Hi all,

This has happened to me before when doing low carb and I don't want it to stop me from doing it this time.

When I wake up first in the morning, this is anytime after it has become light out (I can't see that it's light out we have black out blinds in the room), I start to have heart palpitations. Here's what we did last time to rule out actual medical problems:

EKG completely normal
ALL the blood tests, still normal (Thyroid normal)
Tried me on a anti anxiety medication after they start in the morning, no change.

So I'm fairly certain it's something to do with this LC diet. Of course it took a short time last time after I went back to normal carbing for it to go away but I can't figure out what is missing (nutrient wise) that is causing this.

I have been supplementing with a magnesium and potassium from my NP.

Is there something I'm missing? The thing that makes it really weird is I only have this symptom when I first wake up and it goes away shortly and doesn't come again until the next morning.

A few theories I have:
1. Can I dehydrate that much between night and morning that this could be my problem?

2. Is there something to this WOE in the early stages that causes an increase in stress hormones (adrenalline and cortisol)?

I do not drink caffeine throughout the day, just had 1 cup in the morning about 8:30 but today I'm ditching caffeinated coffee altogether except what trace amount is in the decaf.

Does anyone else experience this ONLY IN THE MORNING? Thank you for all of your help and support.

The magnesium and potassium supplement nets only 90 mg each, I'll be slowly increasing that I understand I can intake around 1000 of magnesium, not sure about the potassium.

Are you eating salt? If you are losing too much water, you will throw all your electrolytes out of whack. By keeping salt up, you will eliminate Atkins flu and your body will rebalance all electrolytes to normal. Potassium/sodium balance is critical and by supplementing only potassium, you will throw them further off balance. Too much potassium can cause serious cardiac problems (including cardiac arrest in extreme cases).

Look for Nancy's salt thread and/or read Phinney and Volek's The Art and Science of Low Carb Performance, an excellent reference for anyone embarking on the low carb way of eating. http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Scien...ate+performance

Thank you for your reply, this isn't low carb flu. I'm eating plenty of regular salt and the supplement I'm using is both magnesium and potassium, but I wasn't sure if they were 1:1 supplementation to keep them balanced.

But I've been doing the broth thing twice a day with a pat of butter and that nixed the flu symptoms when I first had them.

These morning palpitations are different. And of course you know if I go to the doc the first thing they will do is tell me to stop eating low carb.

You might look at stopping the potasuim. Or research it to see what too much can do.

From the brief research I did a while ago, i remember it can also cause that problem too.

Quick google search...

http://chemocare.com/chemotherapy/s...px#.UwUH5PldXxQ

I don't know what you have or haven't done and when.

I wouldn't guess with potassuim. There is a test for measuring it. Find out and see if it is low/high. But first I would stop it for a while before any blood test. To figure out what your baseline is.

Are you in menopause or perimeno? I had horrible palpitations for about a year. It was a "feature" of menopause. I'd been LC for a long time prior.

Thank you! Maybe I will stop supplementing at all for a while. And just try to get as much magnesium from foods as possible. Just see if the problem resolves on its own.

I'm going to call my NP tomorrow and see about a visit and then we can plan tests to make sure all is going ok.

Two other things that can cause palps are: thyroid (either hyper or hypo) and too much caffeine.

For the meno-related palpitations, booze and caffeine made them much much worse.

I don't know if I'm in meno or perimenopause, they seem to have an aversion to testing for that at my docs office. Also I've had a hysterectomy so I can't tell from strange TOM things. But I still have my ovaries so no forced menopause. The thing that makes me think it's the diet and not menopause is because when I went back to eating normally for 8 months I didn't have the symptoms. I also wasn't supplementing except for Vitamin c.

I only ever have 1 cup of caffeinated coffee a day, no caffeinated drinks otherwise. And I don't drink alcohol, I just don't like it much. I am giving up caffeine but I don't really think it's related to this because when I had it before (oddly last year about the same time) I wasn't using caffeine at all.

I had my thyroid tested, the full test not the dinky one they do at the yearly physical and it was normal. But the one at my yearly physical was also normal.

Ugh, maybe I get quite enough stuff without supplementation and it's the supplements that are causing this. But I'm thrilled if you have any more ideas of what I can try or look at.

Like I said I am going to call my ND tomorrow and get an appointment, she'll do some blood work and make sure it all looks good.

In regards to Caffiene.

When I finally gave it up. it caused a whole host of issue with me during withdrawal.

And whenever I went back to it, to help get me threw the day. I had horrible withdrawals from one can of coke.

Maybe combination of things.

Oh, and I have taken supplements just cause, and I found that they can cause problems. I use to take vitamin C and realized that can make my periods much much worse... Surprised me. Cause I was always told what your body doesn't use it will pee out.

From my experience on my body that just isn't true.

Yeah, I'm going to back off the supplements. But this isn't because of caffeine withdrawal, I only stopped today and I had the symptoms yesterday as well.

I don't want to minimize your concern and discomfort but maybe these aren't really anything to worry about at all. You had quite a few tests last time and ruled out heart problems and thyroid issues. Though you don't say how long the palpitations last I assume they go away on their own?

I get palpitations from time to time. I did so before eating low carb and I still do. I mostly just ignore them lol! It's quite possible that yours are not associated with eating low carb at all and it is coincidental timing. Of course there's no way to know for sure.

I understand yours may be totally different than mine and this is just my experience so take it with a large grain of salt. Here's a link from Mayo Clinic that might be informative and comforting. http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-...on/con-20034780

I'm sorry you have this issue. I hope it resolves soon.

I guess I didn't explain that. They are in the mornings and happen every single morning to the point where (the last time it happened) I was surviving on very little sleep which lead to some pretty serious mood issues. When I was on the normal eating style it seemed to go away. It went on for like 6 months and it's just started up again and I've been on the WOE 2.5 weeks exactly.

BUT, I did (like a complete moron) take an extra potassium this morning thinking it was a deficiency and now I'm having palpitations all day long. So this is leading me to believe that it may be either a sensitivity to supplements or to potassium. (In other words I have enough in my body and supplementing isn't necessary).

I'm so grateful for everyone's responses. And I hope the tone of my responses hasn't been anything other than grateful. I'm sure you can imagine how things can me colored by discomfort.

I think it may still be wise to see my ND and get some blood tests run again. She can order more than the regular doctors can because she doesn't need to have cause. I do have to pay for some of them out of pocket but they at least get the health insurance discount.

But for now, I'll keep reading responses to this post so I can have more things to talk to doc about and I'll just hang on tight for a few days and hope the discontinuation of the supplementation does the trick.

How low carb are you? I wonder if raising your carbs *just a little* might alleviate your symptoms but still allow you to lose weight? There are many different ways to do Low Carb, not everyone has to be in Nutritional Ketosis. Ketosis can sometimes give you *so much energy* it is hard to sleep. It usually passes for most people, but perhaps you are particularly sensitive to that extra energy.

Or…this could be the beginning of menopause. Even though your ovaries were not removed, sometimes they give up the ghost when the uterus "disappears", sending you into an earlier than expected menopause.

I think you are on the right track talking to your doctor tomorrow. Are you sure she is going to be anti low carb? Can you just tell her you're eliminating junk food? Let her guess what that means….