To go to the doctor's because I've eaten too much salt and I think I'm dying

[poopcollector101]

I feel awful.

I've been doing the keto diet for 2 weeks. Part of this is that you replace your electrolytes by drinking salt water, 1tsp dissolved in water. I've done this past 2 days then yesterday for lunch I had a whole packet of pork crackling that was incredibly salty (actually made me feel a bit sick) and then ham hock salad, which was a bit salty, then I had some edamame beans with soy sauce (also salty) I didn't consider this at the time.
When I got home I had sprouts and bacon - more salt.

Then developed the worst headache I've ever experienced at about 8pm, literally feels like my brain was throbbing. Dry mouth and thirsty so I drank a ton of water.

I woke up at 5am with my head throbbing and I could barely move, husband have me a co codamol, barely touched the headache. I still feel wobbly now, my head feels so heavy and throbbing, it's like no headache I've ever had.

Should I go to the doctor this morning?

I've been doing the keto diet for 2 weeks. Part of this is that you replace your electrolytes by drinking salt water, 1tsp dissolved in water

WTF have I just read?

Didn’t shipwrecked and adrift sailors used to go mad from drinking seawater?

Quick google says this is called a salt flush and 1 site says it is a cure all including constipation and weightloss

Diets aren't meant to make you feel ill, are they? You're supposed to feel good - more energy, alert etc! Having a known side-effect called 'keto flu' makes me wonder exactly how healthy this diet it.

I've done keto on and off for years, never once heard of drinking salt water, that's beyond bonkers.

Did they mean Dioralyte (not actual salt)

Edememe beans can make you sick too.

Have you access to 7up? (I'm Irish so this is what I would drink today, a 2ltr of ordinary 7up)

Intact they scorn people for not "looking after their electrolytes"

Well I ‘scorn’ people for following silly and dangerous fads rather than using common sense to lose weight. I hope you seek some medical advice, feel better soon and learn from this OP.

DD did the proper ketogenic diet for epilepsy. She was only allowed 13g of carbs a day, plus 100 mg of mushrooms/lettuce/broccoli per meal. She could not eat crisps or any of those hard, crunchy snacks - too much carbohydrates. The one crunchy snack, she was allowed was pork scratchings to keep the fat intake up - she had to have a snack between meals of say calogen or sugar free jelly, made with double cream anyway! Pork scratchings made a nice change for her! She could also eat bacon too.

However, this was done under the supervision of a dietitian with multi vitamin supplements. It was not a diet to lose weight - it was just to produce highish ketones, as an alternative food for the brain!

She never had to drink salt water!

I read it on the Keto UK Facebook page. People all seem to do it there? In fact they scorn people for not "looking after their electrolytes" I honestly thought I was doing the right thing

Must be true then!!
Maybe you should use your brain in future and stop worrying about what other people are doing/thinking and start looking after yourself.
I can’t believe an actual adult believed such nonsense

If you read it on Facebook it must be true.

@CuriousaboutSamphire do you really think that the OP who is posting responses on this thread has really made herself seriously ill? Ill enough to warrant a trip to A&E? What could a GP or 111 actually do? If the OP is seriously ill then blood tests and heart monitors would most likely be required to determine exactly what might be seriously wrong with her and 111 or the GP won't be doing any of that.

Drink loads of water.
Avoid salt at all costs,including cheese/crisps/nuts/biscuits/bacon/sausage/takeaways/ and anything ive missed. These fad diets are a nightmare. Hope you feel better soon and dont panic.

The only time I’ve read about adding salt to water is people who are on prolonged water fasts.

Why would you do this diet?

I imagine drinking salted water is pretty disgusting anyway and difficult to get down? Why just why would you? Seriously easier ways to lose weight exist....

Also who believes what they read on Facebook, most social media is bullshit. You have a brain yes? So didn’t you think to research this diet for yourself?

Read about Leah Betts if you want to find out about the potentially horrific effects of drinking too much water when you think you're dehydrated but actually aren't.

Keto gets such a bad reputation because of things like this. Sometimes you need to rebalance your electrolytes if you are exercising and sweating a lot but that should be a sachet of dioralyte or similar and definitely not every day. Tbh it sounds more like keto flu, if it’s the first time you’ve done keto then the first headache can feel horrendous. It’s just part of your body’s adjustment to using fat for fuel instead of glucose.

Keto made me feel the same. Sack it off. I think some people just can’t cope with it.

That's me - I can't feckin' move if I do keto.

I am equally as successful allowing myself some carbs and fruit and veg.

Partner and I changed our eating habits to exactly this a year ago. In that year, we've both lost weight steadily and sensibly and are within healthy BMI; I have loads more energy than before and we cannot see ourselves wanting to change our eating regime.

Bill Bailey makes a joke in one of his sketches from the early 2000s about a quite high percentage of Americans getting all of their information about the wider world merely from celebrities.

Getting all your information about the wider world from social media seems to be the equivalent nearly 20 years on. I mean FFS.

Come back & let us know what health professionals said, OP.

If you are worried, get checked out. I had problems once from drinking too much water: I had cystitis, Dr said to drink as much as possible, and I did. Horrendous headache and backache. All was okay in the end. Drinking salt water sounds bonkers, most food will give you enough salt, but nobody here can really tell you if you are really in trouble from it or not.

Don’t people who are shipwrecked die from drinking salt water?

And this is the kind of idiocy that gives low carb diets a bad name.

Ham hock, pork crackling, bacon... is this the Meat Marketing Board's Pork Yourself Perfect diet?!

I’m just praying that not everyone who does keto is filling themselves full of processed pork with all the associated cancerous nasties. Fucking scary.

If you want to lose weight just eat healthily and exercise more. Christ.

I think I would call the gp OP. Runners on marathons die of drinking too much water. No one knows what's going on in your blood right now. A gp can tell if you've had too much salt or now over drunk to compensate. That is what gps are for.

I'm sure most people do stupid things at once in their lives. Dont beat yourself up, but check your diet regime past the gp too.