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  #1   ^
Old Sat, Feb-04-17, 02:29
Konflict Konflict is offline
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Plan: Paleo/Keto
Stats: 195/200/190 Male 5'9"
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Default Hormonal damage from going too low carb?

First off let me say I'm not longer following a low carb diet. In December I started a variation diet of paleo/anti Candida. I was barely eating any carbs....maybe 10-30 grams a day depending on what I ate, and was eating a huge amount of protein and fat. I'm a 30 year old male and was just looking to lose some extra pounds, clean my gut and just be healthier.

About a month into the diet (mid January) I started feeling really bad out of nowhere....fatigue, brain fog, anxiety, thin skin, feeling really cold. I continued the diet for about another week but my symptoms were progressing and new ones were popping up. Since then I've been having extreme bone/joint pain and cracking, very bad insomnia and constipation, my total body is dehydrated (everywhere) and I'm having excessive urination.

One strange thing about all this though is I didn't lose any weight or size on the diet, but now I'm looking very lean and trim as I've lost fat and water weight the past few weeks....but I feel like absolute hell. I've gained weight since stopping the diet but it seems like muscle and I haven't even worked out in 3 weeks.

I recently read about how going too low carb can cause thyroid/Aromatase/adrenal/genetic issues on some people....and I had already had hypothyroid issues in the past, as well as a family history of pituitary disorders. I'm not sure exactly what is going on and neither can doctors, all my blood work I recently took is in 'normal' range. A few weeks before the diet I had started taking vitamin E mixed tocopherols, a vitamin B complex for methylation, and vitamin k2. I'm really scared right now as is seems my body is literally falling apart and in pain 24/7.

I'm hoping anyone can shed some light on this? I didn't have much knowledge about side effects of low carb diets going into it...now I'm so confused and scared. Any info on the matter would be extremely appreciative.
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  #2   ^
Old Sat, Feb-04-17, 09:09
teaser's Avatar
teaser teaser is offline
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Posts: 15,075
 
Plan: mostly milkfat
Stats: 190/152.4/154 Male 67inches
BF:
Progress: 104%
Location: Ontario
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I'm not sure how you can have gained weight that seems like muscle, but seem to be dehydrated everywhere. Do you mean your skin is dry?

Fatigue and brain fog sounds a bit like keto-flu, but none of the rest does.

I don't think low carb generally causes any hormonal problems--maybe in people who are underweight, any diet used to maintain or force the body below a certain weight will have hormonal consequences. You can never rule out individual genetics causing a diet mismatch in some people.

Maybe a shot in the dark, but I wonder what your vitamin c intake was like during your short dip into low carb (and previous to it)? Vitamin c is one of the few deficiencies that could show up that quickly, and some of what you describe does fit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scurvy
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  #3   ^
Old Sat, Feb-04-17, 09:26
WereBear's Avatar
WereBear WereBear is offline
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Posts: 14,606
 
Plan: EpiPaleo/Primal/LowOx
Stats: 220/125/150 Female 67
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Progress: 136%
Location: USA
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In addition, I've seen people feel this bad because their electrolytes are out of balance. Sodium (salt) potassium (avocados) and magnesium (soak in Epsom salts) should be topped up, and then re-assess.
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  #4   ^
Old Sat, Feb-04-17, 16:08
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bevangel bevangel is offline
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Posts: 2,312
 
Plan: modified adkins (sort of)
Stats: 265/176/167 Female 68.5 inches
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Progress: 91%
Location: Austin, TX
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I'm sorry you feel like hell but I'm totally confused by what you've written.

You say you're severely dehydrated but also that you haven't lost any weight. Water weighs 8 pounds per gallon. When I let myself get even slightly dehydrated, I can easily notice a 1 to 2 pound weight loss. And drinking a quart of fluid - which I can easily do in one sitting - puts 2 pounds on me instantly. It HAS to because that's how much the fluid weighs.

You say you haven't lost any weight OR size but also say you look leaner and you think you've lost water and fat. Basically the human body is made up of bone, water (fluids) muscle cells and fat cells. If you think you've lost water and fat but you still weigh the same amount, the only possibilities are that you've added muscle cells or grown more bone. And the latter is highly unlikely. So, lets assume you've added some muscle cells.

Muscle is more dense than fat so, if you replace a given volume of fat with the same volume of muscle, you'll be the same size (volume) as before but you WILL weigh more.

If you replace a given mass (weight) of fat with the same mass of muscle, you will weigh the same thing as before but you WILL be smaller.

Sorry but the laws of physics say that it is impossible to remain both the same size and the same weight while replacing fat with muscle. Can't happen.

Its like, if you take a stretchy sock and fill it partially with with wiffle-golf balls and partially with real golf balls and then measure it size (volume) and weight. (Wiffle golf balls are those plastic balls with holes in them that are the same size as golf balls. Golfers use them to practice their golf swing.)

Now, take some of the whiffle-golf balls out and replace with them an equal volume of real golf balls. Since wiffle-golf balls and real golf balls are the same size, you would replace 1 for 1. Obviously, the sock will remain the same size but it will weigh more.

Conversely, if you take a bunch of wiffle-golf balls out and replace with an equal weight of golf balls, you'll only need about 1 real golf ball to replace about two dozen of the wiffle golf balls. Obviously, the sock will now weigh the same amount as before but it will be much smaller.

Take out a half-dozen wiffle balls and replace with a single real ball and the sock will be both smaller and heavier than before.

There is no way you can swap out any amount of wiffle balls for any amount of real golf balls and keep the sock weighing the same amount AND being the same size that it started out. The only way to have the sock be exactly the same size and weight that it started out is to keep exactly the same number of pingpong balls and golf balls that you started with.

As I said, I'm confused. Did you lose weight? Did you get even marginally smaller? Are you dehydrated? Do you look leaner and trimmer? What REALLY happened?

I'm also confused by your mention of having read somewhere that extreme low carb can cause Aromatase issues. Aromatase is an enzyme that catalyzes the production of estrogen from androgen. Women who STARVE themselves can, after a long period of starvation, inhibit aromatase so that they wind up with less estrogen...eventually with the noticable effect that they stop having periods. But a month of low carbing is definitely not going to have that effect. A month of totally starving usually won't if a woman is of normal weight to begin with. It takes a long period of anorexia nervosa for there to be any noticible inhibition of aromatase.

And, while men do have a small amount of aromatase, for a healthy male 30 year old male, inhibiting aromatase from producing estrogen for a month shouldn't have any dire health effects. It might possibly cause a very slight rise in your testosterone levels but probably less so than the amount your testosterone levels would rise from watching your favorites sports team beat a competitor.

Furthermore, I did a google search for documents containing both the phrase "low carb" and the term aromatase (search: +aromatase +"low carb") and it pulled up exactly one document and 3 advertisements across the entire web! I don't know that I've ever before run any search for anything that resulted in fewer hits. Here is the link to my search. Perhaps you could tell us WHERE you read about a connection between extreme low carb and Aromatase.

I would also mention that searching on: +adrenal +"low carb" pulls up a plethora of articles discussing how a low carb diet helps to CURE adrenal fatigue. I went thru multiple pages looking for something - anything - suggesting that a low carb diet could cause adrenal problems. Finally gave up after looking thru the top 30 or so hits. Again, perhaps you could send us a link to whatever you read saying that low carb could cause adrenal issues.

I do wish you well and hope that you feel better soon. But whatever your problem is, I strongly doubt that it was caused by a month long experiment with eating under 30g of carbs per day.
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  #5   ^
Old Sat, Feb-04-17, 17:24
Konflict Konflict is offline
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Posts: 22
 
Plan: Paleo/Keto
Stats: 195/200/190 Male 5'9"
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I'm just giving you guys then symptoms I'm having, it's hard for me or even my GP to discover what's wrong, but we both definitely noticed the changes.

I never lost any weight or size during the diet, but during the few weeks since feeling these symptoms I have gained some weight but lost the flab I used to have, so idk where that weight is going but it's definitely not fat. It could be water weight but I'm not visibly seeing it. And yes I'm very dehydrated...my mouth, nasal, skin, are all dry and I have to have at least 20oz of water every 45-60 mins, but it just seems to pee right out. That's possible it's causing An electrolyte imbalance but my tests only showed low range not out of range.

I honestly couldnt not find articles on the Aromatase low carb connection, but I had seen it posted on a few forums for members so that info isn't 100% but I do have similar side effects to low estrogen/estradiol in men. Here's a link to how low carb diets can harm some people, also a link to how vitamin E mixed tocopherols can impact estrogen synthesis.

https://chriskresser.com/is-a-low-c...ng-your-health/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16091003

I mean I feel like my serotonin levels are depleted....I have no energy to do anything and in total body pain, can't sleep a wink, constipation and excessive urination, also on and off muscle tremors I've noticed as well. It literally gets a little worse by the day and am extremely worried I won't recover...I'm a caretaker for my mother and lately she's been the one having to caretaker for me.

I'm just trying my best to describe what I'm feeling and am sure it's related to the diet as it can mess with adrenals and thyroid for sure. Have had a family history of pituitary issues and that's where the thyroid gets its signals. Sorry if I'm all over the place and anxious but I'm just looking for help.
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  #6   ^
Old Sat, Feb-04-17, 18:10
WereBear's Avatar
WereBear WereBear is offline
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Posts: 14,606
 
Plan: EpiPaleo/Primal/LowOx
Stats: 220/125/150 Female 67
BF:
Progress: 136%
Location: USA
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If your electrolytes are in balance; the inability to retain water can be diabetes insipidus.

Yes, it's rare, but if your doctor is baffled, it's time to look at unlikely causes.
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  #7   ^
Old Sat, Feb-04-17, 20:40
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Rosebud Rosebud is offline
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Posts: 23,881
 
Plan: Atkins
Stats: 235/135/135 Female 5'4
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Progress: 100%
Location: Brisbane, Australia
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I'd say the reason you gained rather than lost weight is because you were eating a "huge amount of protein and fat.".

It's never going to be possible to lose weight on any sort of diet while eating huge amounts of food.

The reason for the thirst is much simpler: ketosis. Plus, the more you drink while in ketosis, the thirstier you feel, so i think you'd have been better off eating some higher carb vegies.

So, what to do next? Me, i would start over, but on a set plan, one that will give you solid advice about what is best to eat. I know Atkins is considered old hat to some these days, but it worked for me. And if you look under "Plans"on the top green menu bar you'll find summaries of quite a few other plans.
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  #8   ^
Old Sat, Feb-04-17, 21:11
Konflict Konflict is offline
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Posts: 22
 
Plan: Paleo/Keto
Stats: 195/200/190 Male 5'9"
BF:
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I don't care about my weight or how I look or anything cosmetic right now.....I care about these symptoms and am searching for answers on how how to fix them.

Again I'm NOT doing any specific kind of diet right now...the weight I gained was AFTER I stopped the low carb intake. Symptoms still remain and are increasing.
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  #9   ^
Old Sat, Feb-04-17, 21:13
Konflict Konflict is offline
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Plan: Paleo/Keto
Stats: 195/200/190 Male 5'9"
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WereBear
If your electrolytes are in balance; the inability to retain water can be diabetes insipidus.

Yes, it's rare, but if your doctor is baffled, it's time to look at unlikely causes.


Yes had a blood test for that but they ruled out anything diabetic.
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  #10   ^
Old Sat, Feb-04-17, 21:17
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Baylor1 Baylor1 is offline
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Posts: 137
 
Plan: Atkins
Stats: 000/000/000 Female 66 inches
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The only way toe have any clue as to what could have been going on was to know what you were eating and how much. salt is so important as is drinking fluids.

Most likely this is not a result of a low carb diet but specifically what and how you were eating.. If that makes sense.
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  #11   ^
Old Sat, Feb-04-17, 21:33
Konflict Konflict is offline
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Posts: 22
 
Plan: Paleo/Keto
Stats: 195/200/190 Male 5'9"
BF:
Progress:
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Baylor1
The only way toe have any clue as to what could have been going on was to know what you were eating and how much. salt is so important as is drinking fluids.

Most likely this is not a result of a low carb diet but specifically what and how you were eating.. If that makes sense.


I was eating a lot of eggs, porkchops, whey protein, very low sugar high protein Greek yogurt, chicken, tuna...used a lot of butter and olive oil for cooking and used a canola based mayo and ranch for sauces, tried to avoid anything soy based. Was drinking a lot of water and green tea decaf.
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  #12   ^
Old Sat, Feb-04-17, 21:34
Konflict Konflict is offline
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Posts: 22
 
Plan: Paleo/Keto
Stats: 195/200/190 Male 5'9"
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https://www.thepaleomom.com/adverse...aution-advised/

See there are several low carb diet side effects that can develop. Not saying this is 100% caused by the diet, but there are certain factors to the low carb diet that definitely could have caused the symptoms I have.....especially that it can effect the hypothalamus pituitary thyroid axis.
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  #13   ^
Old Sun, Feb-05-17, 00:06
Meme#1's Avatar
Meme#1 Meme#1 is offline
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Posts: 12,456
 
Plan: Atkins DANDR
Stats: 210/194/160 Female 5'4"
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Progress: 32%
Location: Texas
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WereBear
In addition, I've seen people feel this bad because their electrolytes are out of balance. Sodium (salt) potassium (avocados) and magnesium (soak in Epsom salts) should be topped up, and then re-assess.


I would do what she suggested above.
Just to give you an idea about potassium. The daily requirement is 2800mg and the over the counter supplements are only 100mg...so, either get a prescription from the doctor which is about 650mg each.
The Magnesium is easier because the over the counter supplements are high enough.

This diet makes us loose a huge about of fluid with these electrolytes going with it. I had dizziness and lots of lethargy...

For sleeping, try Melatonin, it's in the vitamins section.
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  #14   ^
Old Sun, Feb-05-17, 06:28
WereBear's Avatar
WereBear WereBear is offline
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Posts: 14,606
 
Plan: EpiPaleo/Primal/LowOx
Stats: 220/125/150 Female 67
BF:
Progress: 136%
Location: USA
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As described, your diet sounds very ketogenic; just the kind to have you drop water all at once. And without good mineral balance, you can't come back.

Diabetes insipidous isn't the blood sugar kind; it is missing a hormone which regulates water levels in the body.

You said the electrolyte tests were low. So you should do something about it anyway.
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  #15   ^
Old Sun, Feb-05-17, 10:18
teaser's Avatar
teaser teaser is offline
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Posts: 15,075
 
Plan: mostly milkfat
Stats: 190/152.4/154 Male 67inches
BF:
Progress: 104%
Location: Ontario
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Konflict
I was eating a lot of eggs, porkchops, whey protein, very low sugar high protein Greek yogurt, chicken, tuna...used a lot of butter and olive oil for cooking and used a canola based mayo and ranch for sauces, tried to avoid anything soy based. Was drinking a lot of water and green tea decaf.


Were you eating any vegetables at all?

Fat loss without weight loss--a fair amount of water can be stored in adipose tissue, recompartmentalization of water could certainly give the impression of fat loss without weight loss--bodybuilders try to manipulate this for contests.

20 ounces of water intake per hour?--this is far beyond what an online forum or even your general practitioner can help you with, if this is your fluid intake, you need to see an endocrinologist.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabetes_insipidus

This would certainly explain a lot of your symptoms--low carb flu is largely due to electrolyte losses.

This is one possibility. There are other disorders, where rather than the water intake being driven to replace water lost to excessive urination, the drive to drink water is elevated, and this drives the urination. Either way, it puts your body at risk of sodium and potassium etc. deficiency. Like I said, this is endocrinologist territory, don't try to fix it by talking to yahoo's like me on the internet, kick your doctor in the shins until he refers you to an endo.
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