Blog

1

It seems like some of my symptoms are coming back. Not as bad as it used to be though. I've put a bounty on this question because it's a personal question. If I'd ask this to a doctor I'd have to pay.

I often wake up at night with a racing heartbeat (most of the time I also have to pee at the same time).
My sinuses complain again, like last year on a vegan diet. I thought it was a lack of vitamin D, but I don't think that's possible anymore (I supplement 5000IU daily). It like a constant pressure between my eyes that gets worse when I look at a computer screen.
Energy levels are constantly low but steady. When I wake up I'm energetic, but that energy disappears after a couple of hours.
My great mood is gone. I'm still calm and all, but sometimes I find it hard to control emotions.
My libido is practically nihil. I used to have uncontrollable sexual urges on SAD.

I can live with all these, but I wanna do as good as I can, so : can anybody tell me what I'm doing wrong?

Background :

It's been six months since I started paleo. I never cheated and didn't eat nuts, nightshades, fruits, starchy vegetables or dairy. Every day I've eaten at least 6 tablespoons of coconut oil (most of the time twice as many).
I try eating offal often but my butcher never has any (though there's 2 pounds of liver waiting for me in his freezer atm, but I don't have a car so I have to ask my father to drive me there). When I have enough money to buy a crock pot I'll start making bone broth too.

  • I did 3 months of almost 2 pounds of vegetables daily, most of the time with eggs or irish beef. I wasted way too many time on food preparing, so ...
  • I did a month Zero-Carb. My skin got worse, some problems came back (like my sinus problems) so I stopped after a month (I also had a constant craving for brussel sprouts at that time). Unfortunately, the problems didn't really go away again. There is one thing that improved a lot on this diet : my mood. I was constantly in a good mood, very calm, ... My energy also weren't lower than on VLC, which surprised me.
  • For the past 2 months I've only been eating fried vegetables (mostly brussel sprouts, pumpkin, turnips, zucchini, jerusalem artichokes, some onions, some spinach, some parsley), and some raw things like cilantro, lemons and cucumber. I also started eating wild alaska salmon, spices & salt regularly.

During those 6 months, I also took supplements : B-complex, Fat-soluble vitamins, Magnesium, cod liver oil, (most of the sups Dr. K recommends).

Oh, and why is sherpamelissa suspended until the 4th of May??

flag
How do I add a bounty to this question? – Korion Dec 12 2011 at 16:21
4 
 Sherpamelissa suspended??? I must have missed something... – Dave S. Dec 12 2011 at 16:38
I'll add a bounty whenever I can and will reward somebody immediately. – Korion Dec 12 2011 at 17:43

9 Answers

14

Sounds like you need some starch son.

EDIT:

In all seriousness... it looks like you need glucose. Your cortisol is probably out of wack causing the sleep/energy issues.

You know, it actually takes glucose to digest all those veggies... so your probably using even more than you were on ZC.

Maybe try experimenting with yams or potatoes?

link|flag
7 
 +1 This. Best to read this answer while imagining the voice of Foghorn Leghorn. "Lookit here son, I say son, ..." With the emphasis on "starch". – Dave S. Dec 12 2011 at 16:33
Ha! Right on Dave! – Bill Dec 12 2011 at 16:49
Vegetables need glucose to digest??? Dayum! – Korion Dec 12 2011 at 17:42
11

I'm a lonely voice on this but I think you're hitting the coconut oil a little hard. It's a healthy part of your overall diet, but it's not a whole food to be eaten in large quantities.

How much whole coconut do you have to eat to ingest 6 tablespoons of oil? A lot! Try using 2 or 3 tbsp as part of a meal and see if anything good happens.

link|flag
That's a great point. I've tried to cut down on it, but it helps my skin :). – Korion Dec 12 2011 at 17:43
Super, very much agreed! The logic of "how many of the whole foods does this equal" should also be applied to nut flours, and anything else "paleo" that is concentrated and then applied intravenously. – Krisha C. Dec 15 2011 at 15:24
@Korion, you could also try just rubbing it on your skin (esp. coconut butter). It makes you smell like coconuts, but some people say it works wonders. – Krisha C. Dec 15 2011 at 15:25
7

You need more carbs. My libido fell drastically on VLC and I have a very high libido At first it was kinda nice to not have it on my mind all the time. Then I started feeling worse in other ways. I think the low libido along with some other signs like racing heart beat, excess sweating, low energy, and dizziness. Where all sings I should have picked up on earlier. Just throw in a little carbs white rice is super cheap and easy to make and your body will slip right back into fat burning if you want it to. No two week low carb flu this time.

link|flag
Exactly : low libido is kinda handy :D. I've been afraid of the evil potato long enough, so I'll listen to your advice. – Korion Dec 12 2011 at 17:52
My libido is through the roof on LC-VLC (been like this for years now). Everyone is different. – Josh M Dec 13 2011 at 14:42
7

The waking in the middle of the night and low libido are related to cortisol. You'll need to get that under control. Yes, VLC can cause this, so can other forms of stress.

If you really don't want to add carbs, which is the easiest path to help fix this, add more protein and you'll go the neoglucogenesis path instead.

But yes, check your situation for sources of stress as well. How are your workouts? You're not doing something insane like doing CrossFit every day and skipping carbs are you?

In terms of libido, are you getting enough Zinc? Maybe switch to ZMA?

link|flag
I'd rather add protein instead of carbs to be honest. Protein doesn't work well for my skin. I tried supplementing zinc, it doesn't do a lot. I don't do crossfit :), I do some small workouts 3 times weekly. Thanks a lot! – Korion Dec 12 2011 at 17:44
By protein, I meant a hunk of meat, not powder. :) – raydawg Dec 12 2011 at 20:10
1 
 Oh ... :) I've decided to eat a big steak after every workout. Like yesterday. It worked great :) – Korion Dec 13 2011 at 8:32
3

First off, if your muscle and liver glycogen are completely depleted, why dont you go ahead and refill it by eating 400-500 grams of carbs over a 48hr period.

If you won't do that, then do this, overeat protein by consuming whey protein shakes, your body will convert it to glucose (which is why you should just eat the potatoes instead).

I recommend cutting caffeine out of your diet if its in your diet.

Also, throw in a nice fasting day to balance everything out.

Enjoy!

link|flag
1 
 Can't eat whey (gives me horrible skin issues), but I'll definitely add carbs :). – Korion Dec 12 2011 at 17:56
2

You sound very much like myself a few months back; sinus, skin, sleep and libido issues.

From my understanding it was the hormonal link between histamine, epinephrine, cortisol and possibly T3 that all contributed to this hormonal flux situation. The lack of balance between histamine, epinephrine and cortisol can create a small short intense peak of energy (waking needing to urinate) that quickly dissipates, leaving one tired and utterly drained.

Paleo helped me but I needed additional support in order to improve more consistently. I added kelp, kefir, bone broth, chlorella and liquorish, these helped. The most important addition was an excess of calories with absolute avoidance of caffeine and stimulants.

Hope this helps (I'm terrible at getting my point across)

link|flag
Thanks Scotty. Bone broth is definitely on my to-do list. Today I did have a huge flush. Apparently, I might be citrus intolerant, or histamine intolerant. I've cut out lemons out of my diet now. I also noticed that apple cider vinegar really really helps. What do you mean by "excess of calories with ..."? You're eating way more? And it helped? – Korion Dec 15 2011 at 15:01
Just eating more seems to allow the body to 'waste' more resources on repair and also more likely to have all the nutritional components needed for that repair. – Scotty Von Porkchop Dec 16 2011 at 11:56
Have you considered if you are a high histamine type of person (histadelia)? I'm a OCD highly sexed perfectionist; all signs of high histamine, I've always been like this. I haven't yet entirly figured it out but balacing zinc and copper and lots of vitC helped a little. – Scotty Von Porkchop Dec 16 2011 at 12:04
1

Specifically for your sinuses, have you had problems with them for most of your life, on-and-off? Because I have sinuses that act up, have done since I was little, finally got them scanned and it turns out they are just very undeveloped and kind of collapsed into themselves, with little pockets that easily harbor bacterial infections. It may just be a structural problem- I got a few sinus surgeries to get tubes put in, but that actually did not help much. For me, it's been really important to just neti-pot every night with a bit of sea salt dissolved in warm water. If I feel like I have a bacterial infection (that pounding behind the eyes headache), I usually add a bit of baking soda to the mix. It is amazing how clear sinuses just make everything seem much better: my headache goes away, my mood improves, and I am significantly less distracted in my work/life.

Taking the advice to add a little starchy-carbs into your diet to keep you sleeping throughout the night, decreasing the coconut oil a bit, and adding a regular sinus-cleaning routine might make you feel much better! You never know though, everyones different, in your case it may not be a structural sinus problem..

link|flag
I've had sinus problems in the past, but they never annoyed me until last year. I will try the neti pot today, I actually bought one online last week :). Thanks! – Korion Dec 16 2011 at 15:06
0

Maybe you shouldn't eat 1800 kcal worth of coconut oil every day.

link|flag
0

And from out of left field - how about doing a little colon cleansing?? A few colonics, some enemas, maybe even some fiber and bentonite. You made a big improvement in your way of eating and this return of 'symptoms' might just be sludge in your liver and lower digestive tract that your body is trying to eliminate.

link|flag
Wait, are you seriously recommending a colon cleanse for my sinuses, my libido and my mood? – Korion Dec 15 2011 at 17:35
1 
 I wouldn't recommend a colon cleanse, it's not going to help your sinuses, libido, or mood. If you really want a "colon cleanse" just eat a little more fiber, but it's not going to be very useful for the problems you mentioned... – JeJ Dec 16 2011 at 1:05
Yes, I am. A colon cleanse cleans out the small intestine as well as the large. A little more fiber is a slow way, but good, too. – Paleo Doll Dec 21 2011 at 2:35

Your Answer

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.