Keto - major TMI help
jasperdog52554
Posts: 115 Member
So... I am new to keto, again. This isn't my first attempt, but I am currently on day 6. Cravings are gone, energy I'd the same, hunger diminished. Great, right?
So here's the kicker. Persistent diarrhea. Every day. Every time I eat. I eat mostly carnivorous diet as I find it works best for cravings, etc. I don't push extra fat. Just whatever is in the meat usually. Even something as benign as scrambled eggs sends me to the bathroom within an hour.
Is this just the adjustment period? Is this normal? This is usually when I give up because I am tired of it and quite frankly, my bottom is sore. Sorry for the long post. Any help or comments appreciated.
P.s. I accidentally posted in the general forum, so I'm reposting here. Here are some additional tidbits stemming from the original post. Minus the whole "why are you doing keto, CICO, and keto is dangerous " BS.
I do have some ibs issues as well as fodmap intolerance. Also I drink lots of Diet Dew. Wondering if the high caffeine with the lack of carbs to slow everything down would hav we such an effect.
Thanks for taking the time to read.
So here's the kicker. Persistent diarrhea. Every day. Every time I eat. I eat mostly carnivorous diet as I find it works best for cravings, etc. I don't push extra fat. Just whatever is in the meat usually. Even something as benign as scrambled eggs sends me to the bathroom within an hour.
Is this just the adjustment period? Is this normal? This is usually when I give up because I am tired of it and quite frankly, my bottom is sore. Sorry for the long post. Any help or comments appreciated.
P.s. I accidentally posted in the general forum, so I'm reposting here. Here are some additional tidbits stemming from the original post. Minus the whole "why are you doing keto, CICO, and keto is dangerous " BS.
I do have some ibs issues as well as fodmap intolerance. Also I drink lots of Diet Dew. Wondering if the high caffeine with the lack of carbs to slow everything down would hav we such an effect.
Thanks for taking the time to read.
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Replies
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I was going to find some way to address this here, myself... but was putting it off hoping it would go away. You are not alone, o.p.
I think (not sure) that we may need to look closely at our electrolytes. The Souper Happy Fun Time bathroom visits = major dehydration. Though I'm drinking probably more than 10 glasses of water a day + iced tea and coffee, I am sure it's a fluid in/out and sodium/potassium/magnesium balance thing! But I'm completely daunted by that part of keto...seems I have the rest down just fine.
Perhaps there's someone here who can help give me/us a simple set of options on what we can do to fix it?
I would like a "Stop Having Runny Poops on Keto for Dummies" answer, if possible...anyone? Supplements? Mineral intake?1 -
No idea! I had the opposite issue! Little hard tiny rabbit poos for the first couple weeks... I know cheese slows things down for a lot of people... Eat more cheese?1
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Zomg I thought I was already eating ALL OF THE EARTH'S CHEESE.
I love it so much, there's literally never enough. I will try it and see.
Someone else told me (not here, a friend IRL who doesn't know squat) that I wasn't eating enough veg...I was like uhm-kay, but I have a leafy salad every day, and usually spinach, cucumbers, celery, cabbage, radishes, etc. with at least dinner or lunch or both, and it's always 1/2 cup or more. And when I was really doing it up in the cabbage department I still had the rush to the potty.2 -
Artificial sweeteners causes a good friend of mine to race to bathroom, a lot! In my view I would start by dodging them. My other thoughts are:
If you overdo Magnessium, particularly oxide then OMG serious thunder pants. Some folk frind coconut oil effectively like a laxative.
Personally, I took an electrolyte that was designed to help things get moving and it was.. ah hem.. way too succesful. Thankfully I now have a balance.3 -
jasperdog52554 wrote: »Also I drink lots of Diet Dew. Wondering if the high caffeine with the lack of carbs to slow everything down would hav we such an effect.
I missed this before. I'm not an expert on soda, but aspartame (Equal/NutraSweet) and sucralose (Splenda) have been known to have a loosening effect on the stools for some who consume it...although something tells me you drank it a lot before keto?
I have not really drank pop in almost two decades, but if it were me, I'd try getting carbonated water (unflavored or flavored, but not sweetened) and adding 4-5 drops of liquid stevia for flavor, per 8 oz., only because soda/pop is something that would be hard to replicate otherwise - but you'd be rid of the artificial sweetener - you could maybe try that and see if it helps. Heck, there's probably a Mountain Dew-flavored stevia-sweetened alterna-pop already out there
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Ok you may have to raise your carbs temporarily and try lower them more gradually. If before keto you were eating a lot of carbs/processed foods etc. your gut flora may have been off kilter. Bacteria, candida etc are not getting their normal dose of sugar to flourish so it may be the sudden die off causing the diarrhea.
You could try probiotics or fermented foods (pickles, sauerkraut, kimchee...) Make sure to try to eat leafy greens. 2 cups of romaine only contain 2.9 g of carbs. Eat something leafy with every meal or if you don't want to eat your greens, maybe try a teaspoon dose of sugar-free Metamucil or plain psyllium husk powder right before you eat a meal. The fiber will absorb the excess water in the colon and should help resolve loose stools.3 -
Ooh that sounds like a great idea, @dmariet116 ! I'll try the fiber powder thing.
I have been eating leafy greens forever...so it must be something else
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Without viewing your diary I can only speculate, but sometimes with IBS if you eat too much fiber (insoluble) it can give you diarrhea, and veggies might not help in your case instead doing more harm; though it sounds counter-intuitive a bulk forming laxative like konsyl might actually help add substance to your movements, it has plenty of soluble fiber that is less likely to irritate your IBS. One of my children has struggled with IBS-D for years, and after a few different dieticians we got one who recommended taking it, and since we started giving it to him it really does help him, but the downside is it doesn't taste great. The artificially sweetened flavored kind works for him too, but not seemingly as well.
Talk to your physician about it, and see if they'd recommend trying it out, if its not already something you take.0 -
First of all, what a difference in responses of like minded individuals vs. The general forums. YAY LC group
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Bjwoodzy- you're suspicion is right I do drink a lot of diet dew, plus a lot of water. I swear it's like I'm prepping for a drought. For some reason, I didn't think aspartame was in the same group as other sweeteners that way, but I may have to cut back and see if it helps.
Dmariet116- I am/was/trying not to be a carb junkie. Like donuts every day. I've heard mention of the candida die off before. I will have to do some reading. Do pickles really help? I could easily eat a whole jar in a sitting.
Thanks so much. I will have to try some of the suggestions4 -
Zomg I thought I was already eating ALL OF THE EARTH'S CHEESE.
I love it so much, there's literally never enough. I will try it and see.
I assumed you were eating mostly meat when I said that (half in jest), so maybe lay off the cheese? My husband is lactose intolerant and has that runny tummy problem when he indulges...
Are you eating any sweeteners like maltitol or xylitol? Sugar alcohols, any ending in -tols, can have a serious laxative effect...
Otherwise, the rest of the replies sounded very smart...2 -
@jasperdog52554 Fermented foods are chock-full of good bacteria. They help a lot in my opinion! I would introduce them slowly so your body can adjust. Also a good way to increase your sodium so win win!1
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I found a lot of changing going on in a lot of ways the first 90 days of keto as major medical conditions started to reverse and then improve/resolve.0
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JTyler2016 wrote: »Without viewing your diary I can only speculate, but sometimes with IBS if you eat too much fiber (insoluble) it can give you diarrhea, and veggies might not help in your case instead doing more harm; though it sounds counter-intuitive a bulk forming laxative like konsyl might actually help add substance to your movements, it has plenty of soluble fiber that is less likely to irritate your IBS. One of my children has struggled with IBS-D for years, and after a few different dieticians we got one who recommended taking it, and since we started giving it to him it really does help him, but the downside is it doesn't taste great. The artificially sweetened flavored kind works for him too, but not seemingly as well.
Talk to your physician about it, and see if they'd recommend trying it out, if its not already something you take.
I'm sorry I missed this post. I think you may be onto something. I struggle with IBS and generally suffer more toward the C, so this is quite a change. Whenever I had C and tried to add fiber/vegetables it only made matters worse.0 -
I would definitely work on cutting back and maybe even cutting out the diet soda at some point even if it's not the cause right now. But we do know that aspartame is detrimental to our gut bacteria, so it certainly can be part of the problem.
You're definitely going to have major gut bacteria changes when changing your diet to anything that's very different to your previous eating, so there is that connection even if nothing is killing your healthy bacteria.
But, it seems like you're watering down your solid waste a lot too and the reason you're thirsty is most likely due to low sodium. Try some pickle juice, works great. Then you can get a good dose of sodium and get the thirst under control and hopefully the loose stool.
Drinking the diet soda isn't going to appease the thirst as much as something simpler and could even be responsible for your cravings that take make it so that you only achieve control of it with a carnivore diet. Maybe you'd be able to control the cravings with a slightly less carnivore diet without the triggering aspartame in your daily diet.2 -
The worst thing about MFP and especially this otherwise-wonderful group is the HORRIBLE search function. There's a lot of great info here, but you can't even pay for a good way to find it. 
@jasperdog52554 - A couple thoughts.
1. Your issue has come up with, er, regularity in the past. I did manage to find one item:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10372858/diarrhea-question-for-keto-paleo-zero-carb-people#latest
2. Also, not long ago, there was an item on an article suggesting that some people cannot handle a rapid transition to LCHF and need to taper off the carbs over a longer period. Perhaps you're someone for whom a gradual change would work better.4 -
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Haha. Good one!0
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@jasperdog52554 & @bjwoodzy -
Here's a resource:
TROUBLESHOOT DIARRHEA ON A LOW CARB, KETO DIET
http://nobunplease.com/diarrhea-low-carb-keto-diet/7 -
I feel like you guys need to all take us out to dinner now that you know so much about our poos.5
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It will take a few days to come up with the right meal plan.... heh heh.
In the meantime..... you might want to have some generic Imodium handy (though Dr. Bernstein swears by Lomotil).
Factoid - Before I switched from generic metformin to name-brand Glucophage XR (at Dr. Bernstein's recommendation), I used to gulp up to 12 of them - 3x the supposed daily max printed on the bottle.*
While I never waltzed out of the house in white pants with no underwear, the Imodium was a life saver. I don't want to get too graphic here (your choice ), but the frequent episodes of spontaneous internal combustion before I started taking generic Imodium were near spectacular..........
* [ Since a few people here berated me when I previously sang the virtues of Imodium ("you're not a doctor," etc.) let me say that I don't specifically advocate exceeding the manufacturer's recommended daily max... HOWEVER, no physicians (GI, endo, etc) have ever offered any reason not to consume such amounts, once they were confident that constipation is not and has never been an issue for me. ]3 -
jasperdog52554 wrote: »First of all, what a difference in responses of like minded individuals vs. The general forums. YAY LC group
Yarr. That would be why I mentioned it as I did. The main forum first response is almost always "zomg why are you running keto?! You're gonna give yourself cancer of the AIDS, and lay a plague upon your second born's lineage!!"3 -
Gallowmere1984 wrote: »jasperdog52554 wrote: »First of all, what a difference in responses of like minded individuals vs. The general forums. YAY LC group
Yarr. That would be why I mentioned it as I did. The main forum first response is almost always "zomg why are you running keto?! You're gonna give yourself cancer of the AIDS, and lay a plague upon your second born's lineage!!"
Lol! Cancer of the AIDS!!!! We are all so getting that!!!3 -
Lots of good ideas here. I need to cut back on the soda anyway. I think that will try that first. @Sunny_bunny I do enjoy veggies, so I wouldn't necessarily mind eating them eventually. I1
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@jasperdog52554 the sweetener that causes my friend (who I mentioned much earlier in this thread) is aspartane. They can not drink Mountain Dew at all without issues. Given your post, thus why I ranked artificial sweeteners first on my list.2
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SamandaIndia wrote: »@jasperdog52554 the sweetener that causes my friend (who I mentioned much earlier in this thread) is aspartane. They can not drink Mountain Dew at all without issues. Given your post, thus why I ranked artificial sweeteners first on my list.
I've seen a lot of reports of this regarding most sugar alcohols, and artificial sweeteners. I must just have an iron gut, because even when I was eating six Quest bars per day, and drinking literally nothing but zero cal soft drinks, I never had a problem. I can't help but feel for the people that the stuff affects negatively. Really, the only thing that ever seemed to wreck my digestive tract, was the high fat, high carb diet that had me over 200 pounds before I was ten, and kept me that way into my 20s.0 -
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What has worked for me was: 1) cut way back on caffeine (coffee and/or soda) and 2) pay close attention to sugar alcohols or any other artificial sweeteners. What did not bother you before can suddenly rear its head when you change your woe.
Good luck!4 -
I thought I would add some of my own experience with keto and bathroom issues. I myself had to build up the amount I could eat of fat at one time. I know you said you didn't add extra fat, but how much are you eating at once in the meals? I find if I eat more than 30g at one time I will have issues with cramping and poo. Fatty meals (over 25g) + caffeine also causes me issues. For me, saturated fats from animal sources causes the most trouble. So, like it's easier on my bowels for me to eat an avocado drizzled with olive oil than steak and eggs. (My issues seem to be related to my lack of gall bladder, but I thought I'd share anyways.)4
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