On Mon, 8 Jul 2002, ozzie abroad wrote:

> I actually experienced some very severe
> versions of what some of you have reported about
> ketosis, plus other symptoms, and was forced to give
> up pure Paleo eating after about 4 weeks for that
> reason, as some of these symptoms (initial
> irritability and sleep difficulties, progressing to
> severe hair-trigger temper, nightmares and then even
> severe daytime anxiety), created havoc in my life -
> and disappeared overnight after eating some grain
> foods, as no amount of fruit/veg or (I think) fats
> (e.g. I was having plenty of fatty fish, nuts &
> avocado, i THINK) helped. I have finally decided to
> post to this list to see if anyone can throw any light
> on these problems.

The first time I experimented with extended ketosis, I had an
experience something like this.  It took over two months to
happen, though.  I began to experience mood swings, panic
attacks, and fairly frequent palpitations.  All symptoms
disappeared when I added some starches back.  My conjecture is
that the symptoms were caused by hypoglycemia, a result of an
inability to produce enough glucose by means of gluconeogenesis,
for some reason.  Hypoglycemia causes cortisol and adrenaline to
be released, etc.

When I subsequently repeated the ketosis experiment I didn't have
these problems.

Incidentally, while I never noticed any difficulty with mental
focus while in ketosis, I have noticed that this is the time when
I will experience the greatest carb cravings.  For example, when
I have a stack of student papers to mark I will often have to
spend long hours reading and analyzing them.  The work is
demanding because the papers are often very similar to each
other, and it's easy to blur them together.  When I am doing this
work I will get powerful cravings for carbs.

Todd Moody
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