I have a question?

[ILOVEJESUS]

Ive been on this diet twice and both times around my 14th day,i would feel like i was going to kill over,i felt as my blood pressure was very low!
just wondering why and if anybody else felt that way.i can not get past the 14th day,and my heart started flutering would not stop.this really stressed my body out!

[SunnySmile501]

Re: I have a question?

Your blood pressure probably was very low. Are you taking supplements? This diet makes you lose a lot of water weight and with it goes a lot of sodium, potassium and magnesium. Those are the electrolytes that you need to function. Try taking magnesium & potassium and eating a little more salt--natural sea salt if you can get some.

Also, increase your veggies some. You are eating your veggies, aren't you?

[Georgiana]

Re: I have a question?

I had never read of anything like this on the Board, but maybe others had. In any case, it is not something a healthy person should experience. Did you discuss the problem with your doctor?

[ILOVEJESUS]

Re: I have a question?

I was taking vitamins,but i did realize that the vitamins did not have potassium in them.and i wonder,and yes i am healthy.

[IrishIrish]

Re: I have a question?

Why don't you post an example of your menus and activity for a few days? Also, you don't mention your beginning weight or the result you had with your weight loss and your age. Those are helpful factors for those who may want to give a response.

[momonmission99*]

Re: I have a question?

It could be your potassium, but obviously I'm not a doctor. I had some similar symptoms once on this diet and ended up in the ER because of a VERY low potassium. Another symptom I had was a totally numb upper lip. I couldn't even smile. They thought it was a possible stroke at first. Almost a whole night and lots of tests later, I had the dangerously low levels of potassium. Quite an experience.

This time around I'm totally fine as I'm looking for this in products I buy. I'm also going to buy some potassium supplements.

[dr.a]

Re: I have a question?

Could be that you were feeling weak because your weight loss was going too quickly. Dr. Atkins mentions something like that (it's chapter 9, doing the strict level of the atkins diet at home and at work, in my 1996 version). Increasing the amount of carbs/day with more vegetables should take care of that.

[kibskix]

Re: I have a question?

if my fats are too low or i go longer than 4 hours without eating i get light headed and my energy is low. gotta keep that metabolism up!

[ILOVEJESUS]

Re: I have a question?

Thanks alot i really feel like it was my potassuim,i indeed did lose alot of weight quick,14 pounds both time in 14 days!

[SunnySmile501]

Re: I have a question?

Low potassium is nothing to fool around with. You should make sure you are getting enough and you also should slow down the losses a bit. Are you eating veggies? You can get Morton's Lite Salt and use it until you feel better. It is pure potassium salts. The potassium pills are only 99mg and are poorly absorbed.

My daughter (when she was 16) decided to lose some weight before going to the beach with friends for spring break. She was very tiny to start with and chronic low potassium runs in our family. She didn't eat very well the first couple of days while being very active and she got dehydrated and had a heart attack from loss of potassium. She spent the rest of spring break in CCU (coronary care unit) at the hospital in Virginia Beach.

[ILOVEJESUS]

Re: I have a question?

Oh my, im sorry to hear your daughter had a heart attack,and no I have not been eating no veggies,thanks,i really needed to learn the facts before I started the first time,and I really think it was my potassium,I looked up symtoms of low potassium,and I had 3 or 4 of the symtoms,I see now that I really could have hurt myself!really thankyou to all for helping me,extremily grateful!

[Peej]

Re: I have a question?

Make sure you are eating your veggies and for sure read the book!

I had similar symptoms from low potassium. Between losing water weight and exercising more, drinking more, I wasn't holding onto potassium like I should. I ended up in the ER because I thought there was something seriously wrong with my heart!

Now I make myself a little homemade gatorade for when I work out. I mix up some sugar free kool aid, splenda, and some table salt and no salt (potassium chloride). I don't know the amounts I use off the top of my head, but its enough to give me like a banana or two worth of potassium during each workout and an equal amount of sodium.

Since I started doing that and making sure I was eating potassium-rich veggies, I haven't had any issues whatsoever. I've also felt much more comfortable during my workouts. I'm not sure if that is related but I'm willing to bet that it is!

[momonmission99*]

Re: I have a question?

Peej, I would love to know if that's ok on owl rung 1? and some directions.
After my last ER visit for low potassium the last time I was on atkins, I know it's a possibility that it could happen again. This would make me feel so much better as I want to move up my workouts to a new level.

[Peej]

Re: I have a question?

I believe its ok. Its a good idea to check the ingredients on the kool aid packets as some of them are legal and I think others are not. I don't always do it the same way, but I'll give an approximation.

2 quarts water
1 packet kool aid mix
1 tsp potassium chloride salt substitute (sometimes a bit more)
1 tsp salt (if I've had salty foods lately, I leave it out)
sweetener of choice to sweeten

I generally just add some sweetzfree until it tastes just a little sweet to cover up that salty taste. I don't measure it, I just do the minimum required to sweeten as sometimes I get cravings from artificial sweeteners. It tastes pretty much like gatorade. I mix that up and pour into a water bottle for when I work out. Each 16 oz bottle has about 600 mg of each sodium and potassium. Just be sure to sip it as it can have a bit of a laxative effect if you drink too much too fast. I generally keep a bottle of regular water around as well.

Its really helped me out. I think what I thought was soreness in my calves was really mild cramping. I can work out for at least twice as long now and I am much more comfortable. I hope it works for you too!

[momonmission99*]

Re: I have a question?

Thank You so much!

I had been having some issues with numbness in my arm out of nowhere and feeling sick to my stomach for a few days. I even threw up at one time. I HATE throwing up and can usually fight it, couldn't fight it that morning. At first I thought maybe it was an ulcer, but now after reading all the symptoms of low potassium I had almost all of them last week. It really surprised me as I was really paying attention to potassium, but I think with my last experience it's probably low to begin with and what I was doing wasn't enough.

I'm going to make an appt. with my doctor to make sure and have some blood drawn.
For now I'm going to try your mix when I'm working out as I noticed after some yard work I was really weak and light headed. I had even made sure I had half an avocado with my meal right before I did the yard work for some extra fat to sustain myself through the 3 hour ordeal LOL. I can't wait till my husband gets back. I HATE yard work.