Nightmares when transitioning back to keto?

kmca1803

Does anyone else experience extremely disjointed, poor quality sleep, and more specifically, terrible nightmares when they are transitioning back into ketosis?

I fell out of ketosis due to circumstances beyond my control for about 3 weeks and am now getting back on track. I have used a lchf/keto diet for several years now, and have gone out of ketosis several times in that period. Every time I begin the process of going back into ketosis, I experience terrible nightmares for the first 1-2 weeks.
Having nightmares isn't normal for me - I don't usually even dream much! I supplement electrolytes as needed for the initial water weight loss, so any keto flu symptoms tend to be minimised for me.

I have asked other keto-ers and most people just scratch their heads when I mention this. Does anyone else experience this? Or am I the only one?

SteveKroll

I can't say I experience nightmares, but I do have very vivid dreams when on ketosis. What's odd about that is that, prior to a few months ago, it had been years since I last had dreams - or at least dreams I could remember after awakening. I wonder if it's some indication of a healing process that's taking place.

gemberly

I hardly ever remember my dreams and since I started lchf I've had that experience. I didn't know whether to chalk it up to hormones or maybe wellbutrin (although, that wasn't my experience prior). After about a month things have seemed to calm down. They were super vivid for a while there.

kmca1803

SteveKroll - it's interesting what you say about a healing process. I would like to think that its that! I wish there was some sort of reliable data or research about this particular aspect.

I've found that, anecdotally, people seem to fall into two camps once they are adapted - the "I've never slept better" camp and the "I've never had such interrupted/early waking/short periods of sleep" camp.
It seems the vivid dreams seems to be very common for a lot of people, anecdotally speaking.
When I'm keto adapted, I tend towards the hard to get to sleep and early waking camp, but because I'm adapted, I'm not fatigued and it doesn't worry me. The transition to this is a **t** though!

SteveKroll

When I first started on a ketogenic diet (about 4 months ago) my sleep patterns went into complete upheaval. I would consistently wake up in the middle of the night and be unable to go back to sleep. Then, on the suggestion of a diet counselor, began taking a few recommended supplements a couple of hours before bed: magnesium, potassium, vitamin D3, and zinc. Within a few nights I began sleeping much better. And now I enjoy some of the most restful sleep I've had in years.

But the dreams.... oh boy! So maybe some of it is due to the supplements. Who knows. In any case, I don't mind them. They tend to run more on the fun and kooky side of things, rather than being nightmarish.

805_blondie

I know this is an old thread, but I was looking for anyone else who experienced this too. I'm having terrible nightmares since I started Keto a week ago.

elize7

I haven't had the nightmares with keto, but I'm definately experiencing changed sleeping patterns. Waking several times a night and more energy during the day.

RunRachelleRun

This is my first time in ketosis. I'm on day nine and had a reading on the Ketostix of 4 this morning.

I am having terrible nightmares every night and waking from them with heart palpitations after about 4-5 hours of sleep. I am then wide awake for about an hour and a half, and then fall back asleep as if in a coma.

I'm already taking supplements at night. I'm thinking it might almost be a hypoglycemic reaction. I'm not diabetic, so don't have a blood sugar tester. Not sure how to fix it though. Hope it is like you mention and goes away after a couple of weeks.

bowlerae

I have pretty vivid dreams while transitioning into ketosis and pretty good sleep quality. I think if you are having nightmares, it might be because you are actually remembering your dreams and they are very vivid regardless of whether the dreams are positive or negative. I feel if they are negative dreams then it is a subconscious thing not relating to your diet. Instead relating to something else such as underlying stress.

Nickijoecanuck

I've been getting nightmares as well. I'm one of the sensitive few that gets night terrors whenever I eat prosciutto (something about the curing process), so I'm going to start jotting down when I get one and then comparing it to the foods I've been eating to see if there is a trigger food. I already know I'm super sensitive to nitrates and now I'm wondering if it happens when I eat beef so I'll switch to fish for a while. If it gets worse I'll also try vegetarian keto for a few days to see if the brain settles.

62apples

Eating too close to bedtime; sleeping on your stomach; eating an (unknown) allergy; your right brain trying to talk to you;
You have changed your diet. So change the foods you eat on keto and see what that does.
Drink Chamomile tea before bed. Warm milk with cinnamon also works.
Talk out loud to yourself and assure your subconscious that you are not starving.
Play some white noise.
Journal happy thoughts; what happened today that you are thankful for.
Write our your nightmare and then add a happy ending to it
Only watch gentle serene TV.
Know that 85% of adults have at least one nightmare a year.

CafeLights

Back on the keto diet after a long 6 month stint off of it. I'm 5 days into keto diet with >20 grams crabs every day and now I'm awake at 4:00 am from a horrible nightmare. Prior to that I was so cold I had to leave my bed and go to the guest room in search for more warmth. It's 74 in the house. Not cold. Then the nightmare. Plus my stomach has been actually hurting. Like it literally hurts when I press on it. And I have felt quite bloated the last two days. Plus having keto flu symptoms of a nasty headache and cold symptoms and irritable. That subsided some on the 4th day. I had been in keto for a year and lost 52 lbs. Went off of keto full blown for 6 months just feeling like I could handle regular eating, but I started binging on carbs knowing I was going to enter keto diet again "tomorrow". And I gained 35 pounds. So now I'm trying to get back on track. I know how to do it, but the flu and now this nightmare has me angry with myself for ever jumping ship and questioning whether I can do it again.
Thank you for posting ideas of how to combat the nightmares and disruptive sleep. I will drink more electrolytes for sure!

linfrost2

Terrible, exhausting nightmares.

__Chanda__

No nightmares, but my sleep was all over the place when I was transitioning into ketosis. I started back on Keto 12-26, and last night was my first good night sleep.