Adverse Reactions on the Ketogenic Diet

[JennyJenny]

Go to post one @Not dead yet!

Dr. Myhill is nuts. She is a charlatan and IMO no researcher or advocate should have anything to do with her.

No diet does anything for anyone with this disease. I have done them all over 35 years.

But oh, not THIS or THAT diet. Not the way I DO IT. You didn't take the right supplements with it. The water you drink and cook with didn't come from (insert: volcanic, lake, river, reverse osmosis system) and the food you eat wasn't 80% raw? You didn't juice? You did? Were the carrots organic? You are eating too many/not enough/the wrong carbs! You did the diet while in an aluminum trailer in the desert, right? Because that is KEY.

I am fascinated with how this disease has always been my dietary fault. Well, no one said THAT but there is evidence in (insert: this research paper, that doctor's patients' success, this doctor from the 50's who was always on the right path but everyone ignored him) and why are you so pessimistic anyway? Sometimes outlook does play a part and why did you join this thread with such a nasty attitude when we are just trying to help?

 

[Steve]

Just blundered on this thread, pretty funny.
I made it two weeks on Keto after reading Keto Clarity and other books, seriously understated difficulty of diet IMO. I am 126, 5"9 all my life and hated this diet. I'm a grazer, nuts, pastry, cookies...some junk food...so what, I had zero fibro for forty years before I got it thirty years ago was eating same diet. If diet and exercise cured fibro we'd know it. My inflammation markers are all literally 0, look great on paper in every organ system at 68. Feel like )$& all the time. The gurus would have me take another hundred blood tests looking for...gut biomes, small fiber no, wait, big fiber neuropathy, no, blood vessel constriction problems, no, hypothalamic axis issues, let's face it, there are either a zillion FM subtypes or we don't know anything useful about this disorder.

 

[Not dead yet!]

Who are these gurus and why don't they offer me those tests?

 

[Lolinda]

Has anyone tested their plasma amino acids while on a keto diet?
Ketosis makes the body use glucogenic aminos for gluconeogenesis. I ended up with the heavy amino acid deficits below... (Though, I do not understand the low lysine, which is not a glucogenic amino.)

The test was fasting, in the morning. I definitively did not eat too little protein: the day before I had a total of 87.8g protein, mostly from a whooping 290g grilled chicken hearts, my favourite treat

 

[Remy]

Has anyone tested their plasma amino acids while on a keto diet?
Ketosis makes the body use glucogenic aminos for gluconeogenesis. I ended up with the heavy amino acid deficits below... (Though, I do not understand the low lysine, which is not a glucogenic amino.)

The test was fasting, in the morning. I definitively did not eat too little protein: the day before I had a total of 87.8g protein, mostly from a whooping 290g grilled chicken hearts, my favourite treat

View attachment 2528

Weird, isn't it? I've never tested plasma amino acids myself but whenever I get a result that is far out of line from expected, I pretty much always re-test before making any changes.

I've never heard of anything about ketosis that should cause amino acid deficiencies because, as you noted, people tend to eat plenty of protein to make up for not having carbs. But I suppose you could always be the first, unfortunately!

 

[Zsazsa]

1. B1 is low, which makes some kind of sense because that vitamin is mainly used for carb metabolism. However, I don't like having even a minor nutritional deficit, so I take a vitamin.

use of liquid coconut oil or purified MCT oil

In my experience coconut products with their natural / added sulfites destroy B1 and lymphocytes. I saw severe lymphocyte depletion in the blood tests of my father (heart disease), my husband (Gilbert's) and mine (Hashi's + atherosclerosis) upon dailiy consumption of a HALF TEASPOON of coconut oil (tested after 1 month).

Oddly I never found any mention to it in the paleo/lowcarb communities I belong to. Lowcarbers seem to be all happier and healthier every day

 

[Not dead yet!]

Just blundered on this thread, pretty funny.
I made it two weeks on Keto after reading Keto Clarity and other books, seriously understated difficulty of diet IMO. I am 126, 5"9 all my life and hated this diet. I'm a grazer, nuts, pastry, cookies...some junk food...so what, I had zero fibro for forty years before I got it thirty years ago was eating same diet. If diet and exercise cured fibro we'd know it. My inflammation markers are all literally 0, look great on paper in every organ system at 68. Feel like )$& all the time. The gurus would have me take another hundred blood tests looking for...gut biomes, small fiber no, wait, big fiber neuropathy, no, blood vessel constriction problems, no, hypothalamic axis issues, let's face it, there are either a zillion FM subtypes or we don't know anything useful about this disorder.

I agree the diet is overmarketed and overly touted for every illness. I actually spoke with Dr. Westman and told him I wasn't losing weight and could he please help me figure out why. His reply, after much crabby response, was basically "you're eating too many calories." So... then... that's the opposite of what's written in the book.

I think we need real Keto Clarity.

#1 It works to end PCOS, and allows many women to get pregnant without expensive fertility treatments.

#2 It is excellent for people who have a diabetic aspect to their illness. If you're not at least in a state of metabolic syndrome, or insulin resistance, the helpfulness is limited.

#3 It is excellent as a cyclical diet with "carb refeeding" in many bodybuilding / muscle building programs. It was used by BOTH of the arguably most famous bodybuilders of all time, Swartzenegger and Ferigno. In interviews, they talk about the social aspects of carb control and how they'd help each other stay on track. (There's a ton more on this story, I got interested in Keto because of the connection with bodybuilding and preventing muscle wasting. But it would need a new thread.)

#4 If you're struggling with carb cravings that lead to an overeating / nausea cycle, there are two known prescription-free methods: chromium picolinate 600 mg/ day or 1 gram, and the Keto diet. Metoformin, in my experience actually increases carb cravings, but there are other drugs that end them such as Phentermine (a diet drug).

#5 If you have neurological problems then sometimes it helps. Not always. Even some epileptics do not respond to the therapeutic diet. But those who do receive more than just freedom from epilepsy, the ones who are on it long enough (10 years seems to be the limit for most people) find that they are not as susceptible to diabetes / heart disease typically experienced in mid life.

I think the reason why FM, MS and CFS are not always helped by Keto is because they are not basically a diabetic or neurological disease. We are under attack from something un-detected, or detected and ignored with the assumption that it's "harmless."

If you look at the stories of Ebola *survivors* you will notice a distinctly CFS like story being told over and over. You can't fight an infection with food. Not with significant success.

The most the Keto diet would do for someone in an infected state is help with side issues, if they exist. Or if the person has cerebral edema issues (I do) then it helps that as part of the brain support aspect.

 

[Not dead yet!]

In my experience coconut products with their natural / added sulfites destroy B1 and lymphocytes. I saw severe lymphocyte depletion in the blood tests of my father (heart disease), my husband (Gilbert's) and mine (Hashi's + atherosclerosis) upon dailiy consumption of a HALF TEASPOON of coconut oil (tested after 1 month).

Oddly I never found any mention to it in the paleo/lowcarb communities I belong to. Lowcarbers seem to be all happier and healthier every day

This is excellent information. I'd love to know what any of the many researchers of the keto diet say about it. If you send the records to any of them, I'd be interested to know what they said.

Does that effect happen with consumption of sources of natural sulfites.. wine, cheese, etc? Is it a sulfite allergy like this? https://www.verywell.com/sulfite-allergy-82911

Many of the foods and drugs on that sulfite allergy list are problematic for me. In particular I suspect that's why I can't use Albuterol for asthma, I think it has a hidden sulfite in it. It's a fast way to get more out of breath for me.

I suspect the websites don't mention the connection with sulfites because not all of the foods have added slufite and sulfite allergy is a separate issue that people "should know" about and avoid. That should part is always tricky, but I can understand that they have to draw a line somewhere. I mean, if that's a criticism of this diet, then why not also of any diet, DASH included?

FYI, they make an MCT oil that is completely purified and has no flavor, it is used by epileptics who are also often allergic to sulfites. Many of them have a no-sulfite label, or you can call the company and ask. Furthermore, before coconut oil was the favorite of everyone, Olive oil was the favorite. And many Paleo groups confusingly recommend using Butter for the same purpose. Some websites talk about Palm Oil, but not many. That red stuff in Whole Foods, yeah. More on MCT content of oils and which oils we're really talking about: https://authoritynutrition.com/mct-oil-101/

If you have sulfite sensitivity, you should probably call the manufacturer and ask specifically about it.

That's good advice with any supplement. Call them and ask. I love the Chlorophyll liquid because it often helps with my bowels when they freak out for no apparent reason. I called the company to ask about Magnesium content,a and they said they purposely change the Chlorophyll molecule to have copper in it, not magnesium because it is more stable. There's no way to know without calling.

I realize you probably won't try the diet again, and there's no reason why you should unless it helps you. But others reading the post above might have thought that all coconut oil is MCT oil (not true, they are distinct products) and that all such products contain sulfites (also not true) and that this problem is uniquely related to the keto diet (again, false).

I do think it's fascinating information that sulfite sensitivity and/or exacerbating an allergy could lead to blood cell destruction. I'd have to read Pubmed for a while to see if that's a known effect of all allergens.

 

[Remy]

Oddly I never found any mention to it in the paleo/lowcarb communities I belong to.

Probably because it wasn't the cause, but only correlated by time. I can promise you my lymphocytes have never dropped (tested every month) even when consuming 3+ tablespoons of coconut oil per day. Without an RCT, proving causation is impossible.

 

[Zsazsa]

Probably because it wasn't the cause, but only correlated by time. I can promise you my lymphocytes have never dropped (tested every month) even when consuming 3+ tablespoons of coconut oil per day. Without an RCT, proving causation is impossible.

I checked for it 3x on myself and confirmed with my father and husband's results. I guess my 'cohort' is biased by people with low B1.

 

[Zsazsa]

Does that effect happen with consumption of sources of natural sulfites.. wine, cheese, etc? Is it a sulfite allergy like this? https://www.verywell.com/sulfite-allergy-82911

Both my father and husband had asthma in their youth, but I didn't.

I can't have gelatin, wine (migraine, rosacea, vomiting) or milk (atopy), but tolerate cheese every now and then (not continuously), my husband can't have dairy (IBS-D), but my father consumes all of those.

I haven't eaten most items on that list for years (no industrialized foods).

Interestingly my husband and I had a bad reaction to some enzyme capsules with pectin as excipient. Once I had anaphylaxis while taking a Biotin supplement (500 mcg).

Sulfites aren't regulated in my country.