really increasing anything that you listed. I have always ate broccoli and brussel sprouts and spinach. I just stopped the Dr.Peppers, tortillas and pastas and beer, low carb and hardly any sugar.
Now I eat lots of proteins and greens and cheese and bacon and butter. But yesterday after logging my calories I noticed I had only gotten 170mg of potassium before the potassium pill. Most days I don’t go higher than that without the potassium pills. Now Im trying to eat an avocado every day and more foods with potassium.
Getting enough salt is usually enough to keep the other minerals (potassium, magnesium, and calcium) in line, since the regulatory mechanisms for each of these minerals are all inter-linked. Strive for 4-6 grams of sodium daily (including what is already present in your food), since in several studies released in the past several years all agree that this is the “sweet spot” for sodium intake (too much more or less can have bad effects on our health). This amount of sodium translates to 10-15 grams daily of table salt (sodium chloride).
If you are eating whole foods and avoiding the processed products, you will most likely be getting enough potassium, magnesium, and calcium from your food. It then becomes a matter of making sure to get enough salt in order to keep them all in balance. Some people, of course, will need supplements in addition to eating a well-formulated ketogenic diet, but the first step is always to eat right, before worrying about whether supplements are necessary.