Low Carb and Anxiety
 

Okay, I will admit I have panic disorder and take medication to keep it under control. I have noticed, since I have been on low carb, my physical anxiety has increased (nervous feeling in pit of stomach, etc.). This isn't a mental anxiety and isn't related to my worries or concerns about dieting - I know the difference because I am a therapist. It seems biochemical in nature. Has anyone else noticed this? I am wondering if detoxing from carbs is messing with my biochemistry.

I noticed I was much more relaxed on low carb, with almost no anxiety. I think my anxiety was blood blood sugar induced though.

Granted my chronic stomach pain can get really bad though.

Yes, you are "detoxing" and both New Atkins For a New You and Wheat Belly address the significant changes in the first few weeks for you: "If you have been eating lots of poor-quality carbohydrates..it may take some time for your body to adjust. ...You may feel emotionally bereft" (p 95) They then launch into a full page on the importance of sodium in the biochemical process. Believe you have had this advice to add salt already but unbalanced water/electrolytes/minerals may also impact that anxious feeling in your stomach.

Dr. Davis recommends some nutritional supplements to help you through the transistion: http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/2013/...at-elimination/

Giving up sugar and grains at the same time is a huge adjustment. Do not underestimate this process.
I think Dr. Michael Eades wrote the best article ever about the first weeks of LC and how your "factory" is being re-tooled. Very funny and brilliant.
First of two parts here:
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/...-low-carb-pt-i/

How long have you been LCing?

Give a little extra salt a try. If, as frequently happens, one's electrolytes get messed up due to losing lots of sodium, it could affect your heart rate and feel like anxiety.

Let us know if it helps!

Magnesium can be very calming. They even make a supplement called Natural Calm.

I think that if you can get adjusted to low carb and solidly in ketosis, you will feel a sense of well being and happiness. I didn't realize how depressed I was until I suddenly wasn't after losing the carbs.

Beth

I highly recommend The Diet Cure by Julia Ross. The Diet Cure book/program was very helpful to me when I first started low-carbing years ago. Ross recommends *non drug* solutions to help correct imbalances which lead to particular food cravings and mood swings. Instead, she recommends nutritional supplements, especially amino acids. Her work is well-researched, and the book includes an extensive list of scientific references.

Ross has another book, called The Mood Cure. This one might be more relevant to your current concern :idea:. I haven't read the book yet, but the website has a lot of good information, including an interactive questionnaire which you might find helpful. I've just reserved a copy from my local library, so hopefully will be reading it in the next few days :).

For the record, Ross's diet recommendation is "a high-protein, healthy-fat, veggie-rich diet". Looks like low-carb to me ;)


hth :rose:

Doreen

I asked how long you've been LC because sometimes it takes 2-3 months for your body to get used to the way you're eating. So if you've not been doing it very long, give it some more time.

I have really bad depression and anxiety problems and when I started LC my depression got better but my anxiety got way worse. I added more carbs (45g total - not net - on most days) and I stopped having anxiety attacks every time I tried to leave the house.
After a while I tried cold therapy (taking a cold bath everyday) and it helped my anxiety without the added carbs. I know it sounds torturous, and I'm sure not many people want to go that route, but I just wanted to tell you what worked for me.

Hi David,

Many people don't realize how important their stomach and their digestive system is in relation to other bodily systems. How our stomach "feels" can and does have a huge impact on our emotional being far more than many people have thought although thankfully science is catching up with many of the ancient practices and wisdom that did understand this, ancient Chinese medicine being at the forefront of that understanding.

I don't know about you but I was a comfort-eater. Secretly many men are which if that was the case for you, then you have in essence taken away your comfy blanket so it shouldn't be too much of a surprise to find that you are feeling more anxious about not having the food that you used to rely on to give you comfort and as a therapist you would know exactly that the body will follow precisely our inner thoughts, hopes and aspirations far more exactly than our rational conscious decisions.

One of the best ways around this is to make sure that you have a big enough reason "why" you want a new body as it were and give yourself a profound set of goals.

Hope that helps,

Mark

I dealt with anxiety while my body adjusted to low carb. As someone else mentioned, depression became a non-issue and that was a plus.

Low blood sugar causes anxiety and other symptoms (cravings, confusion, "diet brain"). You might have some degree of hyperinsulinism/insulin resistance, you could read up on that. If you think you might, count very carefully how many grams of carb you get at a meal and note if you have low blood sugar symptoms afterward-- if you overdo the carbs, you get too much insulin and then a low blood sugar episode. Atkins helps you figure out how many carbs are too many by "climbing the carb ladder" but you can figure it out also just by noting post-meal moods.

Some of us produce insulin when we use fake sugars, or even think about eating something yummy (or smell it), and that will lead to low blood sugar.

My blood sugar tends to run lowish for a day when I'm working hard on WL and am about to see a drop at the scale. If this is why I have it, I try to tolerate the edge of anxiety as long as I'm functional. I refer to this as "the MEAN hunger!" Actually, I'm having a day of it today. I will really like getting on the scale tomorrow.

Since I'm convinced that bad carbs are addictive, I liken giving them up to giving up any addictive drug. My daughter has recently given up smoking ((I wish I could) and she's going thru a rather "anxious" stage at the moment - well a grumpy stage and is finding it hard. She has taken to knitting to try to alleviate her moods and restlessness!!!

Jo xxx

Oh I felt horrible my first few weeks. My heart was racing at night and I couldn't concentrate at all. My work suffered. People on this forum recommended drinking broth and it helped a lot. I also took my multivitamin faithfully (I had been haphazard before). It all balanced out, although I never did get the sense of well being. I never got to ketosis but eating fewer carbs and improving the quality of what carbs I do eat allowed for weight loss. Good luck!