Girl sway- splitting headache

[CarlF]

Hi all

I have been reading your forums for 3 weeks now getting some great tips so thank you all. ( I was just going to attempt Shettles method so glad I found this site first!!)

I am a mum of two children (boy 3 and girl 6 ) and would love another little princess to complete the family.

After reading lots of posts I have been adapting my sway and am now avoiding breakfast till 11-12 with just a coffee with a little milk in the morning, and then having lunch at about 3 (rice porridge or a gluten free wrap) and dinner late at about 7/8 (veg and rice and snacking on rice cakes, cucumber and hummus whilst I'm cooking) . I then have a little yoghurt (full fat so not as to lose too much weight) and a mini milky bar (I have a sweet tooth. I am avoiding oats, bananas, tea, meat and salt. I am trying to work out 5 times a week for an hour each time....last week I only managed 4x though due to being so tired! I am gluten free due to being intolerant to wheat.

I have been finding it really hard as I didn't eat big meals previous to the sway and grazed all day. I am naturally quite slim and weighed 8.10 to start and am now down to 8st 4 which is the lowest I want to go (18.5 BMI). I LOVE tea and have found replacing my morning and evening cuppa for coffee the hardest part. Can I drink decaff tea or is that still a NO NO? I am having a glass of wine before/during my meal and two at the weekends

So for the last week I have had a pounding headache which I cant shift...any ideas why this is? I'm assuming its just the diet change but its really driving me nuts now. I haven't been drinking much water but have had diet coke and diet Fanta to get the aspartame in and Perrier inbetween.

Also I know we aren't meant to snack but can we have say a period of 2hrs where we are allowed to eat in the evening ( so if I had some cucumber, low salt corn crisps with hummous with wine before dinner, followed by dinner then a sweet/yoghurt etc to follow with gaps of say 20minutes between them all?). My stomach cant deal with sitting down and eating my evening calorie intake in the space of 45minute.

I probably have heaps more questions but will start there. I plan to have first attempt beginning of May

Thankyou

[atomic sagebrush]

You need to do whatever it takes to stop losing weight. Eat more if that's what it takes.

Lots of people get aspartame headaches. I doubt aspartame even does anything, I'd try reducing to no more than 2-3 servings a day or even dropping it and see if it improves.

Are you taking any other supplements?

I don't think that 2 hour meals are good for TTC pink. Obviously if that's the only way you can manage, but I don't recommend it.

No decaf tea. It is ~probably~ not the caffeine that sways, but something in the coffee itself.

[CarlF]

Thanks for your reply.

Ok I will try and stick to just eating 3 meals and maybe one snack in the evening of a yoghurt/sweet (or should I drop that?). Can I have a coffee with a little milk in between my meals to keep me going?. I guess I need to make the meals more carb based rather than salad/veg and rice...so maybe a big pasta dish to stop more weight loss.

I'm not taking any supplements other than folic acid. The calcium and magnesium supplement I was taking has vit D in it so I dropped that about a week ago along with the cranberry. DH taking liquorice root and cranberry with a glass of soya milk (his Ph was 8.5 when we tested!).

So as my diet/meals haven't been great with the evening eating should I start my 9-12 weeks again or carry on with my plan to TTC beginning of May onwards?

Thank you again


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[atomic sagebrush]

You need to stick in LE Diet guidelines.

1500-1800 cals
40-50 g protein, 30-60 g fat

Things like salad and vegetables are NOT COUNTED. They are free and unlimited. So you may need to actually eat more than you're eating to be sure you're getting enough. It may be the headache is low blood sugar related.

Coffee with milk between meals is fine.

If you really can't stick to 3 meals, go to 4 or even 5. It is still going to be better than eating all day every day.

[CarlF]

You need to stick in LE Diet guidelines.

1500-1800 cals
40-50 g protein, 30-60 g fat

Things like salad and vegetables are NOT COUNTED. They are free and unlimited. So you may need to actually eat more than you're eating to be sure you're getting enough. It may be the headache is low blood sugar related.

Coffee with milk between meals is fine.

If you really can't stick to 3 meals, go to 4 or even 5. It is still going to be better than eating all day every day.

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[CarlF]

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Sorry I was trying to work out on this app how to reply

Ok so my headache is overpowering today! So much so I'm struggling to look at the screen to type.

So I have been reading about low blood sugar and headaches and assume this is what's going on with me as I'm not eating from 9pm through till 12pm lunch (and my body is use to the grazing). Is this safe for me to do (I know you wouldn't recommend something that's not safe but simply looking at why I'm getting migraines) as I have been reading about hypoglycaemia and don't want to cause long term problems (if it even does). I am very stubborn though and will do what it takes (asking as obviously not dangerous) to sway pink.

Also I did my hours exercise and burnt 500cals this morning....do we need to up calorie intake when exercising or still stick to 1500-1800

Thanks


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[atomic sagebrush]

We need to stop EVERYTHING right now and get this figured out. This is not normal. Something is not right.

Take a day or two off. No, you don't need to restart everything over again. I want you to eat normally and see if your headache immediately gets better. Then, after a couple days we can try again but instead of diving into the deep end, start off more gently with pushing breakfast back only like an hour or so, then two, etc. give you time to adjust.

Have you cut back on aspartame like I mentioned?

Did you stop tea all together and not replace it with coffee? Caffeine withdrawal can of course cause wicked headaches.

Exercise can trigger migraines for some, as can alcohol, so if you've just started these things, again, take a day or two off and see if it gets better. We can add things back in one at a time to see what (if any) of these things is THE thing...but I want to get the blood sugar idea sorted first.

The other suspicion I have is that you mention you're eating low sodium. I want you to resume normal sodium intake right away. If you're totally sold on lowering it we can do that later. Right now we have to figure out what is happening.

Are you getting enough potassium?? 2500-3500 mg a day?? This is another thing people sometimes miss on LE and end up not getting enough. Although this has never been reported to me as manifesting as headaches I do want to be absolutely sure you're getting enough. For the next couple days, I want you to eat things that have a fair amount of potassium in them. Don't worry about your sway right now, if your potassium is low it can be dangerous so we need to be sure you're getting enough.

Finally, while I agree this is most likely related to swaying somehow, I want to toss out the idea that sometimes things do go wrong with our bodies and they can be dangerous. Do keep it in the back of your mind, that we may need to seek an expert's opinion here because if you had something else going on, that coincidentally started around the time you started swaying, we would not want to assume it was swaying if you really needed medical attention. Not trying to make you paranoid at all but did want to mention that.

Right now you need to come off diet, aspartame, alcohol, go back onto tea if you had cut that out, eat more sodium and potassium - even take a few days off of exercising. Then we can gradually ease our way back into it one thing at a time once the headache is better.

PLEASE keep me posted - I'm concerned about this.

[CarlF]

Thanks Atomic

Ok so since I last posted my headaches have been a tad better so may be me getting use to the diet? Mostly they turn up in the night and last the morning, sometimes sneaking back in the afternoon. I have adapted my diet to assure I'm getting 1500 cals (I don't think I was before) and now counting protein....yesterday I only made it to 15g of protein so have ordered some low carb protein bars to boost that up (I have given up meat). I will ease up a bit on restricting sodium (I'm not counting it but do eat yoghurt, lentil crisps etc which contain some...will go buy coconut water for potassium today). I am now eating midday, 5pm with the kids and then around 8.30 (3 x 500 calories).

I have booked a doctors appointment for Monday late morning so will talk to him about my headaches. I'm hoping he will do the finger prick test to make sure my blood sugar isn't too low (obviously I want low but I assume there's a reading that's too low?). Alcohol and exercise aren't new as I was doing both before the sway (maybe nearer 40mins cardio rather than an hour and a few nights alcohol free) and my diet is similar apart from the lack of snacks, delayed first meal and no meat. I have stopped tea but drinking coffee.

On the plus side I have got EWCM this morning which is about a week late for me but atleast it gives me a bit of faith that hopefully I haven't stopped ovulation happening.

Will let you know how I get on Monday :-)


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[atomic sagebrush]

Any update??

Go ahead and bump up to 1800 cals.

RE blood sugar, your body has ways of raising BS levels. So it won't show up on the test even if that is what is causing the headaches. Measurably low readings is not really what we're going for - we want "the thing that your body does to keep sugar levels in normal range", and not a number on the chart. We say "low blood sugar" as a shorthand for this.