Sometimes I don't eat for a while because I don't feel hungry... But then if I get up suddenly I feel lightheaded, like I am about to faint. My blood pressure is normal, I am pretty strong and athletic.... Could it be hypoglycemia? I am mostly in ketosis and my normal blood sugar at the doctor's is in the 80s.

Does anyone else get lightheaded?

It sounds like you are not getting enough salts - sodium, potassium & magnesium. The first two are cheaply available in table salt and NoSalt (or half salt mixes) on your food or in some water, the Mg from a supplement.

Yeah, it's fairly normal. I've had it since long before I was a LCer. It's more noticeable when I'm actively restricting/losing weight, any time I've drastically cut processed foods (ie salt) and at TOM when I'm rapidly losing all of the water weight I put on at PMS time. I've just gotten used to getting up slowly, all the time, just to be safe.

It has multiple contributing factors like the salts/electrolytes, but in general, it's low blood pressure. It's known as orthostatic hypotension if you want to google it. Your blood pressure might have been normal at last check, but it varies, and standing up suddenly can really make it dip.

My issues are the missing salt/potassium. Are you also getting Charlie horses, muscle cramps? Lack of potassium!

Drink broth, take about 1/2 tsp of mix of salt & potassium twice a day, and see if you don't feel better quickly.

Thanks! I will try upping the magnesium and potassium. (I do already take them but in small doses). Can't up my salt intake just now... For two weeks, I am on a low iodine diet in preparation for radiation therapy for my thyroid cancer. I could use potassium salt though. I will ask for K and Mg levels to be tested the next time I have a blood test.

Hymalian salt has no iodine.. that's what I mix with the Nu Salt (potassium). I store it in little dressing cups with lids and scoop out a tsp and chug with cold water.

The shakes, dizziness and cramps have gone away.

It's mind blowing how much salt your body got eating processed foods, then going LCHF is like nothing.

For the record, blood electrolyte levels don't really reflect whether or not your intake is sufficient (or in excess.) They're more a test of kidney function and such. Your body works to keep those in homeostasis - balanced - like your body temperature. To compare it to body temp, it would be like using a test of your body temp to figure out if your furnace is working. Let's say it's a frigid winter day and your furnace breaks down. The house starts getting cold. You start feeling chilly, you shiver a bit, and curl up in a blanket. You're not a happy camper. But your body temp will still measure as normal, and yet your furnace is still broken. So for those electrolytes, they can test normal, but normal isn't necessarily optimal.

Best of luck.

Kristine -- Thanks -- but I am confused. Then what would reveal whether my intake is sufficient? Are these symptoms the indication? I think this is mostly happening when I've recently not eaten (as in several hours between meals, or overnight plus not eating till around noon).

I'm not Kristine, but yes, the symptoms are trying to tell you something. Also, if taking more K & Mg eliminates the symptoms, like most of us have found, it confirms the cause.