I severely lowered my carb intake because my blood sugar always shoots to the 300 - 400s after 45 carb meals. So I thought I would try lowering carb intake to 0 - 15 carbs per meal. Right away I started feeling sick! I looked it up and there’s a such thing as “keto flu.” Its when the body goes throu
Have you tried a more moderate carb reduction? Like 20-30 per meal? You might not need to cut it to zero or near zero.
Im high for at least 6 hours after a meal despite taking insulin. So I was trying to lower carbs enough to make a difference. I still go over 300 after 0 - 15 carbs. But not into the 400s.
I was like this until recently, my doctor switched me to u-200 insulin and months later I still look at my cgm thinking, "wow, insulin that actually works!"
Thought it was just me...lol
I don't know much about "keto flu", but when your blood sugar has been very high for a long time, your body gets used to it. Then if you try to drastically cut carbs, your blood sugar starts dropping to a more normal range, but to your body it feels Low, so it starts throwing out symptoms of hypoglycemia - coldness, weakness, shaking, nausea, etc. It takes time to adjust to this.
If it's interfering with your daily life, you may want to take a more gradual approach to cutting out carbs.
This was my first thought too. It's not carb withdrawal, it's your body readjusting to a healthy blood sugar.
Not sure if this works for everyone, but I find if I start my meal with a vegetable, then protein, then the carbs, my glucose doesn't spike. Maybe worth trying?
Yes for sure. OP this. Salad starter or fiber protein shake or similar
don't drop it so fast. your body is used to high levels.
At diagnosis, I was told to cut carbs to 100g a day, then we will adjust later. It was so easy to cut at first, I cut to under 40g a day. But I had a dizzy, light head feelings when I cut that much. That low carb rate is hard to maintain long term. My doctor reiterated she said 100g carbs, not 40, add a potato to dinner. Don’t go extreme right out of the gate. You can make big cuts at first, but not extreme cuts. It’s a balancing act and everyone is different.
Keep communicating with your doctor. Ask questions, but go with their advice. I was doing a Dr visit and lab work every 3 months at first. But things are going good and now I see the doctor 2x a year. Aim for that.
Your body needs certain amount of carbs a day or ketoacidosis will start, and you don't want that as a Diabetic. Gotta talk to your doctor about how high your getting on just those little carbs, its time for some adjustments in medication. There is a fine line between ketosis and DKA. I don't ever go less than 50 a day. IF that day comes where even 50 is spiking me hard its doctor time.
I have not heard of Keto Flu. Not really looked into it.
Thanks. My endo just increased my insulin a couple weeks ago. She increases it every time I see her. Fast acting insulin is the only medication I take. She knows I go really high with meals.
Keto flu is a real thing & I had it once before developing T2. It does go away as your body adjusts to ketosis
I haven’t been keto for like 5 years (and was diagnosed T2 this past April), so idk what having diabetes & the keto flu together could do. I would for sure get ahold of your doctor- it may not be necessary for a full-on visit but most docs have ways for you to message them or call them for questions on managing this kind of stuff
Edit: apparently my phone doesn’t think “keto” is a real word & I didn’t proofread
The only way I use keto is to research some foods that are very low carbs. IMO you probably went too fast in diminishing your carbs. Your body is reacting.
Thanks. I’ll contact my doctor. My body is responding poorly.
Yes this is pretty common at the start. Just make sure you are getting sufficient fats and proteins in and electrolytes including salt and it should pass pretty soon! With low carb intake, the body can run low on salts.
Also with lower carbs in consultation with the eoc you will probably be advised by your doc to lower your insulin intake to avoid hypos. If your more controlled blood sugars are leading to a lower insulin requirement that is a GOOD thing. The insulin is meant to be an aid. Rather then us eating to aid the insulin!
Achieving lower blood sugar levels is the goal, and you are on the right path!
My A1c was 11%, meaning my average blood glucose was over 265 mg/dL, and in 6 months was able to lower it to 5.3% on a moderate carb diet.
Are you working with your care team? See if your insurance/employer/community health system provides access to a diabetic care educator, dietitian, or health coach. Mine provided all three and I used each to the max. Along with my PCP I was able to put myself on a path to regaining my health with sustainable lifestyle changes.
Great job 👍
Thanks, but just doing what I gotta do. What I should have been doing all my life: living a healthy life.
Yeah I had the shakes and felt cold for a while at a lower blood sugar..for months kind of randomly not all the time. It helps to cut back slower. Or you can wait it out and it'll get better. Eventually you will be able to eat a few carbs regularly without having such high sugar and feeling bad. So it does change significantly over time
I hope I’m not stating the obvious but what about low GI foods? The spike is drawn out over a longer period so it doesn’t get so high. Long low spike vrs short high spike. I also try to refrigerate carbs overnight to develop resistant starch which should reduce the spikes, although I also try to avoid high GI carbs in the first place. I don’t eat spuds much but if I do I buy the low GI ones.
How long have you been feeling this way after cutting down on carbs? I was hypoglycemic for years, then diagnosed with T2D. My A1C was 12.8% - so my daily numbers were pretty similar to yours. I went keto too, and on days 3 & 4 I got the keto flu too, for about 2-3 days but I kept at it, keeping my carbs <10 per day & only drinking electrolytes (those are extremely important), water & a bulletproof (look it up!) decaf coffee in the morning (bulletproof tea will work too - these help curb hunger sensations). If I ever felt like I was slightly hypo I'd take a good pinch of Himalayan salt under my tongue & let it dissolve & that usually helped. Theres some great Dr's online that talk a lot about what to eat, how to eat & when to eat with T2D & how fasting can actually reverse this really fast
M55+ T2
I'm on meds only, no insulin, so YMMV.
TL:DR IMHO, the best way to manage T2D and avoid withdrawal is managing consumption and exercise.
For me, timing and rightsizing meals, and timing exercise helped me.
Moving my evening meal earlier and reducing the evening meal size helped. That's fewer carbs just sitting while I'm the least active.
Adding a moderate 15min walk immediately after breakfast and lunch helped tremendously. It's slow enough to burn calories just consumed, but it also triggers the body to continue to burn calories for the remainder of the hour. Doing this allows you to focus less on carb restriction but more on carb burn rate.
When I started bike riding, I learned about exercising in heart rate zone 2. This is basically exercising to the point where you're
That 45grams per meal os the worst advise they give. You've already figured out that is to much. I cant have more then 25 per meal.
Youre body is going to take time to adjust back to normal. It took you years to do the damage. It'll take time to feel normal. But your body will adjust back
Less carbs each meal until you find a sweet spot.
Also, get up and go take a walk after meals. You cant skip the excerise. It will help lower your numbers. Its a must if you want to improve.
Part (all?) of keto flu is peeing out water weight as your body burns fat for fuel and then your electrolyte balance is off.
Keto flu isn't an infection, it's the process of your body adapting to a low carb diet from a high carb diet. Your metabolism has to change from using straight glucose from carbs to run your metabolism to using fats to convert to carbs to run your metabolism.
It's supposed to pass after a few days but you'll need to add some electrolytes to your diet as well.
A quick search through Google or some such search engine will explain a bit more.
Watch This. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ZOE46rRPlvI
when i got my sugars under control i had headaches for 2.5 months. every single day at the near same time. migraine levels. your body needs to adjust
After the 6 hours does your blood sugar go back down to normal? Or are you still stuck pretty high even if not eating.
Drastic reduction in carbs makes you feel like you have low blood sugar, like the flu, for a few weeks so I cut them slowly to avoid feeling low all the time. Try 30g at meals for a while, and eat your protein first to prevent as big of spikes and crashes.
Wouldn’t it be a lot easier to take the proper amount of insulin?
Have you tried giving 3-5 units of insulin at least 15 minutes BEFORE you start eating your meal? I don’t limit myself on carbs but if I’m eating a very carb heavy meal then I bills more or less depending on 1) how I’m feeling and B) what my blood sugar is before eating etc.
Im on an insulin pump. It gives me insulin based on the amount of carbs I put in. I cant choose how much insulin to give myself.
I’m on a pump too. On both Medtronic and tandem you can bypass and give however many units are needed. Like if I know I’m going to eat 50 carbs then I’ll put in half before and the other half after
Why not use more insulin instead of taking fewer carbs?
I use the amount of insulin my pump is programmed to give me based on basal and meal time boluses. My endo increases my insulin at every 3 month appointment.
Thanks everyone for your helpful replies. My endo is out for the holidays, but the stand-in endo told me to stick to the 45 carb meals and my insulin will get adjusted during my next appointment (they’ve been increasing my dosages). He also said my endo noted that they can start me on mounjaro if my liver enzymes go back to normal levels. Right now they are over 5 times the normal limit. So I guess thats that!