Headache and fuzziness on day 4
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wtskinner
Posts: 178 Member
It's been a while since I've done low carb and I am a type 2 diabetic. It seems as I get older and currently I'm approaching my mid 40s, my body doesn't adapt to change as quickly/well as it did when I was younger. I'm on day 4 of low carb and right around lunch time, even though I ate a very heafty salad with chicken, salmon, egg, avocado, etc mixed it, I started hitting the dumps and feeling that low carb head where you can't concentrate, get a little headache, fuzzy head etc. Hopefully I can just keep up the diet so i don't have to go through it again, but what does the group here do to help get through those temporary symptoms while your body is adjusting?
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Sodium. And be quick about it.
Seriously, eat something salty. Soup is probably the quickest fix, but a couple pickles should help. Keep eating salty food until you feel better.
Once you're feeling better, feel free to ask for an explanation.0 -
Yes...a cup of salty broth works for me!0
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Their advice is the answer. And keep it up on a daily basis to avoid further issues. Aim for 4000-5000mg or more if you drink a lot of water everyday.0
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Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »Their advice is the answer. And keep it up on a daily basis to avoid further issues. Aim for 4000-5000mg or more if you drink a lot of water everyday.
I was gonna ask if anyone knew how much sodium was high enough. I get the headaches too (I'm about 2 weeks in....not steadily the the first week) and have been drinking broth and salting everything! I felt like I was eating too much salt but I am right around the range you said but I also drink a lot of water.0 -
esaucier17 wrote: »Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »Their advice is the answer. And keep it up on a daily basis to avoid further issues. Aim for 4000-5000mg or more if you drink a lot of water everyday.
I was gonna ask if anyone knew how much sodium was high enough. I get the headaches too (I'm about 2 weeks in....not steadily the the first week) and have been drinking broth and salting everything! I felt like I was eating too much salt but I am right around the range you said but I also drink a lot of water.
It seems like drinking a lot of water increases the need for sodium. It's a balance.0 -
Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »esaucier17 wrote: »Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »Their advice is the answer. And keep it up on a daily basis to avoid further issues. Aim for 4000-5000mg or more if you drink a lot of water everyday.
I was gonna ask if anyone knew how much sodium was high enough. I get the headaches too (I'm about 2 weeks in....not steadily the the first week) and have been drinking broth and salting everything! I felt like I was eating too much salt but I am right around the range you said but I also drink a lot of water.
It seems like drinking a lot of water increases the need for sodium. It's a balance.
It's the other way around. Your body needs to dilute the blood if sodium concentration gets high, so you get thirsty.
If you've lost too much sodium, you can become potassium deficient, so try eating some potassium-rich foods.
And, in general, you can lose minerals when ketone levels are high. Both Ca and Mg. The Mg deficiency can be associated with headaches.0 -
Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »esaucier17 wrote: »Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »Their advice is the answer. And keep it up on a daily basis to avoid further issues. Aim for 4000-5000mg or more if you drink a lot of water everyday.
I was gonna ask if anyone knew how much sodium was high enough. I get the headaches too (I'm about 2 weeks in....not steadily the the first week) and have been drinking broth and salting everything! I felt like I was eating too much salt but I am right around the range you said but I also drink a lot of water.
It seems like drinking a lot of water increases the need for sodium. It's a balance.
It's the other way around. Your body needs to dilute the blood if sodium concentration gets high, so you get thirsty.
If you've lost too much sodium, you can become potassium deficient, so try eating some potassium-rich foods.
And, in general, you can lose minerals when ketone levels are high. Both Ca and Mg. The Mg deficiency can be associated with headaches.
I've heard of some people forcing down a certain volume of water every day as a goal they feel they have to meet. It was my understanding that kind of over consumption of water just flushed out more sodium. That's what I was meaning.
I definitely agree with the Mg recommendation too. The more I read up about it the more I'm convinced that most people are deficient. I just bought a powder form today and I am starting my 17 year old on that and fish oil to find a natural remedy for ADHD symptoms, which I believe is just another diet related issue. She wants to join the navy and cannot reveal her diagnosis or be taking her current meds.0 -
You may be right about high water consumption. The kidneys regulate both, and they can be told to dump water and keep sodium, but sometimes they seem to do the wrong thing. Like dumping too much sodium during ketosis.0
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You may be right about high water consumption. The kidneys regulate both, and they can be told to dump water and keep sodium, but sometimes they seem to do the wrong thing. Like dumping too much sodium during ketosis.
Maybe I am misunderstanding. I just seem to see a lot of people that report the "flu" symptoms saying "I drink a lot of water and salt everything and drink my broth so I don't know why. Should I drink more water"? It seems like the old advice to be constantly pouring water down our throats is often taken as drink all the water you can possibly stomach. And I swear every time there's a post about these symptoms you get "I drink a lot of water" in there somewhere. But I definitely jumped the gun here because she didn't say anything about water.0 -
Well, if you believe (as I do) that most of the symptoms are due to low blood volume, then both high sodium and high water intake should help.
If they still have symptoms when sodium levels (and thus blood volume) normalize, that suggests other deficiencies to me. Both potassium and magnesium are likely suspects.
But if you address the sodium issue early enough, I think you can preempt any potassium and maybe magnesium problems.0 -
Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »You may be right about high water consumption. The kidneys regulate both, and they can be told to dump water and keep sodium, but sometimes they seem to do the wrong thing. Like dumping too much sodium during ketosis.
Maybe I am misunderstanding. I just seem to see a lot of people that report the "flu" symptoms saying "I drink a lot of water and salt everything and drink my broth so I don't know why. Should I drink more water"? It seems like the old advice to be constantly pouring water down our throats is often taken as drink all the water you can possibly stomach. And I swear every time there's a post about these symptoms you get "I drink a lot of water" in there somewhere. But I definitely jumped the gun here because she didn't say anything about water.
I think you mentioned water because I did and I get headaches. I drink like 10 glasses a day. Always have...I don't drink anything else except an occasional cup of coffee and of course my salty broth
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esaucier17 wrote: »Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »You may be right about high water consumption. The kidneys regulate both, and they can be told to dump water and keep sodium, but sometimes they seem to do the wrong thing. Like dumping too much sodium during ketosis.
Maybe I am misunderstanding. I just seem to see a lot of people that report the "flu" symptoms saying "I drink a lot of water and salt everything and drink my broth so I don't know why. Should I drink more water"? It seems like the old advice to be constantly pouring water down our throats is often taken as drink all the water you can possibly stomach. And I swear every time there's a post about these symptoms you get "I drink a lot of water" in there somewhere. But I definitely jumped the gun here because she didn't say anything about water.
I think you mentioned water because I did and I get headaches. I drink like 10 glasses a day. Always have...I don't drink anything else except an occasional cup of coffee and of course my salty broth
I also started taking Magnesium supplements.0 -
Headaches can have so many causes, but let's see if we can do some differential diagnosing.
Does your headache get better when you lie down? Or worse when you sit up or stand?
If so, that suggests low sodium. If not, probably something else. I suppose even high sodium could cause it. Maybe check your blood pressure.0 -
Headaches can have so many causes, but let's see if we can do some differential diagnosing.
Does your headache get better when you lie down? Or worse when you sit up or stand?
If so, that suggests low sodium. If not, probably something else. I suppose even high sodium could cause it. Maybe check your blood pressure.
Yes better when I lay down...worse when I am sitting or standing. I have never had high blood pressure but all the sodium could maybe be causing it. My husband has a machine... I am going to check when I get home.
It is definitely related to this WOE because I rarely got headaches before.0 -
I think I am having the belief that too much water is a problem or can be because my dad has off and on issues with low sodium and he is always advised to limit fluids and increase salt to remedy it and that does usually fix him up. Then to try to keep balanced he has to keep the salt up and resume normal fluid intake. They keep him from taking in more fluids while the sodium is low and until he gets it back up because it was explained that it just further dilutes what sodium/potassium/magnesium he does have, increasing urination and causing more overall loss.
He had a bad fall in the hospital because of being lightheaded and weak from it.
It made sense to me.0 -
I'm sure you're right, Sunny.
Tim Noakes (yeah, the low-carb guru) wrote a book about this subject. Sodium and water seem like such a simple subject, but he says everybody gets it wrong. I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but I think the gist is that the body can deal with dehydration and can tolerate low sodium, so just let the body deal with it and don't try to outsmart biology.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/145042497X?keywords=waterlogged&qid=1446849800&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-10 -
esaucier17 wrote: »Headaches can have so many causes, but let's see if we can do some differential diagnosing.
Does your headache get better when you lie down? Or worse when you sit up or stand?
If so, that suggests low sodium. If not, probably something else. I suppose even high sodium could cause it. Maybe check your blood pressure.
Yes better when I lay down...worse when I am sitting or standing. I have never had high blood pressure but all the sodium could maybe be causing it. My husband has a machine... I am going to check when I get home.
It is definitely related to this WOE because I rarely got headaches before.
I would suspect low blood pressure, not high, if it's even having an effect on that at all. I only say that because that's what my dads experience was.
Anyway, your symptoms are incredibly commonly discussed here and increasing salt is always a good fix with further supplementation of magnesium and use of NuSalt or other potassium salt substitute as well.0 -
Thanks for the replies guys! I'll be grabbing some bullion cubes tomorrow evening at the grocery store to help with my salt intake.0
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Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »esaucier17 wrote: »Headaches can have so many causes, but let's see if we can do some differential diagnosing.
Does your headache get better when you lie down? Or worse when you sit up or stand?
If so, that suggests low sodium. If not, probably something else. I suppose even high sodium could cause it. Maybe check your blood pressure.
Yes better when I lay down...worse when I am sitting or standing. I have never had high blood pressure but all the sodium could maybe be causing it. My husband has a machine... I am going to check when I get home.
It is definitely related to this WOE because I rarely got headaches before.
I would suspect low blood pressure, not high, if it's even having an effect on that at all. I only say that because that's what my dads experience was.
Anyway, your symptoms are incredibly commonly discussed here and increasing salt is always a good fix with further supplementation of magnesium and use of NuSalt or other potassium salt substitute as well.
Now I am very confused because my blood pressure was high when I checked. The machine my hubby has was all over the place (but high numbers) so I checked at Publix this am and it was 131/90. I have never had high blood pressure in my life! I keep thinking it is too much sodium but from what I hear numbers and tests are always good on this WOE despite what some people think.
I have a Dr. apt in a month. I guess I will see what he says if it stays high like this. It worries me though.
I am not terribly overweight...about 20-25 pounds, not enough to cause high blood pressure. I am under a lot of stress, maybe that could be it.0 -
It could be too much sodium. It works both ways -- too little will cause low blood volume and sometimes low blood pressure, but too much can lead to higher blood pressure.
I've been experimenting with my sodium levels to see if I can find what my body likes best.0 -
It could be too much sodium. It works both ways -- too little will cause low blood volume and sometimes low blood pressure, but too much can lead to higher blood pressure.
I've been experimenting with my sodium levels to see if I can find what my body likes best.
Yes....I just found your post on your sodium challenge and new doctor. I am going to keep following you and lower my sodium a tad and see if it lowers my BP.0 -
My doctor has me on a multi- mineral and suggested salting foods and drinking a lot of water whilst eating less than 20 percent carbs and minimising sugars. So I support advice you have. Question is did it help?0
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I think I wesaucier17 wrote: »Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »esaucier17 wrote: »Headaches can have so many causes, but let's see if we can do some differential diagnosing.
Does your headache get better when you lie down? Or worse when you sit up or stand?
If so, that suggests low sodium. If not, probably something else. I suppose even high sodium could cause it. Maybe check your blood pressure.
Yes better when I lay down...worse when I am sitting or standing. I have never had high blood pressure but all the sodium could maybe be causing it. My husband has a machine... I am going to check when I get home.
It is definitely related to this WOE because I rarely got headaches before.
I would suspect low blood pressure, not high, if it's even having an effect on that at all. I only say that because that's what my dads experience was.
Anyway, your symptoms are incredibly commonly discussed here and increasing salt is always a good fix with further supplementation of magnesium and use of NuSalt or other potassium salt substitute as well.
Now I am very confused because my blood pressure was high when I checked. The machine my hubby has was all over the place (but high numbers) so I checked at Publix this am and it was 131/90. I have never had high blood pressure in my life! I keep thinking it is too much sodium but from what I hear numbers and tests are always good on this WOE despite what some people think.
I have a Dr. apt in a month. I guess I will see what he says if it stays high like this. It worries me though.
I am not terribly overweight...about 20-25 pounds, not enough to cause high blood pressure. I am under a lot of stress, maybe that could be it.
as getting your comments mixed up with OP a little.
Anyway, if you're drinking broth, usually sodium is more likely to be high enough. So maybe cut back and see if you notice a difference in that feeling.0
This discussion has been closed.