I occasionally see posts from people who start having problems with feeling bad at some point during their keto journey. Inevitably, the answer I see is, "Make sure you're getting enough electrolytes." Yes, that's likely true, but nobody ever seems to explain that some bizarre problems that don't SEEM like electrolyte issues can pop up. I'm just posting this to help anyone out who is having some similar problems.
Case in point: I started keto the first week of August, specifically to help control my reactive hypoglycemia, and it worked brilliantly--AND I was losing weight, which was practically miraculous. By mid-October, though, I started having some anxiety issues. I chalked them up to what was going on in my life at the time (unexpected run-in with a bat that resulted in rabies shots, getting sick, falling and injuring my knee, among other things), but it kept getting worse. Worse to the point that Xanax wouldn't even touch it. Then the nighttime hypoglycemia started. Then it got worse. I was waking up drenched in sweat, starving, headache, nausea, heart pounding, muscles cramping. All my daytime energy was declining, too. I checked and rechecked to make sure I was getting enough of everything. I was. Since I was having headaches, I upped my salt a bit more. No change. I supplemented a little extra potassium. No change. I upped my water intake and thought that was the answer--it helped some for a few days, then back to square one. Things progressed to me starving all the time again, and getting severely nauseated and headachey every time I ate. Finally, I gave in and ate some carbs. Felt a good bit better. It frustrated me because I really didn't think this was a carb issue, but I upped my carb intake for a few weeks while I tried to figure this all out. Of course, all my leg swelling and body pain came raging back. I was barely able to move in the mornings when I woke up, something I have battled for years that keto almost completely fixed. I was still getting a headache and nausea when I ate, and I was still a bit anxious, but it wasn't Code Red level, at least.
And then I remembered something--the last time I had unexplained anxiety like that was back several years ago when my magnesium bottomed out...and my potassium dropped. So I decided to try what fixed it back then--I got a big bottle of low-sodium V8 and chugged it. Drank the whole thing in 24 hours. And for the first time in months...no anxiety. No hypoglycemia the next night. A few days later, it started creeping back in...so more V8. And once again, problem solved.
tl;dr The daily minimum for potassium isn't nearly enough for me. And it may not be enough for you. If you're getting sick on keto, DON'T GIVE UP! Listen to your body and play around with electrolytes and water intake until you figure it out. For me, low potassium means anxiety and hypoglycemia. Low sodium results in super sleepiness (not getting out of bed for two or three days kinda sleepiness) and headaches. If I'm feeling weird and slightly faint, that means I'm either not getting enough salt, enough water, or both. Symptoms vary for everyone.
These symptoms can vary with everyone, and I know not everyone is going to have the issues that my very picky body has had (we won't even talk about me drinking too much water, and also letting my sodium get too low about a thousand times...). But I felt my experience was worth sharing.
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