It's happening again
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satinribbons
Posts: 22
It's supposed to be my bedtime now and it's really late at night but all of a sudden I'm having heart palpitation and trying to breath (can't breath). I tested my blood sugar and it's just ok- not high but not too low. I've been putting Saxon low sodium in my drink about 1/2 tsp per day and about 1 tsp whenever I workout that day so I think I'm getting enough potassium for the day. I worked out today for 45min. This also happened the other day as soon as I finished working out for 37 min. I immediately drank lots of water and put salt in my drink as well and also I ate an egg. I don't like this feeling because it feels scary. What else should I do? It's been 3 wks since I started on keto diet but I've been eating low carb diet for a few months now before the keto diet without any alarming incidents. Should I increase my carbs to 20g? My macros are 45 protein, 107g fat and 15g carbs. Should I decrease my exercise? I normally do cardio when I workout. I workout 3-5 days/wk.
Thanks.
Thanks.
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Replies
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It's not a carb thing, it's an electrolyte thing:
The heart palpitations are probably due to low potassium for a prolonged period of too low sodium levels. I'm not sure how much potassium or sodium you are getting in a day, but they both probably need to be dramatically increased. On keto, we dump lots of sodium, so we need more than what the USDA guidelines are. Long term low sodium levels cause even lower potassium levels, especially if you aren't getting enough in your diet. So you will need more than the USDA recommended allowance for potassium. Don't be afraid of salt! Use lots of it lol, and find more sources for your potassium like spinach, and avocados. Hope this helps :-)0 -
I've been taking Saxon low salt or So low salt which is 66 percent low sodium and half potassium, about half a tsp per day or 1 tsp per day when I exercise. Should I also use a normal salt and take it about half a tsp a day as well?
Thanks0 -
Ok so 1 serving of that Low Salt is only 300mg sodium, and only 400mg potassium. You need minimum around 3000mg of potassium a day (depending on your needs, I need 3500), and for sodium, I need on keto 2000-3000mg a day or I feel like ****. Really. I know, I know, the USDA says otherwise but ask any other long term Keto pal, and they will tell you the same; that salt intake is to be encouraged! Low Salt is great for getting your potassium, but you really need to kick it up lol. On your diary settings, you can add potassium as a nutrient to monitor. On the mobile app, the sodium automatically shows up in the Nutrient Details. Hope this helps!
What is one serving?...0 -
Ok, for crap and giggles, I looked into it even more: 1tsp of So Low salt is 1200mg Sodium, and 1600mg Potassium. So if you're getting your potassium primarily from this product, then yes, another whole tsp is needed.0
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Hi sorry is it another tsp of So Low salt or another tsp of Sodium salt like Iodine/Sea Salt?
Thank you for your help.
I had about half a tsp of So Low salt last night but it didn't work so I had about 1 tsp of Iodine salt but still no luck. I then ate about 20- 30 almonds just in case I needed more calories for the day. Also, I drank loads of water. I woke up today still feeling the same- fast heart beat, weak, etc... Maybe I'm overdoing my exercise. I've been doing cardio a lot.0 -
What does "loads" of water mean? If I don't get enough water, my pulse increases dramatically. As soon as I get more water I am fine. I drink 3 liters a day, through out the day, and have no problems now. If you are working out 45 minutes, you might need even more (I don't currently work out). Something obviously needs adjusting, though!0
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Ok, so for working out a lot, you need to replace your electrolytes even more, and possibly increase your calories more. I would have 2 tsp a day of the So Low Salt to get both the potassium and sodium. Add more regular salt for the cardio that you do.
Another thing you can be coming up against is if when on a calorie restricting diet, and you restrict your calories too much, you can actually cause your thyroid to become dysfunctional. Hypothyroidism also fits this scenario. Please google it and talk to your doc.
I'm not sure how many calories you are taking in a day. On keto, remember, going higher on calories is okay! Don't get stuck in the old mindset of calories in calories out. That's why you are trying keto, because of how different it is. Keto is more of a Ratio life style. To lose weight, we restrict our carbs, to maintain, we increase until we stop losing weight. It's a complete mind f*** for a lot of folks. And people run into problems when they combine both calorie restriction with ratio control. It's one or the other, not both. Even I still have a hard time with that concept. When I restrict my calories too much, my weight loss on keto STALLS!
And one more thing, I believe you said earlier that you are very restrictive on your carbs also, below 20? A lot of people stay in Keto up to 50 grams. Maybe upping your carbs to 20-25 grams wouldn't be a bad thing. Each or our organs can be selective in its uptake or resistance of glucose. So even though your blood glucose level may be normal on 15 grams of carbs, maybe your brain would function just a bit better on 20 or 25. Now, this is going really deep into neuroscience, and I could go on and on lol.
Good luck!0 -
Thank you both for responding.
I drink like 12 cups or more water per day esp. when I work out.
I've increased my Calories now and I'm stopping my cardio exercise for now until I figure things out.
I went to see a doctor yesterday to get checked as I was still having a heart palpitation and shortness of breath the whole day. I even had upped my sodium intake and potassium but no luck. They gave me an ECG testing and an Xray and they didn't find anything wrong. I think I just need to take an easy for now and eat more calories. Maybe I'm lacking some nutrients.0 -
I'm glad you went to your doc. I hope they drew labs along with the ecg and x ray. Please update us on how you feel! It sucks when you try to improve your life, and then things go wrong.
Best wishes
Nina0 -
Thank you.
They checked my blood for everything including my electrolytes. The doctor said that maybe it's just from stress. I'm assuming that it must be from my cardio workout because I do push ups jumping jacks, etc . I was also doing the 30 day shred cardio workout.0 -
I've recently begun supplementing magnesium citrate. I was getting tons of Na and K but still felt crappy/had legs cramps at night. The mag cit has helped A LOT.0
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I had the same/similar thing last week
At first, I thought it was keto-related and then thought maybe stress/anxiety caused it, but after 4 days of it, went to dr.
for EKG and chest x-ray and blood work and he found my white blood cell count was really low and determined virus caused it. I've since spoken with about 4-5 other people who also experienced this lately and all were determined to be viruses. It went away after about 5 days
Not sure if it's related to your situation or not, but thought I'd throw it out there.0 -
I had the same/similar thing last week
At first, I thought it was keto-related and then thought maybe stress/anxiety caused it, but after 4 days of it, went to dr.
for EKG and chest x-ray and blood work and he found my white blood cell count was really low and determined virus caused it. I've since spoken with about 4-5 other people who also experienced this lately and all were determined to be viruses. It went away after about 5 days
Not sure if it's related to your situation or not, but thought I'd throw it out there.
This year has SUCKED for viruses! Though most of the people I encounter have had the nasty one that has lasted for 3 weeks, myself included. Ugh, it really did put a damper on my routine. I laid back, and took it slow with the workouts, not much in cardio or strength. Not much you can do but relax and rule out any other any other conditions. What has made it worse, that a lot of people are testing low in vitamin D (bad for immunity). It's hard to get that in the winter, and this winter in my area has been especially hard. Praying for more sun so I can soak up some more vitamin D!0 -
I gave up working out, upped my sodium, potassium and my calories to at least 2,000 or so but I'm still getting the heart palpitation and shortness of breath at night. It usually happens at night. I give up!0
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For now, the only thing you can do is wait for results from blood work and rest. That's not giving up :-)0
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I've got the blood work results 2 hrs after they did the ECG Xray and took some blood samples.They didn't find anything wrong. I agree with you, I think I need to relax for now. I've been doing lots of breathing exercise and for the first time I did an exercise again to be positive but just Hatha yoga to take it easy and last night I didn't get any fast heartbeat. Hope for the best.0
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What was your sodium level in the blood?0
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Sodium level was 137.07mmol
Potassium was 4.02 mmol0 -
Its almost border line, I am at 135 in sodium levels. I get dizzy in the nights on days of high intensity work outs or when I don't get enough sodium. Those high intensity work outs are rare for me though.0
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I've recently begun supplementing magnesium citrate. I was getting tons of Na and K but still felt crappy/had legs cramps at night. The mag cit has helped A LOT.
This. You require Magnesium for your body to utilize potassium. You can load yourself with 3 times the potassium you need and still be suffering from low potassium without it.
You don't need to get Magnesium citrate but make sure whatever supplement you get it ends in "ate" Do not get Oxide.0
