Lighter periods with keto/low carb?
leeshaah
Posts: 13
I've had pcos since I was 11 (i'm 31 now. woohoo.) and I have notoriously heavy periods. I've woken up in puddles of my own blood on a few occasions while wearing one of those huge overnight pads. I've even had to resort to using adult diapers when my flow was extremely heavy.
I've just started doing low carb again because I was tired of having a cyst burst every month or every other month before I got my period. Within 2 days of being on low carb my period started.
So that got my wondering, the longest I've done low carb is about 2 or 3 months. Has anyone seen any distinct difference in their flow doing long term low carb?
I've just started doing low carb again because I was tired of having a cyst burst every month or every other month before I got my period. Within 2 days of being on low carb my period started.
So that got my wondering, the longest I've done low carb is about 2 or 3 months. Has anyone seen any distinct difference in their flow doing long term low carb?
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I haven't personally experienced it (not directly, anyway, too many other factors), and I don't know how low carb you are, but I know the ladies in the keto groups have found their periods altered with the ketogenic levels of low carb (under 50g carbs and usually 70%+ calories in fat). You might want to check out the keto and low carb groups here and on Reddit (/r/xxketo for the woman-specific board) for more responses on this topic.0
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I'm doing 25g or less a day of carbs. My period this time is actually lighter than it usually is and it's way shorter. Instead of a 7-8 day ordeal it's been.. 4 days? And light enough that I can wear regular pads. I'm thinking about switching to a moon cup if next month is like this.0
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Changing your diet dramatically will change your periods... when I was young I became vegetarian for a while (terrible idea but I didn't know any better, oops) and I had a lot of changes then too. I can't do keto because it seems to mess up my heart rate, not sure why. It goes really low. Not sure what I'm doing wrong or what underlying issue is going on but its' sufficiently scary to keep me from trying it again.0
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This is my 3rd time going low carb. Worst side effects I've had are hair loss if I don't get enough carbs. But I did a juice fast for 2 weeks and It happened then too. And that was technically high carb. I think the hair loss thing is more an issue of extreme diet change and possibly detoxing. I usually quit whenever I see too much hair coming out in the shower. You don't have to jump right into low carb though. You can step down gradually. I jumped right in because I'm used to the ketosis symptoms. You might have an underlying medical issue that makes the diet dangerous for you. Keto flu is normal if you don't step down gradually. I didn't actually go through it too much this time around. I think maybe because I've done it before, maybe my body has an easier time switching over to producing ketones. *shrugs*0
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I do LCHF and Met and Inositol. The LCHF has had the most impact on me as far as periods go. Mine used to be horrid! Up to 11 days, heavy, clotty, overflowed a few times a day, etc. After changing my diet, along with Met and Inositol, I am now at about 5 days, no overflow, no clots, no pain, etc.
The carbs can mess with your insulin and estrogen so makes your uterine lining much thicker. This also adds to the cancer risk so it is good if you can get your hormones and insulin at the right levels.0
