Does this happen?
I've been doing LCHF for about 3 weeks now. I did have a little blip about 2 weeks in (loads of lentils and rice) but I got back on track. The last few days/week or so I have been feeling extremely lethargic and fatigued, I can hardly lift my arms or legs. It feels like walking through treacle. I wondering whether this is typical. It is a bit strange because I didn't feel like this when I first started.
Generally once you get over the initial 'carb flu', you get a feeling that's completely opposite to that which you're describing and should feel full of vim and vigour.
My concern is that you've cut back too much and have left your body with nothing to fuel it, while you fat adapt.
Maybe you could post a typical day's menu, so that we're better informed?
Do you have any other medical conditions/medications that may skew the results?
Okay, Saturday was:
3 fried eggs with feta, spinach, olives, butter, olive oil
Chicken breast sauteed with asparagus, spinach in butter. crunchy salad with red cabbage, 2 tbsp sunflower seeds. red peppers, onions, little gem lettuce and olive oil/lemon juice dressing
snacks: cafe latte from nero (don't normally have this but it was the only thing that made me feel human)
66g cheddar cheese
26g dark chocolate
decaf coffee and cream
Chai tea with milk. Cocao and cream.
The cals were 1600 but I didn't feel hungry.
Yesterday I had the same breakfast, strawberries, cafe nero latte, chicken and cauliflower roasted, mozzerella avocado and tomato salad with olive oil. I also had a greek yoghurt and a 26g dark chocolate again (willie's cacoa)
I was really hungry at the end of the day and hardly had any low carb food so I was forced to eat about a tablespoon of peanut butter and a couple of squares of dark chocolate my housemate left, and about half a mango. I also ate ONE vegetable gyoza
(friend brought them round) and one fortune cookie!
cals were 2,000
Well you certainly don't seem to be going without any essentials there, so I can only assume that adaption is taking longer for you.
Did you keep the skin on the chicken breast?
Maybe hold off on any full on exercise and make sure you're having enough salt, as you do need to replace the salt lost through water loss. Bone broth is good and add some sea salt to your meals.
No it was skinless. Hard to get skin on chicken Breast these days. But I cooked it in butter. I have reintroduced a small amount of low gi carbs (sprinkling of chick peas and small amount of butternut squash and a sprinkling of sprouted lentils.) it seems to get worse after I eat, and the most lethargy at the start of the day/afternoon. By evening I'm OK. That's could be the coffee though.
I have read something about carbs being needed for thyroid function. I don't have thyroid problems to my knowledge but maybe if I already had a weakness it could be affecting me. My little brother has an underactive thyroid.
I can barely get off the couch and haven't gone to work today. It's quite debilitating.
It sounds to me as if you should get your thyroid tested, particularly as you have family history. I would advise joining the Thyroid UK community, as they're really clued up and going for private blood tests, as NHS testing for Thyroid deficiencies leaves a lot to be desired! healthunlocked.com/thyroiduk
Good luck!
I have to agree with moreless that there's more going on here than just a simple dietary problem. Minor glitches notwithstanding, your meals sound fine. This is not normal at all. Time for a visit to the doctor. I hope he doesn't tell you to just eat lots and lots of carbs.
I'm a bit forgetful so may have asked before: are you taking any medication? Statins, for example, often cause extreme physical exhaustion, as will anything that interferes with fat metabolism.
No, not on medication. Will go to the doc. Thank you.
Very odd. I have no answers, I'm afraid. Let us know if the doctor digs up a useful result - it could help others in the same position.
I will! Thank you. I actually really, really hope I don't have an underactive thyroid as its basically mess for life, or a long battle trying to treat it naturally. I understand that thyroid and stress hormones are interlinked. I seem to be able to eat quite a lot without gaining weight though. I wouldn't say I hsve a slow metabolism. Although I have put on weight over the years it's not an abnormal amount and is totally explainable by the amount and type of food I was eating, plus sedentary job at the time.
I will keep people updated. Thanks for the replies!
Please join the TUK forum first, as NHS testing is sorely lacking and you want to know, once and for all, whether your thyroid is a problem, or not.
I don't want to jump to conclusions thag it's a thyroid thing. I put Prodigy on and suddenly had loads of energy to jump around, so it could be a psychological thing.
Just keep a log of the way that you're feeling and when you're feeling it and don't let things get out of control, before taking action 
"I put Prodigy on and suddenly had loads of energy to jump around, so it could be a psychological thing."
Ha ha! Or it could just be a Prodigy thing!
Seriously, I hope it's nothing serious.
very hard not to respond to Prodigy!
If I'm honest I'm completely fed up of gardening and feel overworked (even tho I only do 2-4 hrs a day... Still. Also had no rest days last week). Maybe I'm just tired of that
Hmmm..... if you're feeling despondent/down, that can have an energy sapping effect. Maybe you need to look for different employment and work on some positive thinking in the meantime.
Getting good rest is as important as being active, so try to balance your life a bit more and find things to do that make you feel really good.
Good luck!
That was meant to be meds for life.
Hi
As other has advised if you join the thyroid forum they will be able to help.
I’m a member of the thyroid forum.
You need to ask your GP to test your TSH, T4 & T3, (thyroid)vitamins including B12, Vitamin D, iron and Ferritin.
Just testing your TSH is not adequate, but the GP’s think that ok.
T3 controls are metabolism, mental well being everything.
Make sure you book the blood test as early in the morning as possible before 9am and no eating, and drink water only.
Obtain a copy of your blood results from your GP, don’t be fobbed off with they are normal. This means nothing. Once you have them post them on the thyroid forum.
If your GP refuses to test those then Medi checks and blue horizon offer private blood tests, which can be done via finger prick test. Results are emailed to you directly.
If you want further information on what you need to test let me know there is also a discount code via thyroid UK you can use.
You may have Hashimotos, this is an autoimmune disease. I have this too, as well as an underactive thyroid.
Again this can be tested via GP or privately.
As you have a family member with thyroid issues it’s likely you will have it.
It took years for me to realise I had thyroid issues and years for the NHS to acknowledge this.
Thankfully I’m getting better, this has only been because of the thyroid forum.
Best wishes
Peanut31
I've joined the forum, thank you. So basically if I have that does that mean meds for life? Bloody hell.
Yes unfortunately, but I’ll warn you, if your TSH isn’t 10 or above the NHS may say you don’t need thyroid medication.
It’s the NHS guidelines, that doesn’t mean you don’t need the medication.
Hence way the full thyroid testing is important.
Mine was 6 something and I was left to get worse, it then reached 12.2 and the NHS stepped in with Levothyroxine, by that time I couldn’t dress myself, exhausted after just taking a shower, I was depressed, hair loss, freezing cold and anxiety and didn’t want to speak to anyone. I was like a walking zombie. I couldn’t even add 1+1.
Levothyroxine did nothing for me at all despite blood results looking good.
I now self medicate with NDT which is what the NHS use to treat with until they brought out synthetic Levo.
NDT contains T4 & T3.
Many patients don’t do well on Levothyroxine as it contains T4 only.
T4 is then suppose to convert to T3, many don’t convert well hence why we feel so ill on T4 only (Levothyroxine) .
T3 use to be available on the NHS until one pharmaceutical company in Canada was given sole rights to supply the NHS, they then increased the cost by 600%, yes 600%.
Patients on this were then taken off it and told to go back to Levothyroxine only, there quality of life has gone downhill because of this.
It’s been debated in parliament a number of times.
T3 is very cheap to buy privately, hence why thyroid UK and other forums are getting more popular.
My advice is don’t trust your GP over thyroid results. Take advice from the thyroid forum.
Thyroid medication is for life, and it’s given me back my life.
Best wishes
Peanut31
Oh my god that all sounds really horribly serious. How long did it take you to go from 6 to 12.2?and how old were you?
Hi
It was about 6 months, I was seeing an endo who diagnosed me with Hashimotos, scan and blood test, but endo said no thyroid medication would help.
I believed him and didn’t know thyroid and Hashimotos were connected.
I tried everything to get myself better, improved vitamin levels, employed a nutritionist you name it I tried everything. Nothing helped.
So thinking nothing would help I saw a GP in my surgery, I took my hubby, by this time I had joined the thyroid UK and this forum, so I was more knowledgeable.
I was told it was all in my head, anxiety and I had been missed informed about Hashimotos. I pointed out that the thyroid UK was the NHS paitients choice website, so was she saying they were wrong.
She wasn’t having any of it, so my husband and I walked out in disgust. She even said if an endo wouldn’t help how could she.
Fast forward January 2018 and bedridden hubby took me to my allocated GP who took one look at me and ordered thyroid testing immediately, two days later the surgery phoned me and I had an emergency appointment, started on Levothyroxine immediately.
I think it was 6 months for it to reach 12.2.
I was 40 at the time, now 41, looking back I’ve had this years and not realised symptoms, then all come at once.
Best wishes
Peanut31
Shocking.
With the fatigue was it every day and persistent or did it come and go?
Hi
At first it would come and go, then get worse to everyday. It maybe that your iron levels and vitamin D levels are low and this will not be helping.
Once you have some blood results pop over to the Thyroid forum for more help.
As I have said the Thyroid forum has helped me no end. I am not medically trained, it is just what I have learnt from my own thyroid journey, reading endless books and research, I decided to take my own health in my own hands and its the best thing I have done.
Best Wishes & Good luck
Peanut31
Where do you get cheap T3 privately? At Boots it’s £300 for a month’s supply. The only place I’ve heard you can get it cheap is Germany.
Hi
Yes that's correct the prices that you have quoted are private prescriptions for T3.
Many buy without a prescription and they are not those high prices. It is against forum rules to name suppliers on here.
If you require a T3 supplier, then put a posting on Thyroid forum requesting this information. The post will be locked by admin, requesting any replies to be provided via PM.
However, many members including myself will not provide a T3 supplier unless we see some thyroid history and recent thyroid blood results, as more often it is because they are not on the correct dosage of thyroid medication. T3 is three times stronger than T4 as well and T3 is an active hormone.
Best Wishes
Peanut31
Thanks for the info - I'll ask the GP. I hada blood test last Yr for something else and the GP said it was 'normal'. She said it included the thyroid levels as well as iron and all the rest . However I'll know not to get fobbed off with that again. I've asked the surgery for a copy of those results and will make an appt to get properly tested. Expecting resistence.
Hi
"Normal" means nothing, what they mean is, it's in the lab ranges.
That's why its important to obtain your blood results from the GP. Your entitled to those by law since the GDPR rules came into place in May 2018. They can no longer charge for this either, don't be fobbed off.
Many GP surgeries offer an online service where you can access your results on line and book on line appointments. Your surgery may offer this. Ask at reception, you will need further ID for this. I can access all my blood results and my medical history on line and make appointments.
As said it's best to post on the thyroid forum, hopefully we will see you on the thyroid forum soon.
Best Wishes
Peanut31
It's hard to know without exact amounts, but you could be a little low in Zinc, Iron and Magnesium. Maybe analyse a few example days to see?
Honestly.....2-3 weeks on keto and I was still having a few ropey days too. I’ve also had 2 dreadful periods of lethargy, thumping headaches and nausea. The problem was electrolytes, I wasn’t getting enough salts. Sodium, potassium and magnesium are the usual culprits. I use pink Himalayan salt and put 1/4 tsp in my juice bottle now and feel great. dietdoctor.com/low-carb/ket... Here is a link to Diet Doctor on supplements. It’s a good site and is evidence-based. I wouldn’t immediately jump to conclusions about more serious health problems, it’s still early days on keto and you might just still be having teething issues.
Thank you
Definitely a possibility. It's often the case that when we've got the lurgy (or the keto flu) we think we've got cancer, and we haven't. 99% of the time the mundane explanation is the correct one.
OTOH if there is something more complicated going on here, it's perhaps better to know about it sooner rather than later.
Absolutely appalling story from Peanut31 there. I hope your (Persephone's) doctor is a bit more switched-on. Testing only for TSH to check thyroid function is just daft - I'm not a doctor, but it's completely obvious to me that just measuring the control hormone without measuring the output hormones tells you next-to-nothing. It seems to me that the NHS spends a lot of time and money doing gee-whiz testing for no purpose whatsoever: thus we have millions of people being dosed up with dangerous drugs for "high cholesterol", and people like Peanut31 there - whose condition can can managed in a fairly straightforward manner given a proper testing protocol - being denied access to treatment.
Aaanyway ... hopefully there's nothing wrong with you and it is just an extended bout of keto flu!
Hi there,
Just reading this thread with interest. TheAwfulToad is a mine of information! Wondering if Keto or low carb is in advisable as I do have an under active thyroid- I am on 100mcg Levothyroxine. I started reducing carbs 3 weeks ago - list a couple of pounds now put them back . I have lost some centimetres though.Many thanks😁
A lot of people with thyroid issues do quite well on keto, so it could be worth trying. For Hashimotos I think nothing beats the autoimmune protocol though, and I would suggest trying that first.
Thanks for your reply Cooper27. I am sticking with it. We are off on holiday this weekend- but it shouldn’t be too difficult to do low carb in the Mediterranean 😁. I plan to order keto sticks to help when I get home- I want to be sure I get into this ‘fat burning mode’ TheAwfulToad and others talk about. I have found Dr Jason Fung videos really insightful too!👍
I haven't watched a whole lot of his stuff, but Jason Fung is very very good at explaining complex topics in a straightforward manner. I'd recommend any of his videos to someone wanting to know the scientific whys and wherefores behind LCHF.
Thanks for your reply TheAwfulToad. I agree, Jason Fung does explain things very clearly - that’s partly why I decided to give LCHF a go. I have found the discussion threads on hers very helpful too!😁
Read all the above with interest .. please let us know what happens one way or another!
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