Sleep ... or lack of

[reluctant_whale]

I have done a search for this (paranoid about repeating stuff ..) but I can't find much.

My sleeping pattern has changed soooo much since ive started Atkins woe. Really don't know how I feel about it ...

First week .. night sweats & terrors, woke up every hour and up at the crack of dawn.

Week two .. Still finding it hard to get off to sleep but sleeping through more ... but waking up SOOO early ... 6:45 this morning.

This is the girl who needed 9 hours just to hold a conversation. To be honest I am tired .. but I just cannot sleep.

Anyone experienced any of this? It is so strange because I am usually such a sleepy head. I could easily have slept 9 or 10 hours .. plus a 3 hour nap per day on a weekend. I'm lucky if I get 6 now ..

 

[boggins]

Yes. During my carb-withdrawal phase I had all the classic addict's symptoms- up half the night, shakes, sweats, bad dreams. Like something from Trainspotting!

Once it all calmed down I found I sleep better than I have in years. Totally soundly. I don't remember my dreams very often, it's just bam- lights out. I get around 8 hours now, mostly straight through. I wake up around 7am almost without fail. I did have rare nights with bad dreams where I woke up with my heart pounding, though that seems to have stopped.

A lot of people report better sleep in the long term, so hopefully yours will settle down too.

 

[reluctant_whale]

That's interesting you mentioned your heart beating fast when you woke up = that's what I keep getting, waking up dripping in sweat with my heart racing - infact I don't feel too well at all when it happens. So that's it then .. im an addict ... makes sense though! xx

 

[Kat1e]

Yep - suffered terribly to start here. Sometimes get it now if i have an off plan dinner - definately not good for you those pesky carbs!

 

[losingit]

re the heart pounding thing, as crazy as this sounds it could come from a lack of salt, i had this issue although mine was at night rather than first thing in the morning, and adding salt to my diet cured it. It could also of course be too much salt that causes the same thing, so tread carefully! Or, simply carb withdrawal.

I sleep much less since i started low-carbing. I sleep around 7 hours per night and sleep very well most of the time, but i wake up early full of energy and ready to leap out of bed.

 

[AnnieAnnie]

The pounding thing can also be lack of potassium. It also can give you cramp. Spinach & salmon are both,high in it.

 

[Lily]

This might sound counterintuitive but the other thing that's supposed to help is having something slightly carby last thing at night before going to bed (a small oatcake and butter or something like it (4-5g carb)). Maybe not something to try in Atkins induction, but once you've got a few more carbs to play with...

Can't remember the rationale behind it right now (at a guess it's a serotonin/tryptophan thing) but it was advice given on a low carb forum I used to belong to years ago and it did seem to work. I know the horrors of insomnia only too well - it's horrible when you know you've got a busy day coming up but you just can't get to sleep.

 

[Tamzy1989]

omg omg, i just thought that my body was changing!i havent been able to sleep for long hrs as i used to and infact i keep waking up several times in the night forcing myself back to sleep, didnt no it was a carb withdrawal thing, because i find myself waking up at 6am when im used to sleeping till 2pm lol

 

[letsgetlosing]

Yes have noticed a change in sleep. Seem to be dreaming more, waking up very refreshed at about 530am but ready for bed by 9 !

 

[boggins]

In my case the more recent nightmares and heart pounding may be simply that I can't breathe- I tend to lie tummy-down and sometimes get my face snarfed into the pillow. So far I haven't identified any common food factor that might explain it. I thought it was sweetener, but no. Not had it for a few weeks now. *shrug* At the beginning it was definitely carb withdrawal- vivid dreams about long supermarket aisles, every shelf filled with chocolate boxes!

 

[coffeelover]

I find when I drink a lots of water I have loads of energy and can't sleep.

 

[crowther64]

I am my first week and I feel so restless, but tired!! I feel jittery and toss and turn all night. I hope this is because I am new to this and I will get back to a normal sleep pattern!

 

[reluctant_whale]

Crowther, I am in week 2 and I am the same .. you have described it to a tee... It is calming down a bit now, I have been so tired and groggy today, nearly 2 weeks without a decent nights kip and I am starting to get a bit fed up of it. Hopefully it will calm down. My job is too stressful to be running on empty!

 

[europabug]

I didn't have very severe sleep problem, in general i slept better but i did use to get very severe night cramp in both calves that woke me up most nights. They have stopped now as i'm not dieting quite as drasticly. When i read up i found out it was from an lack of electrolytes as the go lower diet plan is very low in sodium and other things. I sipped a glass with a pinch of salt, sugar and flour and it solved the problem immediately. Maybe it is causing sleep issues too.

X

 

[Spanglymum]

I get really bad night sweats (nice!) and extremely vivid dreams and nightmares. I remember this from when I started LL so I'm sure it's a carb withdrawal thing. Am looking forward to settling in to ketosis and getting back a bit more to normal, as well as having more energy in the day.

europabug - I see you're the same height as me and we have similar goals! I haven't put a ticker on my signature recently as I'm too scared to step on the scales and see what I've gained post-Christmas, and also with faffing about doing low-carb half-heartedly. I expect I'm a bit heavier than you at the moment though. Are you doing Atkins or a different low carb woe?

 

[europabug]

Hi Spangly,
I am doing my own version of low carb, based on what i learned doing go lower a year ago. Im not carb counting yet as i am still losing reasonable amount while getting away with eating chocolate sometimes (Yesterday i was weak and ate a big slice of my homemade banana bread) My current diet involves lots of lean meat and vegetables, the occasional apple, berries and melon and plenty of dairy. i have ostioperosis in the family and so want to keep my calcium up. i also use milk as a snack and to keep my liquid up. i still eat fairly sugary sauces on stirfrys and ketchup but in general avoid. I dont eat anything substantial after about 5pm, if im hungry i will have a low carb hotchoc or a slice of melon. Also i drink about 2-2.5litres of water/milk a day.
My experience is that the more 'normal' you eat the easier it is to change to a maintaining diet and the less effect it will have on your motabolism. I particularily try to eat a good volume of food even if it is entirely vegetables.

So far it's going fine, i have decided to do a less drastic version this time to make it more steady and so i can still have some treats. 4 lbs my first week and so am aiming for 1.5-2lbs a week from now on. This should get me to under 11stone by june.

You should weigh yourself you might be pleasently surprised, or if not it is better to catch it as soon as possible for damage control. Are you on atkins?

 

[Spanglymum]

I weighed myself last week and was pretty appalled. Weighed myself again today and it's even worse! So I'm going to do a few weeks of vlcd to get back on track and spend the time away from food working out what went wrong and how to prevent it happening again. I am sure that Atkins or something similar would work well for me in future, but I hate hate hate feeling fat and bizarrely it acts as a trigger for me to punish myself with all the wrong foods. Mad, eh?!

Anyway - I know I *can* maintain effectively. I stayed size 10/12 for all of last year (having been a size 22 previously). Things just started to go to pot around Christmas, and I never really got back on track afterwards.

 

[reluctant_whale]

Just a catch up for any that read all the way through the thread - my sleep is amazing now - wake up much earlier than normal, and am totally ready for bed by 10 .. but when I am in bed I sleep through all night - not even waking for my lifetime 1am wee !

So anyone with sleep problems I promise you it does go xx

 

[coffeelover]

Good luck with the vlcd

 

[24772433]

I haven't noticed a difference in my sleeping pattern, but I wake up few times in the night anyway, have done for yrs never sleep more than 4 hrs without waking. I used to sleep 8 hrs easy undisturbed but when I gave up the cigarettes about 8 yrs ago I have never slept right through the night. I have noticed I have a lot more energy and I don't get tried in the day, which I used to before and I always had mild headaches everyday, they have stopped, so limited carbs for me are making me feel so much better.