Lyn says:
March 18, 2015 at 10:33 am
Hi, me again~
A question about zucchini:
1.) I see that one medium zucchini has 4.9 gm of naturally occurring sugar. Would this take you out of fat burning?
A question and story about potassium: 9 MONTHS ago in June, I had a very violent episode (1st one ever) of vertigo. Spinning and vomiting (10 times in 10 minutes) so bad I went to the ER. They performed MRI and chemistry tests. MRI fine. But apparently, my potassium was low (from vomiting). I don’t remember them telling me that.
When I went home I didn’t eat anything for 5 days for fear of another spinning attack, plus, I felt horrible in my head and all over. After 5 days, I started eating strictly Maria for 2 months. Lost 18 pounds and started to feel better, but never 100%. I now know that my heavy, twisty head, wildly beating and palpitating heart, and the feeling of tipping over was probably due to low potassium. However, I wasn’t doing anything dietary-wise to bring it up. I didn’t know I needed to. Also, I could no longer work out at the gym because my head was so unstable.
After those two months, we had sold our enormous house and we were celebrating on closing day with some champagne. I thought it would be alright. Slippery slope, for sure. After that, I went back to my not so good eating habits, and having a couple co*cktails each night (further draining ANY potassium levels). I gained back at least 15 of the 18 pounds, and was feeling HORRIBLE in my head again.
Went back to the doctor in November and asked for a Lyme’s test and B12 and B2 test. Negative, and both B tests on the low side of normal. She prescribed an anti-anxiety pill. I was not happy. I never took the RX, because I didn’t want a patch for my symptoms. I just continued to suffer, and eat poorly.
A few weeks ago, I got back on Maria. I was feeling better, but not great. Even not drinking wasn’t helping. And to be honest, I was medicating with the alcohol. It stopped the tippy, twistiness of my head. But the next day I would pay dearly for this. My head and body were NOT functioning well. Not hangover, but something very different. And I told my husband, “There is something so weird going on in my head because I have never reacted to alcohol like this before.”
This past week I went to a different doctor to get some answers. [NOTE: The day before I went in, I had tried to make the zucchini chips. They flopped, but I ended up eating the whole batch throughout the day. The next day, I woke up feeling GREAT, despite being awake for 3 hours in the night! I had a new lease on life, and couldn’t believe that I didn’t feel like I was going to tip over, or bump into a wall, or experience extreme agitation.]
I went in and explained all my symptoms (lengthy list). While I was talking he was studying my chart. When I was finished he said, “Well, back in June your potassium levels were low. And most of the symptoms you are telling me about are low-potassium related.”
I was stunned! He ran the test, and I am still waiting for the result. I also had an EKG because of my crazy flipping, skipping heart. I went home from my appointment and went right to your site to see what foods…Ta-dah! Zucchini! No wonder I felt better after eating the whole batch of soggy chips the day before.
I have also been reading while waiting for the tests, that it’s preferable to get potassium from your diet and not supplements, because of the delicate balance between it and sodium. I’ll see what the doctor says too, based on my results.
I can tell you this: I have been eating zucchini, avocados, etc., and I am feeling so much better, not perfect, but better. So for 9 excruciating months, I have been potassium deficient and didn’t have a clue.
My questions to you are these: when we are low carbing, you say to up the salt intake. If I am low in potassium, should I hold off on salt a bit? Because will too much sodium cause the potassium to further drop? I am 51, so therefore a salt baby from the 60’s. I LOVE my salt. But maybe this also led to the deficiency of potassium?
Or, rather, my body’s inability to hold on to much of any level of it? I have tried to research this myself online, but it is a little too ‘medically heavy’ for me to comprehend. And to be honest, we all know that doctors are not nutritionists, so I am not sure that he will give me the correct advice to recover my levels.
I see that NOW has a potassium gluconate @ 99 mg. Wondering about taking 1 capsule a day and see how I feel.
So sorry about this long story, but maybe it could help someone else too. Thank you so much for reading it, and possibly responding.
Lyn
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