not really new.. just quiet so a ‘late’ introduction of myself ;)
Hi all fellow low carbers!! :)I’m on what feels like my hundredth (a
word? lol) shot at Atkins.. Everytime though, by my 2nd day I’m
so ‘foggy’ (I just can’t think right.. almost similar to the feeling
when you’re TOO drunk- not just really drunk, but TOO drunk). I’m a
911 dispatcher, so i can’t afford any hesitations in my thought
process.. Even a momentary hesitation can be the difference in life
or death for one of our officers/firefighters or callers.. In the
past, I’ve stuck with the diet for up to 2 weeks and the shaky,
dizzy feeling all the time and constant brain fog don’t go away
(which leads me to believe it’s more than just carb withdrawl..)
Anyone have any ideas?? Even though I feel so sluggish and ‘heavy’ I
can barely walk (my muscles just ache terribly) I try to exercise
but the dizziness and lightheadedness are so bad i literally fall
off the side of the treadmill!! 
I’m taking a multi-vitamin and drinking lots of water! What could I
be doing wrong???? Any help or thoughts are greatly appreciated 
Thanks all- and it’s good to meet you Dawna
January 30th, 2004 at 11:04 am
Date: Mon, 08 Sep 2003 23:24:49 -0000
From: “Dawna”
so ‘foggy’ (I just can’t think right.. almost similar to the feeling
when you’re TOO drunk- not just really drunk, but TOO drunk). In the
past, I’ve stuck with the diet for up to 2 weeks and the shaky,
dizzy feeling all the time and constant brain fog don’t go away
(which leads me to believe it’s more than just carb withdrawl..)
Anyone have any ideas?? Even though I feel so sluggish and ‘heavy’ I
can barely walk (my muscles just ache terribly) I try to exercise
but the dizziness and lightheadedness are so bad i literally fall
off the side of the treadmill!!
Hi Dawna,
You may have candida (yeast). I never had any overt symptoms of yeast
when I started Atkins but I had been having “brain fog” and feeling tired
all the time. I won’t get into the details but the Atkins diet led me to
find out that I had candida throughout my digestive system. It feeds on
carbs, especially simple ones like sugar. When a dieter cuts these out, the
yeast begins to starve and die off. This releases massive amounts of toxins
into the bodily system and the symptoms can be exactly what you describe.
Put in a search and you can find tons of websites detailing candida symptoms
and ways to alleviate the symptoms. Don’t know if this is your problem but
it’s worth checking out.
Sherry
January 30th, 2004 at 7:32 pm
Well, I didn’t have fatigue the first week but had it really bad the
2nd and 3rd weeks of the diet. Then it went away. A friend whose
doing this diet with me had fatigue REALLY bad for the first month.
It eventually goes away so maybe you’re one of those unlucky people
that takes longer to get on track. Yeah, the fatigue is really
something, aching, like you don’t want to move, just physically sick.
But it should work itself out.
Jen
February 3rd, 2004 at 11:04 pm
Dawna,
I experienced the same exact symptoms my first week. I consulted a
nutritionist who suggested adding more carbs back in mainly from
veggies spread throughout the day. Also, I got a prescription for
potassium. Normally your body requires 3000mg daily. You usually
get that from most foods including fruits and veggies. I took 1200mg
extra daily and immediately started feeling better. Every day
following the supplements my energy increased and I could decrease
the carbs back down to 20 and under. Hope this helps!
Anna
183/175/145