Anyone know if LCHF can cause depression?

jumanajane

Hi all, hope you are all doing well. I have now been keto for 3 1/2 months this time. Have been doing it on and off since 2003. For the last couple of weeks, maybe more, I have become increasingly niggled and snappy with almost depression like feelings. We were away on hols 2 weeks ago and I hadnt realised it but hubby said I was much happier and relaxed then than before (yes,lol, I know thats what hols are for but I wasnt aware of being any different!) In the 2 weeks since we came back I have been getting more irritable and snappy usually totally unjustified. I can only liken it to bad PMT! Ladies you will know the feeling, Men the effects!
Thing is I am not unhappy, have nothing to complain about apart from the usual life niggle(and not losing weight) so I feel like 2 people! My normal happy, optimistic self and then this unhappy. niggle, snappy *kitten*! Hubs and I had a chat yesterday and he's missing my optimism and fun!

Could it be the diet? Serotonin levels messed up although the protein should be enough trytophan to produce the serotonin? Could it be different supplements I have been taking recently??? Rhodiola...usually given for anxiety and depression, not cause it and Sytrinol....for intracellular cortisol in post-meno ladies??

Any views, advice, experience would be very welcome! Hubby and I would like the old me restored and I want shot of the grump I feel inside of me! Thanks.

DittoDan

Are you low carb or Keto? I heard that grains/gluten could be a cause. Lo carb can eat small amounts of grains, but Keto can't. Your diary is private.

Dan the Man from Michigan

deksgrl

Sounds like hormonal to me. What is your calorie level and workout routine? Could be excess cortisol maybe?

bluefish86

This recent unhappiness seems to coincide with the return from your holiday more than your adoption of a keto diet... are you sure there aren't any external reasons for your current mood?

jumanajane

I try to stay under 18gm carb so keto and i have been for ages. Protein 88gm, fat 109. Cals 1300(just reduced from 1400 last week) Workout!!! Lolol. I walk if Im lucky. Sedentary. Rhodiola and sytrinol should be dealing with cortisol! Unless you count being stressed because Im snappy.

Dragonwolf

Yeah, not really enough information, though generally speaking, a lot of low carb "induced" "depression" isn't depression, but withdrawal from the opiods found in various foods that are in the SAD, but dropped in low carb. That usually happens early on, though, and the body bounces back after a couple of weeks. Later symptoms are typically due to too little food and/or too much exercise, or hormonal shifts, all of which put extra stress on your body.

Also, how do you feel, physically? Do you feel your heartbeat at all? Do you feel anxious?

I'd drop the supplements, first (there doesn't appear to be much evidence regarding the efficacy of Rhodiola; and there's no evidence that blind cholesterol lowering, such as what Sytrinol appears to do, is beneficial to health), and make sure you're eating enough for your activity level. Either of the supplements may be causing your problems and I'm not convinced of the actual benefits of either, especially on this way of eating (which kind of changes the equation somewhat).

jumanajane

My diary settings are on public....just checked and thats what it says! Good old MFP.

Sabine_Stroehm

deksgrl wrote: »

Sounds like hormonal to me. What is your calorie level and workout routine? Could be excess cortisol maybe?

This is what I was thinking...

jumanajane

I started the Rhodiola about 6 weeks ago to try and help the sleep issues...not sleeping and thas much better and the sytrinol wasnt for cholesterol but as it was suggested to be effective in dampening the switch on of cortisone in intracellular belly fat in an attempt to reduce the post menopausal belly!
Too little food? Ohhh i hope so,lol. Too much exercise...not much chance of that. Hormonal shift? Dpeends which hormones we are talking about. No cyclical hormones since 2009.

jumanajane

@blue fish, sorry I missed what you had written. No, it had started before the hol, thats why hubby said I was better when we were away....I hadnt realised it then. I have been keto for too long for it to be any of the lows you get when starting . I dont have any cravings. Im not missing anything. I love this woe. Thats why its puzzling me. I suspect it may be the supplements but by default they should have dealt with the cortisol.....the bely fat hasnt changed!

SlimBride2Be

I feel generally better mentally on low carb but fiancé says I am snappier than I was. I attribute that to the calorie deficit rather than the low carbs.

Fvaisey

I had read that keto lifts your mood. I personally believe that it's helped me. Because of personal things going on in my life I was in a significant downturn. Mood is such a subjective thing, and there are studies that show most antidepressants are no more effective than a placebo.

However, after some years of feeling depressed I feel I'm on an upward trend even though the issues in my life continue unresolved.

mlinton_mesapark

Sorry you're going through this, @jumanajane. If it's anything like PMS, I'm sure it's a miserable feeling.

There's another thread in this forum about estrogen releasing from fat cells during lipolysis (fat burning). It really hit home with me, as I was newly VLC and had a period from hell, followed by crazy mood swings, teary moments (I'm not the sentimental type), and spotting between periods. You said you're post-menopausal, but I would imagine a sudden spike in estrogen could make you feel grumpy.

You said the scale isn't moving. Have you been losing cm?

Hope you feel better soon!

baconslave

Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »

deksgrl wrote: »

Sounds like hormonal to me. What is your calorie level and workout routine? Could be excess cortisol maybe?

This is what I was thinking...

I agree. I found that ketosis IMPROVED my depression. It is gone. No more meds. Except for near TOM, it comes back a little and I get moody. But nothing like the "death to everyone" and the "I want to crawl in a whole and die" bullcrap I used to have.

I did have an issue for a period of a month when I started taking an Adrenal Support supplement. Geez Louise. It was like a month-long bout of PMS. My poor husband! LOL! It had Rhodiola in it, among other things. Messed me up. Cycle came early that month. Skin broke out like a teenager. Bleh. Stopped taking it.

Hormones are tricky, and for some people, easily unbalanced. 2 weeks off plan will put you having to readapt. And carb withdrawl makes some people depressed.

Also, what do the keto calcs say your BMR is for your weight and height? I'm of the opinion you shouldn't eat below that. I tried that before. Made me cranky and depressed. I'd rather lose more slowly than grapple with that. So I ate more and didn't lose more slowly either.

Whichever it is, I hope you are feeling your old self again soon.

jumanajane

This is my dilemma! I am normally a happy person. No depression, very even tempered. I havent been off plan even on my weeks holiday, helps that hubs is also LCHF, so no change.
I use http://keto-calculator.ankerl.com/ and it says my BMR is 1556 cals. I have lost 9kg in all and a couple of inches here and there but it is slow. Each 100gm that stays off a triumph but I dont get too fed up as I know it is a long haul and slow due to my age. 58 3/4!

I'm begining to think it may be the rhodiola. Interesting as its supposed to be an adaptogen and balance my cortisol!

KarenZen

jumanajane, might be worth having a few sit downs with a therapist. If holidays were good but "real life" is making you snappy, you might have some underlying anxiety or resentments that you're not facing. As a woman who swallowed her negative emotions and feelings for 30 years and put on a happy face (and I would have sworn on a stack of bibles I WAS happy!), I can tell you that therapy helped me find a better balance and live a more authentic life.

K.

jumanajane

Lolol. Thanks for that and I hear you!! Happily I sorted all my demons out about 20 years ago and changed my life dramatically. No I have a pretty cushty life and lovely husband and don't have anything that needs sorting now but I wish you continued success in your new life too! All power to you for realising and taking steps! Not an easy thing!

Sunny_Bunny_

Something you said stands out to me.
That you have been on Keto for a long time.
You have mentioned other changes that are more recent and coincide more with the cruddy mood. One or more of those changes would be suspect to me.

minties82

I feel like I have PMS every day. I attribute it to the lack of calories rather than low carb. Not eating much makes me so grumpy.

jumanajane

@ sunnybunny.....i did? What were they that made you say that? I only lowered my cals by 100 as I hadnt redone my macros since i started. Too few cals do you think? I dont get grumpy or hangry from not eating....mostly because I dont get hungry very often. I eat a varied diet and am very happy with it.
Poor @ minites....PMS feeling every day. Eat woman if thats the answer!

Dragonwolf

Try eating closer to your BMR for a month or so. You're pretty far under it right now...

jumanajane wrote: »

@ sunnybunny.....i did? What were they that made you say that? I only lowered my cals by 100 as I hadnt redone my macros since i started. Too few cals do you think?

I'm not sunnybunny, but you did mention this:

jumanajane wrote: »

I started the Rhodiola about 6 weeks ago to try and help the sleep issues...not sleeping and thas much better and the sytrinol wasnt for cholesterol but as it was suggested to be effective in dampening the switch on of cortisone in intracellular belly fat in an attempt to reduce the post menopausal belly!

Also, re: Sytrinol -- it seems its primary purpose is related to cholesterol. Even looking for cortisol (or cortisone, for that matter), you're hard-pressed to find stuff about its action on anything other than cholesterol. I'm inclined to think that this may be your culprit. Depression is also a sign of cholesterol that is too low (yes, there is such a thing).

If you have issues with cortisol, then look into Phosphatidyl Serine. It's a supplement with the primary purpose of lowering cortisol levels. However, I'd still seriously consider whether you're actually having such issues before taking anything of the sort.

Also, start a strength training program of some sort. Don't try to starve yourself down to your ideal weight, it doesn't work (and you seem rather close, according to your ticker). No, you're not too old (and if you somehow insist that you are, I will start posting people in their 80s and 90s who work out and put many 20-somethings to shame).