Problems with heat Keto related?
DietPrada
Posts: 1,171 Member
Let me just preface by saying I've ridden horses for 30+ years, rain hail or shine, including in the middle of summer and never had a problem with the heat.
Yesterday morning was moderately hot, 31 degrees (88F). We rode for our normal hour and a half. I was hotter than usual pretty much the whole time. By the time we got back I was shakey and nauseous and could barely lift my arms. I had to sit in the shade and drink water before I had recovered enough to even unsaddle my horse. This has NEVER happened to me before. I drink plenty of water every day, and I hadn't sweated much on the ride, and yet it seemed I was dangerously dehydrated. To the point where I drank about 4 litres of water throughout the afternoon and didn't pee once. I also had a splitting headache and weakness in my muscles. Even today my neck, shoulders and upper arms are weak and aching. I have no explanation as to what happened, I'm otherwise healthy. My gut tells me it's Keto related though, something to do with the fact that no matter how much water I drink it seems to just go straight through. Something to do with the fact that when you eat Keto you lose all that "water weight".
Whatever it was, it was scary. I very nearly ended up in hospital (would have it my partner had any say in it).
Yesterday morning was moderately hot, 31 degrees (88F). We rode for our normal hour and a half. I was hotter than usual pretty much the whole time. By the time we got back I was shakey and nauseous and could barely lift my arms. I had to sit in the shade and drink water before I had recovered enough to even unsaddle my horse. This has NEVER happened to me before. I drink plenty of water every day, and I hadn't sweated much on the ride, and yet it seemed I was dangerously dehydrated. To the point where I drank about 4 litres of water throughout the afternoon and didn't pee once. I also had a splitting headache and weakness in my muscles. Even today my neck, shoulders and upper arms are weak and aching. I have no explanation as to what happened, I'm otherwise healthy. My gut tells me it's Keto related though, something to do with the fact that no matter how much water I drink it seems to just go straight through. Something to do with the fact that when you eat Keto you lose all that "water weight".
Whatever it was, it was scary. I very nearly ended up in hospital (would have it my partner had any say in it).
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How's your sodium intake?0
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Salt, potassium, and magnesium. You're definitely not getting enough
electrolytes. It's even more dangerous when you drink a lot of water because then you're diluting what little electrolytes you currently have and that's already an insufficient amount.
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I immediately thought of sodium too. I get like that when sodium is low. Drinking more could make it worse.
Could it maybe be a mild cold or flu?
I also get that from reactive hypoglycemia from when I was eating higher carbs and riding the blood glucose roller coaster. I don't think that applies to you.
Feel better!0 -
nomochi4mimi wrote: »Salt, potassium, and magnesium. You're definitely not getting enough
electrolytes. It's even more dangerous when you drink a lot of water because then you're diluting what little electrolytes you currently have and that's already an insufficient amount.
@EbonyDahlia I would go with this thought on your case. I worked a lot this summer clearing and putting in a huge gravel parking lot at our church with an Aug 8th conference date hanging over me so I worked a lot in the heat of the day in July. After 4 hours I would weight 4 pounds less some days. If not careful I could get like you. After I added a good potassium/magnesium supplement it really helped me in the heat as well as no leg cramps on waking. Someone here mentioned Source Naturals K-MAG Aspartate tables. I just order 6 more of 120 count bottles. They are large but I can swallow them OK or sometimes I just crush them with my molars. The price is right and they have like a 3-4 year expiration date.0 -
Yep all good points except I have loads of salt, I mean a generous grinding of pink salt on everything, and I take a magnesium/potassium supplement daily. Have done for the last 2 years. So that's definitely not the problem.GaleHawkins wrote: »nomochi4mimi wrote: »Salt, potassium, and magnesium. You're definitely not getting enough
electrolytes. It's even more dangerous when you drink a lot of water because then you're diluting what little electrolytes you currently have and that's already an insufficient amount.
@EbonyDahlia I would go with this thought on your case. I worked a lot this summer clearing and putting in a huge gravel parking lot at our church with an Aug 8th conference date hanging over me so I worked a lot in the heat of the day in July. After 4 hours I would weight 4 pounds less some days. If not careful I could get like you. After I added a good potassium/magnesium supplement it really helped me in the heat as well as no leg cramps on waking. Someone here mentioned Source Naturals K-MAG Aspartate tables. I just order 6 more of 120 count bottles. They are large but I can swallow them OK or sometimes I just crush them with my molars. The price is right and they have like a 3-4 year expiration date.
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There may be something else going on that may or may not be keto related. I hope you find the cause soon.0
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EbonyDahlia wrote: »Yep all good points except I have loads of salt, I mean a generous grinding of pink salt on everything
It's easy to overestimate your intake if you're just adding salt to your food. Phinney and Volek recommend 5g/d of sodium. That's about 2 tsps of salt. It's hard to get that much from a grinder.
You rode for 90 minutes in the heat. I can lose about 1 liter of sweat by running 30 minutes.
So ketosis will cause you to lose lots of sodium. The more ketones you make, the more sodium you lose.
Exercise will increase your ketone production.
Sweating in the heat will cause you to lose both sodium and water.
By drinking 4 liters of water, you further diluted your sodium concentration.
When your sodium concentration is low, you lose water from your blood to increase the sodium concentration.
That results in low blood volume (not necessarily low blood pressure).
And that results in the symptoms you experienced.
It's an easy experiment to verify. Simply eat something VERY salty, like broth -- about 1g of sodium per serving.
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I should clarify the grinder salt is added salt on top of the stock powder I use and the salty foods I eat. I have alot of olives, danish feta, pickles, bacon etc all which are high in salt. I honestly seriously doubt that salt is an issue. Also, as mentioned, I didn't sweat much. I mean hardly at all other than maybe a bit under my helmet. I did however feel very hot and very thirsty, almost from the get go. I appreciate everyone's suggestions, but salt wasn't something I consider an issue as I have plenty. It's more like I was dehydrated before I started and hadn't realised, and I'm trying to work out why when I drink a good amount of water every day, not too much but certainly alot more than I used to drink pre-keto. And yet I never had a problem before.0
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You're in South Africa, right? Check out a great book from your fellow countryman Tim Noakes:
Waterlogged
It'll explain thirst as well as sodium. In terms of understanding the water loss associated with ketosis, pretty much all you need to remember is "water follows sodium."0 -
You're in South Africa, right? Check out a great book from your fellow countryman Tim Noakes:
Waterlogged
It'll explain thirst as well as sodium. In terms of understanding the water loss associated with ketosis, pretty much all you need to remember is "water follows sodium."
As it follows carbs?0 -
GaleHawkins wrote: »You're in South Africa, right? Check out a great book from your fellow countryman Tim Noakes:
Waterlogged
It'll explain thirst as well as sodium. In terms of understanding the water loss associated with ketosis, pretty much all you need to remember is "water follows sodium."
As it follows carbs?
I'm not really sure what that means. If you mean glycogen, then it's a bit different. 3:1 water:glycogen. 300:1 water:sodium. I.e., water follows glycogen a little, but mostly it follows sodium.
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Yes wabmester that was what I was talking about.0
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Australia, not South Africa0
