Homeopathic meds & Ketosis

[Smallerizing]

I don't have any ketostixs lying around at this time, but I got to thinking -- could the Arnica Montana I'm taking knock me out of ketosis? It is a homeopathic remedy made (similarly to allergy shots) of taking a substance which would cause a bad reaction and putting a tiny bit of it into a sugar tablet. YES, sugar. There is more involved in the process, and it sounds hokey, but it worked about 15 years ago for severe tooth pain and I need it again.

My tooth had had a pulpotomy (sp?) and the dentist didn't tell me that it would have to get a root canal right away. By the time it got so bad I went back to the dentist again, the root had dried up and was hard to work on. Then the stupid dentist put a root canal in that was too long for the tooth. It kept poking into my bone and has been hurting for 12 years on and off. Now it has been hammered up into my sinus cavity and keeps getting abcessed. The last time was a doozy, two weeks ago. I took antibiotics and as strong a prescription pain killer as I could handle, running 60 hrs a week working, college course, and looking for a new job. I didn't want the Lortab the Dr. wrote, so he okayed Tramadol (Ultracet). It took the edge off, but the Arnica Montana got the pain down.

Now I'm wondering if the sugar in the tablets, taken four at a time on an empty stomach, could mess with my insulin and ketosis. They are little round things about half the size of a peppercorn, almost as small as a mustard seed. I know that the taste of sweets without any protein or fat can cause insulin spikes.

I can't afford the oral surgery just yet. They told me in December that it was $750 to fix it. The dentist won't pull it because of the sinus thing. I'm about to start a new job next week which will bring me to Birmingham for 8 weeks starting June 5, before my first paycheck. SOOOOO, Arnica seems to be the best bet til August, then get it taken out!

Today was gonna be first day back on plan after a planned birthday cheat, but I've got a migraine from the tooth and from the start of TOM. So the plan is LOWER carb today.

Off to school now, I'll check in on break. Any suggestions would be appreciated. This hurts.

[2big4mysize]

Re: Homeopathic meds & Ketosis

since you need your medication take it and adjust your Atkins for it. How long do you have to wait to eat 60 min? be ready to eat a high fat meal to bring stabalize your blood sugars/ it is the high them low from the sugar that will cause you cravings. If you can take it 2 hrs after you eat that would be better as the fats and proteins in your meal will be working on blood sugar stsability by then. Since you know you will have this issue if you can hang on and not pig out cause of any blood sugar issues you shuld be okay.

[Smallerizing]

Re: Homeopathic meds & Ketosis

I guess it's more of an idea of taking it WITHOUT FOOD rather than empty stomach. I suppose taking it an hour after and/or an hour before eating would diminish the bad effects.


What if I have a slice of cheese or some peanuts or something between meals so my insulin doesn't get too much out of whack? Or would the sweet taste alone set it off? They are supposed to be dissolved sublingually.

I guess this job is worth not losing for eight weeks, but I've started to wonder if these stupid (but effective) things are what's been stalling me the last couple of weeks.

[msnicksmom]

Re: Homeopathic meds & Ketosis

Christine, how many do you have to take? If you just need one remedy/day, that's not knocking you out of ketosis. If you need one remedy/2 hours, that very well could be 30 tabs a day, right? I counted each peppercorn sized tablet as one carb, and adjusted accordingly w/in my 20 net. They look about a gram each, right? And they are straight sucrose, so obviously they have to count toward your carb total. It would be best if you knew your CCCL so you could estimate.

HTH.

Hugs
Denise

[sadie147]

Re: Homeopathic meds & Ketosis

Like 2big i agree you should just keep taking them, and try to adjust your atkins for it. also can you up your exercise? If you exercise more, your CCLL goes up , your body can handle more carbs and keep losing. going over 20 g's of carbs a day is not going to necessarily stall you, people on OWL are over 20g's per day and still continue to lose.

the exercise will make a big difference on your CCLL.

good luck.

[Smallerizing]

Re: Homeopathic meds & Ketosis

Oh, yeah, exercise. I keep forgetting how that affects CCLL. It's such a chore!!! My major exercise lately is patting myself on the back for doing 10-15 min on the Gazelle and a few sit-ups with my physical therapy stuff. I know this is not really enough yet, and I mean to add more.

It's not really the amount of carbs I'm worried about, it's having sugary stuff without consuming fats and protein. With what I'm learning, even a diet drink when taken without feeding your body something with fat or protein will cause an insulin spike in some people. I have tried to avoid it. Now I'm not only giving my poor fat body something sweet, I'm giving it a taste of SUGAR. Although according to the glycemic index, sugar isn't as bad as potatoes.

Maybe I'm worrying too much about it. Maybe the evil carb demons are trying to talk me into going off the plan AGAIN.

My CCLL seemed to be about 60 a couple years ago -- does it change? If not, I should be okay with this tiny amount. I have been trying to be more aware of Glycemic Load more than actual carbs lately since reading Atkins for Life and other stuff.

[sadie147]

Re: Homeopathic meds & Ketosis

I would think if you are sticking to plan otherwise, and like 2big said you know then insulin spike is coming and you don't pig out when it does, I would think you will be fine.

[Thinker]

Re: Homeopathic meds & Ketosis

I don't have any ketostixs lying around at this time, but I got to thinking -- could the Arnica Montana I'm taking knock me out of ketosis? It is a homeopathic remedy made (similarly to allergy shots) of taking a substance which would cause a bad reaction and putting a tiny bit of it into a sugar tablet. YES, sugar. There is more involved in the process, and it sounds hokey, but it worked about 15 years ago for severe tooth pain and I need it again.

My tooth had had a pulpotomy (sp?) and the dentist didn't tell me that it would have to get a root canal right away. By the time it got so bad I went back to the dentist again, the root had dried up and was hard to work on. Then the stupid dentist put a root canal in that was too long for the tooth. It kept poking into my bone and has been hurting for 12 years on and off. Now it has been hammered up into my sinus cavity and keeps getting abcessed. The last time was a doozy, two weeks ago. I took antibiotics and as strong a prescription pain killer as I could handle, running 60 hrs a week working, college course, and looking for a new job. I didn't want the Lortab the Dr. wrote, so he okayed Tramadol (Ultracet). It took the edge off, but the Arnica Montana got the pain down.

Now I'm wondering if the sugar in the tablets, taken four at a time on an empty stomach, could mess with my insulin and ketosis. They are little round things about half the size of a peppercorn, almost as small as a mustard seed. I know that the taste of sweets without any protein or fat can cause insulin spikes.

I can't afford the oral surgery just yet. They told me in December that it was $750 to fix it. The dentist won't pull it because of the sinus thing. I'm about to start a new job next week which will bring me to Birmingham for 8 weeks starting June 5, before my first paycheck. SOOOOO, Arnica seems to be the best bet til August, then get it taken out!

Today was gonna be first day back on plan after a planned birthday cheat, but I've got a migraine from the tooth and from the start of TOM. So the plan is LOWER carb today.

Off to school now, I'll check in on break. Any suggestions would be appreciated. This hurts.

I wish I had some good diet advice for you ...but I have some tooth advice. If you're dentist is doign another root canal - ask him about using one of the new Resilon products. Here's the idea:When they do root canals - they actually put rubber stoppers - no kidding - in your teeth. They remove the root and stop it up so that fluids don't leak in your mouth. It's been this way forever. A significant percentage of root canals fail! No joke.

A company developed a new material that instead of just being a stopper - it actually chemically seals and sticks to the side of the root canaled tooth. This means you don't get fluids up in your bones that leak around the stopper.

Might help ...good luck!

[Smallerizing]

Re: Homeopathic meds & Ketosis

Wellllll..... I was doing okay on "not pigging out" until the weekend. I had a planned birthday cheat and stuck to only the 2 days. Mostly because of the genuine German Schwartzwalder Kirschtorte that my DH didn't get for his BD in March, I said we would combine birthdays in May so I baked him a LC cheesecake.

Sad fact is I had just had a whoosh down to 151 right before. Now I gotta lose 8 extra pounds although I know some of it is TOM. I'm actually staying down around 20 -25 grams despite having migraine the first day -- I was just too tired to make something Maintenance which is how I like to re-start to minimize carb withdrawal.

So today I'm still prolly not in ketosis cuz my head is kind of sore and numb, but I'm trying to not use the sugar cravings as an excuse. I know it's a chemical reaction and esp after feeling so crummy on the weekend I know that pigging out is the last thing I need. I'm seriously considering not cheating for Christmas!!! Or EVER.