Considering Atkins, but on HCTZ
capecodder13
Posts: 9 Member
I have been reading a little about the Atkins diet after my daughter had spectacular results on it. I gather from what I've read that following the diet while on antihypertensive med (in my case hydrochlorothiazide) may not give me the greatest result in weight loss, or may bottom out my BP. My other complication is that I am on thyroid replacement hormones (since thyroidectomy for thyroid cancer) and have been on a roller coaster with my TSH which was only 0.215 a couple of weeks ago and I've since had a medication adjustment and waiting for it to kick in. Has anyone tried this diet while on HCTZ, and what were your results?
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Low carb may quite likely normalize your BP and you may not need the medication anymore.
This would only be decided by your doctor and you, of course. It is important to keep an eye on BP as you go. It may not take very long at all to start seeing improvement. Or it may not happen. Who knows. But the possibility is very real. And you'll want to be able to check it easily on your own and contact your doctor to discuss medication dosage adjustments as needed.
But, it's certainly no reason to avoid low carb. More so a reason to do it.0 -
Hi @capecodder13 definitely discuss with your doc and make sure you have a home blood pressure monitor.
I was also taking a diuretic along with 3 other bp pills when I started eating this way. Eating a very low carb diet causes you to lose a lot of fluid, so many people eating this way have to supplement their sodium quite significantly. However, I found that the best way for me to address the fluid loss was to stop taking my diuretic instead of taking sodium pills or drinking a ton of broth. Though I do still have some days when I have some soup or tamari to increase my sodium, but it's not a daily thing for me as my body already retains more fluid than most people.
Hopefully your medical team will work with you on this. Be your own advocate, dont let them bully you, remember that it's ultimately your body and your choice, so be firm in your resolve and tell them you want them to find a way to work with you through this, even if it's a daily or weekly phone call to the nurse with your bp numbers.
I'm 120 days in now and my doc is ready to take me off another one of my pills on my next visit! This way of eating can be really great for high bp.0 -
HCTZ is a combination of Lisinopril (the blood pressure medication, and Hydrochlorathyazide (the diuretic portion). The Lisinopril can be prescribed without the diuretic. I had my Dr switch me to the plain Lisinopril after beginning keto, because the diuretic would not be needed anymore. I continued the Lisinopril for about a month, then haven't needed it anymore since about last August, after beginning this woe last April.
My blood pressure dropped significantly with this woe very quickly. I actually passed out from an orthostatic (when blood pressure drops from getting up from a supine position too quickly) event before I finally stopped the medication. But, my doctor knew I would be stopping it. I still take my blood pressure regularly (last night it was 108/76) so I can show the doctor how it's doing between check ups too (they like that stuff!
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You need to monitor your blood pressure so you have data for the physician to use to regulate the medication for you. This woe will change things, for the better, for you, and usually the changes happen pretty quick with strict adherence to the plan!
Best of luck!
I apologize for not having any advice on the thyroid issues, but some here have been successful with this woe while having thyroid issues! Hugs!0 -
Thank you all for your input! I've decided to go forward and give it a shot, all the while monitoring my blood pressure daily. If it seems to drop, I'll give the doc a call for her advice. I am on hydrochlorothiazide alone and I'd love to drop that from my daily regimen. Paleo...did you drop your diuretic on your own or with docs knowlege, and also was your initial weight loss on diuretic fast or slow? Thanks you guys!0
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Hi @capecodder13 my doc situation is a little weird. I'm still in touch with my GP in the US and we had a conversation about it before I cut the carbs way down and he provided guidance about how to taper off my bp regimen if I found it dropping with my new diet changes. I just changed docs here in the UK recently and told her what I'd done and she was really supportive and is working with me to drop another pill soon.
I chose to stop taking my diuretic 3 days in, after my bp had plummeted to 75/40, which was very scary. But I take 3 other bp pills, so it wasn't really that drastic for me to stop the diuretic under the circumstances.
Not sure how my weight loss was in the beginning, didn't step on a scale during the first two weeks. I'm a T2 diabetic and my main goal was reducing insulin in the beginning as that was preventing my weight loss. Happy to say I cut the insulin by 90% in the first month and the weight fell too. I'm still losing steadily.0 -
Ask your physician first, review your labs (electrolytes mostly). HCTZ dose matters as well, 25mg/day being the max effective; an alternative dosing strategy mainly used with loop diuretics is dosing 4 days on, 3 days off to prevent breaking tolerance (works better long term due to lack of decompensation mechanisms/reabsorption in various regions of the kidney). Hypovolemia signs and symptoms are your monitoring parameters: BP drop, dizziness, faintness, etc.
HCTZ is a very weak diuretic (stronger than caffeine but weaker than your loop diuretics) due to location of activity in the distal convoluted tubule and said compensation mechanisms that occur before reaching the DCT.
Ironically, carbonic Anhydrase inhibitors (which cause metabolic acidosis) have a transient diuretic effect analogous to the metabolic acidosis from ketosis. These only persist temporarily...or frequently if you are 1 of those yo-yo low carbers.
Your TSH is borderline hyperthyroid state; I think this is the primary issue to discuss/correct with your GP before changing your diuretic regimen...especially if this is secondary HTN. T3/T4 dose may be too high; can take up to 6 weeks to evaluate the effects from a dose change...this may correct the HTN if dosed too high on T3/T40
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