Hi all.
I'm curious about something I experienced this weekend, and wondered if anybody else who has tried the keto diet had similar experiences.
Saturday marked day 7 for me. I noticed a surge in ketones in the blood, my test strips were showing 4mmol - moderate ketone levels.
For some reason I started to feel irritable and 'tight' by Saturday evening. Wasn't feeling anxious, just 'tight'. Later on I was watching a film with my son and I noticed my heart was beating a bit hard and fast (over 90bpm). Again, no anxiety, just felt off. By bedtime, it had started to kick off a bit. My heart rate was now over 100bpm, and to cut a long story short it stayed over 100bpm all night, spiking hard if I got up to pee etc. Again, no anxiety or panic involved, although by this point my brain had started the 'what if' rituals.
I have been reading that going into ketosis can spike cortisol pretty hard, and I'm putting it down to that. I'm feeling that I have a 'body memory' of what stress feels like, and my body was perceiving the stress of ketosis a long time before I was.
I had to pull myself out of ketosis on Sunday, and low and behold things went back to normal.
I want to try it again (annoying as you can't switch ketosis on and off), but it's not sustainable for me to experience that kind of symptom (tightness, rapid heart beat) for a prolonged period of time. Even Mr know it all here has limits....
Anybody else gone through a similar experience?
Edit - I'm pretty sure I'm on top of electrolytes, but it's possible I still wasn't taking enough. Potassium in particular is easy to be cautious with because of the warnings on supplement bottles.
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