low carb diet causes insomnia?

hey you guys--just curious if anyone else has had this issue. I recently went on a low-carb diet suggested by Dr. Amand (guafenesin guy), and i felt much better being on that diet, but almost immediately, i started having a lot of trouble sleeping. I wasn't having that problem before (at least recently, i've had problems with insomnia off/on pretty much my whole life, but had been sleeping pretty well). Also, i had cut my caffeine intake in half a few weeks before, did that very graduallly and didn't suffer any rebound insomnia from that, so it was just really wierd that this happened the same time i cut back the carbs. the next night, i ate some rice pasta, and slept like a baby for 9 hrs! anyone else had this experience? i like the low-carb diet--i definitely felt better on it, but the insomnia is horrendous, on top of having chronic fatigue, insomnia is completely unbearable

Interesting theory. Your digestive tract is working non-stop. 24/7. So everything you eat during the day that doesn't digest or you don't expel before bed - is still being processed through your system while you sleep. All the good stuff (and bad stuff) that goes on in your incredibly complex digestive system is processing through the night. Sugar feeds the brain. Carbs are turned into sugar (kinda).

In addition to waking up several times during the night to go to the bathroom, sometimes I was waking up just once - wide awake 2am-3am. I read about other people suffering the same - and they would do a little work, read some email, watch a little TV and were able to fall right back to sleep after about an hour - which I was able to do, too.

My ND shared with me (of course, all the details of the science elude me know - darn memory) the processing of sugars that trigger the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis - eventually producing cortisol. You want a surge of cortisol early in the AM a parabolic fall over the course of the day. For those with sugar imbalances, this is a challenged process and they can often produce a cortisol surge that wakes them up in the middle of the night. The remedy is to eat a little bit of complex carb (say, sweet potato or brown rice) with a little bit of protein (say, a chicken finger) before bedtime. I saw other remedies that suggest a little bit of fat + protein before bedtime.

I'd like to say it's worked for me. But I have so many things going on during the night that it's a crap shoot - sometimes I'm up to pee, sometimes I think it's a cortisol surge (although I've been completely off sugar/simple carbs for 2 mos.) and sometimes it's a night sweat and sometimes it's a mystery. I've also noticed that when I ovulate and my temperature rises, I often have a night sweat and wake up. But I'd also say that I'm very low carb right now and about every 5th night can sleep 5-6 hrs a night and once a wk I'm at 7 hrs.

chloe24 -
I haven't read the book (but it looks interesting) but I can say at this point that I will likely not ever eat a typical, mass-produced grain again if I can help it.

-p

Thanks so much for sharing your experience and thoughts about this. I think the carbs are very sedating. But I'll stay on the low carb for now. I can handle one or two nights of not enough sleep but after that I'll have to eat some rice or something. I think you're probably right about the body eventually getting used to it. I was eating spelt bread for a long time years and didn't think it was a problem but as I began to detox I became aware that it WAS making me sick. Hated to give up the bread but I really want to get well. I think some organic brown rice or sweet potato would probably be fine once or twice a week. Have you guys read terry wahls book? I just ordered it. Saw a video she did. Pretty compelling story

excellent post Georgia Hunter -

Goes to show how incredibly complicated AND INTERCONNECTED the endocrine and digestive systems are.

Two yrs ago while I was under the care of my ND ALL of my neurotransmitters were continuously off - at extreme levels (either way too high or way too low). I was taking more than a dozen things and tried various protocols to "fix it" - to no avail. I now know that there might have been/might still be something blocking my MTHFR pathways. My LLMD is not comfortable tackling these issues right now but I am certain I will make limited progress if I can't detox properly. So I am starting to think I need to go back to my ND but the thought of that ($$) makes me want to cry. :(

This is a great "intro" video regarding MTHFR pathways and the connection w/ thyroid - enough to get a conversation going with your Dr.:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMZgpQb11GA&feature=youtu.be

For more info, here is another very technical discussion but incredibly informative:
http://youtu.be/-lCQp0KkSB4

And this is a great article with specific suggestions for insomnia:
http://www.futurevisions.org/burnout_sleep.htm

<ETA: 6 months ago I quit my extremely high-stress job;> A couple months ago I blacked-out my bedroom windows and went off all caffeine/grains/dairy/sugar, and walking 30 min after dinner; a month ago I stopped bringing my laptop to bed and started going to bed earlier; a couple of weeks ago I stopped taking a binder (charcoal, bentonite clay) before bedtime, stopped drinking any liquid at 8pm, started listening to ocean sounds/white noise during the night, started taking low-dose naltrexone earlier in the evening (rather than 11pm as prescribed), etc... I think the bulk of these measures helped - along with the first part of my treatment, which addressed high viral load, inflammation, food allergies, but nothing made a significant impact...

But last night I took curcumin last night before bed and slept 7.5 hrs straight through for the first time in years. Hopefully, I'm on to something and can repeat tonight!

-p

Post Edited (Pirouette) : 4/25/2014 11:25:05 AM (GMT-6)

In the beginning, yes. A low carb diet can cause insomnia and depression, depending on how low carb you go. I eat honey, as well as sweet potatoes.

Margaret

Pirouette, I am so glad that the Curcumin (Turmeric) is helping you sleep. I too have found that Turmeric also helps me sleep at night.

Post Edited (Healing98) : 4/25/2014 9:04:18 PM (GMT-6)

Healing98 -
I've been drinking veggie juice w/ turmeric for liver support but maybe I'll try increasing that dosage at night - thanks.

Georgia Hunter -
Awesome! Report back if you can.

-p