Insomnia worse with reduced carbs
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Well, the addition of a new medication yesterday put me into overdrive. Not sleeping much at all anyway, and then a night with not one single minute of sleep, with a racing heart. I can't function. Can't even drive.
I think I may have to abandon this for now until my sleep is better.0 -
What's your sodium intake like? You might actually be deficient. Insomnia/sleep disturbance is a common symptom of straight-up deficiency (I actually deal with this with my son). Try some salty broth throughout the day and especially before bed and see if anything changes.1
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tinywonder25 wrote: »I've read some studies that suggest the natural sleep cycle for humans is a first sleep and a second sleep with appx an 1 1/2 -3 hours of wakefulness.
I sleep naturally this way most nights. I'll wake up anywhere between 2:30 - 4:00. If I try to fall back asleep I end up just tossing and turning and frustrating myself to no end. I belong to a 24hr gym so have been getting up, heading to the gym for an hour or so and coming back home. There's still some time before I'll need to get ready for work so most times I'll lay on my bed and listen to a book or some soothing music and let myself dose before I get for my day. It feels like a nice little cat nap.
And melatonin and magnesium and any of those supplements that say they are supposed to help with sleep always do the EXACT opposite for me. I don't dare touch them.
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Well, the addition of a new medication yesterday put me into overdrive. Not sleeping much at all anyway, and then a night with not one single minute of sleep, with a racing heart. I can't function. Can't even drive.
I think I may have to abandon this for now until my sleep is better.
I'm not a doctor, so you may want to toss this advice in the trash. My personal opinion is that the cocktail of prescriptions you've been served is doing more harm than good. I would opt for trashing the pills, and concentrate on fueling your body with real food.2 -
Well, my first step is to ditch the new medication until I'm sleeping better. That much is plain. I know that I need the medication, but T3 is very active and I need to introduce it more slowly somehow.
I wasn't planning on giving up the lowered carb aspects of this, but rather the losing weight attempt. I've been keeping my total carbs down to around 60 per day. I thought that would be high enough to stop the insomnia, but clearly not.
I will try more salt. That's one of the things that gets recommended for adrenal insufficiency, which I know I have. I have the nice pink Himalayan salt, and I also have some potassium pills, but they are low dose. Bone broth requires chickens. I can buy chickens.
As for trashing the prescriptions -- I can't. I have Hashimoto's thyroiditis, and it has to be treated. I am post-menopausal, and my insomnia has been going on for 10 years. My symptoms have turned my life into a living hell. Without the progesterone, sleep will never be on my horizon. What I need to do is find the balance in thyroid, hormones, and adrenals. It's tough.0 -
Do you know you actually need energy to sleep? I suffer from ME/CFS and my doctor told me this is the reason people who suffer this must not overdo things. You have to find your "wall" and not go beyond it. Insomnia is a very strange thing and can be brought on by many things including excess excersize, stress, worry etc. If you have tried many things, I would say take several days to completely do the bare minimum and see how it goes... I do find personally that low carbing makes me feel much better in general, but doesn't give me excess energy... I still need to take things steady.0
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I've read that when this happens, sometimes it helps to eat the majority of your carbs in your last meal of the day. I was worried about it, because I tend to have bouts of insomnia anyway, but so far it hasn't been an issue. I did read up on it, however, just in case.
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Interestingly, last night I was about to dig into the salmon and potato pie my partner made when he announced that the sauce had flour in it. Since I'm not eating grains for a month, I decided just to eat a bit of the potato "crust" instead of the salmon. I actually managed to sleep a few hours. Maybe I should save my carbs for dinner.0
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Here's a fascinating and informative interview with a sleep scientist by Dr. Rhonda Patrick:
https://youtu.be/VhMjrWlWhLU 4 -
that's (so far) a really interesting interview, @RalfLott but his voice is so steady and calm I'm going to have to watch it during the day instead of in the middle of the night LOL.
I am curious to know if a person can become adapted to an altered circadian rhythm cycle and function ok or even well in their own (basically) "altered universe." I have Advance Sleep Phase Syndrome and short of some kind of intensive inpatient retraining situation, changing it is never going to happen - I'm just not dedicated enough nor do I have a strong enough desire or drive to change it - but I've largely adapted to it rather well; I wonder if any/some/all of the negatives they talk about in relation to not enough sleep/insomnia are mitigated at all in a case such as mine when I get adequate hours of sleep in a 24-hr period, but not at a "usual" time.
(I will fall asleep anywhere from 6-7pm most days, sleep 3-5 hours, and then nap at least once - often twice - during the day making up another 1.5-2 hours of sleep. It is certainly not ideal as far as living in a world that socializes at night LOL, but it works pretty well for me on a personal level!)1 -
@Phrick - Good luck getting through the video without.... er... zzzzzzzz.
Well, you do have some control over the types of light you're exposed to (sun's great, but you can add and filter out types of light in your environment).
I've always gravitated toward split-shift sleeping. But for all I know, it's not good for reducing insulin resistance or improving memory & cognition. Definitely something to try to get a better handle on!
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All interesting stuff. I'll have to watch that again when I'm more awake.
I do believe that at least part of my issue is electrolyte balance. I've been having a teaspoon of pink salt in water before bed, and my foot cramps are gone -- and I don't have to get up to pee as often in the night.2 -
I finally discovered something that works amazingly well for the keto insomnia for me. Saving 69 calories and taking a shot of Jameson 30 minutes before bed.
I'm not much of a drinker anyway. So pair that with keto's known alcohol amplifying effects, and I was knocked the hell out in very short order.
I also felt fantastic the next morning, which is the exact opposite of what I was expecting.7 -
I'm not a drinker, though a shot of booze at night sounds appealing.
I did sleep better on the night I ate a few bites of my partner's cheesecake when we were out for dinner. Since I'm only restricting my carbs to about 50 I might buy some fruit and eat half an apple or peach an hour before bed, and see how that goes. 0 -
O, wise mods, @baconslave @dragonwolf -
Some good tips here - an item for the LCD Launch Pad?
Thanks.1 -
Lauracoth:
Grains and potatoes and sugar put me practically in a coma all my life. I'm 60 now - doing keto, and have not eaten grains or potatoes, or sugar in 1 1/2 years and have more energy now than I did 50 years ago...and I've lost 110 pounds. For me those foods are life sappers. I can play around a little with dairy and veggies and still lose and have energy, but the three I mentioned ...instant deadzone.
Keep trying things out til you find what works for you.2 -
I think I'm over the worst of the insomnia from diet, now. I make sure to have a glass of salt water before bed, and that stops the constant getting up in the night and the foot cramps.
I long for more energy, but for now this will have to do. I'm also dealing with thyroid issues, so until those are resolved I'll be a bit on the slow side.0 -
A few sleep/wake hacks I've started using that are helping me lately. I'm hypothyroid, though, as you know, not Hashi's, @LauraCoth...
Using a sleep cycle app to wake me. It uses a 30 minute window prior to your "hard and fast" timer set to be woken. You keep the phone on the bed, and based on movements through the mattress, it determines when you're in deep sleep or light sleep or awake/tossing/turning. It will only wake you during light sleep or at the end of the timer. I generally dread the idea of getting up with up to 30 minutes less sleep, but when you get woken in light sleep, it's far easier to be alert and functional than groggy. I use the "Sleep Cycle" app for Android. I forget what the one for iPhone is called (@Sunny_Bunny_ might recall).
I also use a single meditation track to help me fall asleep. I don't use it for meditation, and I only use it for this. It's a free app that has a timer on it, so I pair it with the sleep cycle app above. It also helps me get back to sleep quick after having to get up to use the bathroom or waking from either a bad or restless dream.
After listening to the diabetes and thyroid summits lately, I've incorporated a daylight lamp for 30 minutes as soon as I can in the morning, and at 3 pm for 30 minutes. Doing this allows the body to naturally increase cortisol at those times to comply with naturally circadian rhythms. This ties in with cortisol naturally tapering and melatonin naturally rising to put you in the proper timing for good sleep. Since we've both got thyroid issues, we should NEVER stay up past that first point of getting drowsy (emergencies excepting). That is melatonin kicking in and telling us to go to bed. If we get a "second wind," that's another dose of cortisol, and it's generally 5 hours give or take before it starts to wear off, so even if you can get to sleep at that point, it won't be good sleep!!!
Taking high doses of D3 with K2 and magnesium, alternated 12 hours with A (preferably with E to balance). The D3/K2 helps energize the body (along with B-Complex in the am)...and the A interferes with D, so taking it about 12 hours offset really helps...
Carbing up slightly (as mentioned above) at dinner. I feel best at keto levels in the am, near keto levels at lunch, and basic low carb levels at dinner. I found out that going hard keto really had a bad effect on my thyroid function, and I'm still recovering from it, 12-18 months later. I LOVE LOVE LOVE keto, so keeping keto for breakfast and mostly at lunch is helpful, and getting a bit more carbs at night really helps balance this all out.
Blue light filters trigger daylight/cortisol responses, so putting filters on anything you use up to 3-4 hours before bed really helps.
That's all I can think of offhand, but I know I'm missing at least one thing...so I'll add back in later.
Oh, and this is worth a read as far as the l-tryptophan, etc.
http://carbsyndrome.com/is-your-brain-two-quarts-low/
Started with a similar protocol (the 5-htp and tyrosine together triggered carb cravings that seem to be muted with the l-glutamine)...and only a couple days in...will advise down the road.2 -
So - adjusting my thyroid medication to two doses daily instead of one, plus adding in the extra T3 every other day has got me sleeping pretty well. The only thing waking me up too early now is foot cramps, so I'll adjust my salt intake a bit more.1
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@KnitOrMiss - Thanks for those tips!
Phinney recommends spreading smaller doses of magnesium over the course of the day, with the last one shortly before bedtime, in order to avoid nocturnal leg cramps. Any thoughts?
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