Why I had to STOP KETO after 2 years :(

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(Terence Dean) #41

Impaired Awareness of Hypoglycaemia (IAH) occurs when people do not feel the early warning symptoms of hypoglycaemia and only realise they are hypo when their BGLs drop very low or when they check their BGL. If you have had diabetes and hypos for many years the risk of not feeling the symptoms of hypos is more common. IAH can be dangerous because by the time you realise you are having a hypo you may find it hard to treat it and you could become unconscious.

(Terence Dean) #42

She wasn’t dead but she was moaning while she was unconscious, I’d rather not wait until my levels drop that low thanks. I’d love to read or see Dr Phinney’s statement that supports letting your blood glucose levels drop to 2’s and 1’s as safe for people on Keto.

(Duncan Kerridge) #43

Why would they? Do you inject insulin? The body has mechanisms to make it’s own glucose, no-one would be able to eat a keto diet otherwise.

(Omar) #44

I can not tell when my bg gets down to 3.5 .

I feel completely normal.

Lately I learned a way to tell that my bg is low by my eye site when having difficulty reading.

(Terence Dean) #45

No, do you?

(Duncan Kerridge) #46

I don’t - so I know my blood sugar isn’t going to drop to 0.5. It’s not possible unless my body has undergone some major malfunction like an insulinoma.

(Terence Dean) #47

I’m pleased you’re confident your blood sugar will never drop to a level where it renders you unconscious but apparently not everyone is so fortunate.

(Duncan Kerridge) #48

OK, some non-diabetics get hypos, I don’t even with 2.x readings. That’s all. You mentioned you had a low reading that scared you, were you symptomatic?

(German Ketonian) #49

It’s always fascinating to me how different we all react to the ketogenic diet or any lifestyle, if your will. I have done 3-day-water-only fasts and NEVER has my BG level dropped below 75, even without any supplements. My liver seems to dig out the sugar out of every cell of my body :smile:

I think for some people, certain lifestyles simply aren’t in accord with the physical preconditions. We’re all different and nature has as much to do with it as nurture (meaning previous lifestyles/health statuses). I think we should listen to experiences like @Michael_Heffez’s.

On the other hand, I don’t agree with blanked statements like these the ones you’ve made in your first post, @Michael_Heffez. But since you’ve come to retract them in their generality and since this is YOUR experience, I think it’s fine. Just my 2 cents on this. Eveything else has already been pointed out by all of our brilliant keto veterans here in the forum.

(Terence Dean) #50

I wasn’t about to pass out if that’s what you mean.

(Duncan Kerridge) #51

Well I wasn’t thinking quite that level, a low reading on it’s own doesn’t point to a hypo - lower blood sugar and feeling fine is just feeling fine. Lower blood sugar and not feeling great, sure do something about it.

(Terence Dean) #52

Well it wasn’t so much the reading being just below the “recommended” level of 3.9 mmol/L but more about how far would it have gone if I hadn’t eaten for a few more hours. I only took the test because I was about to have dinner and I’d been taking BS and Ketone levels for the past week. This one was the lowest BGL to date, so there’s no telling how far it might have dropped.

My apologies for hijacking your thread @Michael_Heffez.

(Duncan Kerridge) #53

You could always try and find out? My 2.x reading were towards the end of a 5 day water fast, but in opposition my ketone levels were 7+ so my body was finding it’s energy balance.

If you’re not diabetic and not symptomatic at 3.9 then I doubt you have anything to worry about, but that said I do like to push the envelope to find my limits.

(bulkbiker) #54


the question is asked at 30 minutes

(Mark Rhodes) #55

Mine has been as low as 38. I too was concerned so I went to my basement to lift weights to jack it back up, figuring the energy demand would make this happen. It did. I went from 38 to 56.

I am also amazed you feel deprived. To me this has been the greatest freedom this WOE has given me. I am not locked in my thoughts about food. I can have anything because I know the consequences. But I suppose you are correct, you do not wish to be here and as such we should not try to convince you otherwise…unless that is what you are posting this for?

(John) #56

Sorry but your whole post is pretty much BS. Many people switch over and have no problem. I enjoy my keto foods more than the crap I used to eat and if I do have a craving I have a little and usually regret it. There is nothing I can’t have, just can’t have all of it.

You don’t feel good reducing calories and working out hours a day, no kidding, that’s how it works when you don’t give your body the energy it needs.

No you’re not, you haven’t researched how to fuel your body for what you are trying to do, don’t blame keto on that.

You need to do more research. Good luck!

(Ethan) #57

I realize it sounded worse than I intended. I was pointing out that it is ignorant to think that NOBODY should be on keto longterm. It’s equally ignorant for somebody tho think that EVERYBODY should be on keto.

(Terence Dean) #58

Thanks for the video Mark, actually I’ve seen this one before but never really paid attention to the question because it wasn’t an issue until now.

The question posed by a member of the audience was, “Is it normal that your blood sugar level, glucose level would drop as your Ketone levels go up? And if so, what is a safe level that they could drop to?”

Phinney doesn’t answer the question directly but he cites his metabolic ward experiments where he locked people in a “diet prison”, he maintains that he rarely sees glucose go outside the “normal” range unless people are doing extremes of exercise early in the adaptation process before the body is fully acclimated to using ketones or if they’re on hypoglycemic medications for diabetes. He doesn’t see levels under 3.5 mmol/L. In my case my blood sugar was 3.8 mmol/L but my ketones were also 1.5 mmol/L. I did not do any extreme exercise nor was I on an extended fast.

So perhaps the Ketones in a fat adapted person act as a safety mechanism in a way because the brain is just as happy to use ketones to function properly as it would on glucose. Am I correct with this assumption? It does sort of make sense, I mean that’s what we’re all trying to do right, get the body including the brain to operate on ketones from a fat source, rather than glucose created from carbs?

It just scares the shit out of me when you realize that we’re actually taking a risk when we drop carbs to the levels we do and we see blood glucose continue to drop below what are considered “normal” values.

#59

Come on people, this guy shows up a couple days ago and his only contribution is how Keto does not work long term and how you must convert over to a high frequency diet with complex carbs. Followed by some questionable science.
I know everyone is trying to be tolerant and all that foolishness, but this guy is obviously trolling. Since he is not keto why even register with a keto forum and bother posting?
Attention-seeking troll behavior.
Wanted to get this in before he tells us he’s now Vegan or something.

(Mark Rhodes) #60

you are right!! this from March 4th:

"for me, it’s absolutely fantastic! I work out 7x/week and I do strict Keto diet for 6 days. 10 grams or less of carbs, and those carbs are from lettuce, spinach or almond butter, or avocado. Nonetheless, my cheat day is a really bad engaging and gorging of carbs, sugar, garbage foods, etc however, because I am well adapted, within 24 hours I am right back in fat burning zone. I typically fast for 20-24 hours and the following day I’ll do cardio on an empty stomach…my energy levels and mood are totally fine. The ride back into Ketosis is fine. It renders the diet plausible and not so restrictive. That restrictiveness if you will, is pressure on the body, mind and thyroid and can be detrimental for the long haul. That said, this sequence works best for me, and should work for most, so long as they are well (fat) adapted…hope this helps "

It seems then that @Michael_Heffez has NEVER done KETO. He’s has done his version of keto and it is no wonder the food cravings do not leave, he is still carbing up once a week.

This is like the paper that says we fed mice keto only to find out it was PUFA. and 20%carb.