What caused these terrible symptoms at the gym?
 

Hello everyone :wave:

Today I started having some terrible symptoms at the gym, had to lie down and eventually once I was able to do so, I left. I don't know for certain what happened and I don't want it to happen again. I'm interested in getting your opinions/suggestions.

Background:

-I've been doing Stronglifts 5x5 for several months

-I have been a low-carber on one form or another of LC for the last four years.

-For the last several months I have been on the Anabolic/Metabolic Diet (DiPasquale)

-Today I was to start a new routine at the gym, moving away from Stronglifts. Lower weights, more reps, resistance, different exercises.

-I went to the gym first thing in the morning as usual after having ingested in the hour or two prior:
2g L-Carnitine
3g BCAA
30g protein (whey powder)
1g Vit C

This exact scenario I am about to describe also happened a few months ago. At the time I concluded that it must have been caused by the Glutamine I was taking at the time which I thought may have been impacting my ability to enter Ketosis after the weekend carb cycle. However, I have not taken Glutamine since that day and the problem has never repeated itself until today.

What happened:

On my way to the gym I started to feel cramping type abdominal pain that would come and go in waves - bad but tolerable.

I started working out on the new routine, nothing crazy, just a few sets on the bench press when it all started:

The abdominal pain became much worse, continued to come and go in waves but to the point of being debilitating in that I could not continue.

I decided I would leave and go home but just then as I was getting to the door I suddenly began to feel very weak, lightheaded, and began sweating very profusely (unusual for me even when at the gym). The abdominal cramps coupled with nausea. I began walking to the back of the gym to lie down and nearly blacked out as I was getting there (everything kind of going black, much like what people occasionally feel when their blood pressure drops suddenly when they get up quickly).

My trainer told me to lie on my back and put my feet up which I did. It was not exceptionally helpful although I did not pass out which is where I thought I might be headed. He told me that this could by hypoglycemia especially since I am not eating carbs. Having been LC for years I don't really buy into that... He handed me a small square of chocolate and told me it should make me feel better (I was feeling pretty horrible so I was open to any solution). Didn't seem to do anything other than make me want to throw up and it took me a while to manage to chew and swallow it.

Anyways this is all the relevant stuff that happened. Eventually I managed to come home but it took a long while.

(TL,DR: began feeling lightheaded, sweating profusely, abdominal cramps, nausea, felt like I was about to pass out, long time to recover enough to leave.)

What the heck happened and how can I prevent this from ever happening again? I am going to have to try and go back to the gym and finish my workout today but honestly I am a bit aprehensive...

It is worth noting 2 additional thoughts:

1. This was my first time taking BCAAs.
2. While I have been taking carnitine all month, I was taking a powder mix of 1g of L-Carnitine & 1g of Acetyl-l-carnitine. ~Today I switched to 2x1g L-Carnitine pills.

Hard to say... I'd talk to a doc if it continued happening.

It happened once today and once months ago when I took Glutamine before going. Otherwise I've been fine... The only thing I did differently today (in terms of supps/food) than usual was the BCAA and the different type of Carnitine.

I've had some odd symptoms when taking carnitine too. Usually getting too warm and a racing heart.

The cramping sounds like IBS to me. I used to get those like mad when I was eating wheat (gluten).

Hmm...IBS? I'm not sure but I doubt it - I only eat wheat on saturday and sunday, the rest of the week I am essentially at 100% beef and whey protein and not much else. It could have been the different form of Carnitine, I know some people have gastrointestinal issues with Carnitine.

My trainer said it was hypoglycemia and based on my reading it may be so...or low blood pressure... I really don't know, just speculating.

Hmm, the fact that you are still eating wheat makes hypoglycemia more likely. If you were fully keto-adapted it would be unlikely (unless you are diabetic or pre-diabetic), but if you are still cycling carbs in and out, it can't be ruled out. Have you considered going continuously low carb?

Did the trainer test your blood glucose? Or is he just assuming that everyone that eats low carb suffers from hypoglycemia?

The light headed feeling, I have had that from reactive hypoglycemia. Especially from fractionated food pills like BCAA without any carbs. Also the hit of whey protein without carbs or fat, could that have made a big insulin spike, which would have demanded that your liver shoot out a big squirt of glycogen-to-glucose, to balance out the insulin overload.

What was the state of your glycogen stores in muscle and liver? If you had been training to depletion the day or so earlier, and your body had not refilled glycogen fast enough from protein, then I can see getting in a glucose crisis state.

Your training regimen could be moderate-to-high glucose demanding depending on frequency and intensity. perhaps you are asking for more glucose than your body can make from diet.

I too felt awful with exercise from fractionated nutrient pills instead of real food, and I added smart carbs to support exercise. There are low carb web sites that have a lot of exercise lovers like Robb Wolf's and Mark Sisson's - I would try what they do.

Wheat doesn't take weekends off from being rude to the intestinal tract.