The FastDay Forum

I am feeling really awful this morning. Bad headache and dizzy (touch of nausea but I think the headache might be early migraine). Having read the negative side-effects thread I suspect this is due to me having to get up early in the morning (I get up 5.30 am weekdays so that I can get into work before traffic makes the journey horrible) and cycling. I ate breakfast as normal but found it difficult to get out of bed this morning.

Does anyone else get similar symptoms? Any advice about how what I can do to feel better?

How do you feel the day after a fast? I didn't want to eat this morning but made myself have some toast, apple and a bit of cheese (my usual breakfast). I struggled with the cycling this morning (only 40 mins but the last part is a long hill) and am wondering if I have depleted my blood sugar levels.

I got a migraine and nauseous following my first ever fast. I think it was due to a caffeine withdrawal and dehydration. I am a terrible Pepsi Max addict and was trying to cut down on that at the same time as starting my 5:2 diet. So for me I have decided to not worry about my Pepsi addiction and drink plenty of it during fast days. I haven't had a problem since and I am now 4 weeks or so into the new lifestyle.

I don't drink tea, coffee or have diet drinks so I am pretty sure it is not caffeine withdrawal. Am having a hot chocolate to see if that helps.

Hi, I struggled yesterday with my second ever fast day but once I decided to eat my main meal at lunchtime I was fine for the rest of the day apart from a nasty headache. I've woken up with it this morning and also feel a little dizzy!

However, looking back I didnt drink as much water as I did on my first fast day so thats probably where I went wrong.

On thursday I'm going to follow the same fast time as I did last week - 8.30pm to 8.30pm as it was much easier to contend with. Mimi Spencer confirmed this was acceptable via Twitter too.

[carorees]

By depleted blood sugar, you mean depleted glycogen. Your blood sugar is kept pretty tightly controlled by your body unless you are diabetic. After fasting the first carbs you eat go to restoring glycogen stores. However, low glycogen does not give the symptoms you describe...I think the only symptom is hunger. After fasting your insulin levels will be low and are slower to respond to food than normal so you may get a slightly higher blood sugar than usual, which may be why people feel energised after a fast.

If you are feeling the opposite, it may be due to dehydration which is a problem during fasting as you need so much more fluid than usual.

I wouldn't force yourself to eat if you don't feel like it...many people find they don't fancy anything to eat until mid morning after a fast.

I expect as your body gets used to fasting you won't find this happening.

Hi

I agree with Carorees. I also think that if you are feeling so terrible why not try upping your calories on a fast day so that you have an extra 100 cal snack before you go to bed. I've read a study (can't find it now) that suggests you slowly integrate fasts into your life. If this is truly a lifestyle change for you then eating slightly more on fast days for a couple of weeks until your body is used to it is not going to hurt you.

I think we should treat ourselves carefully and respect what our bodies are telling us. Migraines are appalling and anything you can do to avoid getting one is important.

Good luck.

[Moogie]

I would think in part that it is due to you eating this morning when you weren't hungry. If your body doesn't ask for food then it probably doesn't need any just yet.

I find if I eat too early after my fast or have a bigger breakfast than I need, my tummy will gripe at me. Usually (but not always) I don't feel the need to eat until almost lunch time the next day!

I agree with Moogie. The morning after a fast day i never feel hungry until about 11.00am - then, when I do start eating, i get full really quickly.

I felt the same this morning. I think maybe I didn't drink enough water yesterday though and may be a bit dehydrated. I'm not sure, will make sure I drink more on Wednesday when I do my next fast and see if it feels any better. Also probably didn't help I didn't get much sleep last night- was up with my daughter at 4am then couldn't get back to sleep

Caroline - I mean blood glucose (when it is stored it is in the form of glycogen). I have had problems with hypoglycaemia after exercising in the past. I am not diabetic but exercise tends to result in a rapid depletion of my blood glucose levels and, combined with my blood pressure (at the low end of normal), can leave me feeling like this (this hasn't happened for a few years, however). I have recently had problems with my liver function (we suspect gall stones but as yet undiagnosed despite numerous tests, all of which indicate liver function is off but not much else), which could also contribute according to the sources below. Cycling does not normally cause this for me but perhaps combined with a day of fasting might trigger it. I think I may have to consult a doctor if this happens again. Last week I didn't cycle the day after the fasting (but did cycle on the day) as I had to drive to meetings so this is the first combination of incorporating fasting into a "normal" week for me.

I feel much better now (about 45 minutes after eating a tracker bar) although still very slightly shaky.

Symptoms of hypoglycaemia in non-diabetics are

Blurred vision, dizzy, light-headed, shaky, or weak.
Drowsy or tired.
Fast or pounding heartbeat, or sweating more than usual.
Headache.
Nausea (upset stomach) or feeling very hungry.
Irritable, nervous, or confused.
If your sugar is very low, you may faint or have seizures.
From http://www.drugs.com/cg/non-diabetic-hypoglycemia.html

Information also on http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/diseases/facts/bloodsugarlow.htm
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Hypoglycaemia/Pages/Causes.aspx

Thanks for the advice everyone. Am not giving up but will just have to work out how I can do this properly.

I had a pretty easy fast day yesterday, I was trying what I am going to call '5:20Max' (20+ hours fasting with only tea/coffee etc, not even milk), then the evening meal staying within the 600 cals. No headaches or dizziness etc - those days are past! Just the usual tummy rumbles but I tell it to shut up.

Having been reading here about those evil carbs I decided to try breakfast today with just scrambled eggs - no toast, no oats. Nice, but I don't feel as if I have really eaten. I'm not especially hungry but equally I don't have that warm-tummy feeling that I expect after a meal. I'm guessing it's something to do with those missing carbs?

Hi dominic

When you lower your carb intake you must increase the fat to replace it for energy and satiety.

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/#axzz2KfqMIFku
and thedietdoctor.com explains why.

If it's not a fast day, try making your eggs with real butter (the hard kind) and eating bacon with them. Low carb eating is amazing and mixing it with the 5.2 has seen me lose 1.5 stone in 5 weeks. No stalls, no over eating and no cravings. I feel great.

Good luck

Michelle x

I feel fine this morning after a long day with only lots of drinks and a mug of hot marmite. But I had bad headache late afternoon. I remembered somewhere Michael M saying have a paracetamol, so I did and I had an hour in bed - well I am one of the three over 75s. By the way any of those other 75s I'd love to hear from you. This morning I had a naughty weigh in and had lost 1 1/4 lbs. perhaps worth the headache.

[carorees]

Ah so you have a history of hypoglycaemia? Ok. That can happen if you have metabolic inflexibility (a reluctance for your body to switch to fat burning) during a fast and/or during exercise. It is often associated with over weight and high preprandial insulin levels. You can also get hypotension after exercise due to vasodilation. Some people seem to be more sensitive to changes in blood glucose despite it being within normal limits.

It seems that you have an unfortunate combination of circumstances.

I would try to have some complex carbs before going to bed and in the morning. You don't want reactive hypoglycaemia as well! You may have to ease your way into fasting. In the end, though, if you can get your body into ketosis you can restore your metabolic flexibility and that will help a lot with the low blood sugar symptoms because when blood sugar lowers you will get ketone production to supply energy. I did find an article about metabolic inflexibility. I'll see if I can track it down.

My first few fasts were followed by terrible headaches the following day, not migraines, but definitely bad enough to take pain killers for most of the day.

I'm now in my 5th week and find that this no longer happens, and this morning I feel fine after fasting yesterday.

My advice would be to tinker with your calorie/food intake to see if it helps you feel any better, but then to just hang in there!

HTH