Day 3: Feeling faint and light headed after a shower. Is this normal?

[strawberryfields]

So I have been having troubles keeping up with my whole30 but I finally made it to Day 3 (woohoo!).

 

Now the problem is that I have decided to take a shower for a couple minutes (30 minutes at least) with warm water and did my normal usual routine and then the problem started when I stepped out of my bathtub and went to the next room and was getting ready to blowdry my hair.

 

All of a sudden I felt sick to my stomach, I felt like I was going to faint, got tunnel vision, and my breathing got very shallow. I quickly fell on my bed (lying down) and stayed there for a couple of minutes. I did get better but the ringing in my ears were still there. The rest of the day I felt anxious and sluggish. 

 

Is this normal? I did a check on google and all it showed was low blood pressure. This never happened to me before, yes I did have smaller episodes like this a couple of showers ago but not like this. Should I stop my whole30? I made an appointment to see my doctor but couldn't because of some financial reasons and now I am so scared to continue on to Day 4.

[Guest Andria]

No, this is absolutely not normal.  You mention that this happened to you *before.* Do you mean earlier on in your Whole30 or before your Whole30?  Some possible causes, as it relates to a Whole30, are low blood sugar/low calorie from eating an inadequate amount of food and low blood pressure from not drinking enough water or consuming enough salt.

 

Can you post 2-3 days worth of meals leading up to that episode?  Include your water intake, activity and sleep, as well.

 

Certainly, this information is no substitute for medical advice, so if the problem persists, please go see your doctor.

[Sophsmom]

I'm just adding my 2 cents ... whenever I lower my carbs, this happens to me. I have only finished day 1 of the Whole30, but I woke up lightheaded this morning. If you've ever done Atkins, they call this carb flu. So if you've lowered your carbs a lot by following w30, this could be it. I'm not a doc, but this happens to me any time I lower my carbs. Again, this is just me, but it usually passes after a few days. Google "carb flu" and see if that's what you felt.

[strawberryfields]

No, this is absolutely not normal.  You mention that this happened to you *before.* Do you mean earlier on in your Whole30 or before your Whole30?  Some possible causes, as it relates to a Whole30, are low blood sugar/low calorie from eating an inadequate amount of food and low blood pressure from not drinking enough water or consuming enough salt.

 

Can you post 2-3 days worth of meals leading up to that episode?  Include your water intake, activity and sleep, as well.

 

Certainly, this information is no substitute for medical advice, so if the problem persists, please go see your doctor.

I went to the doctor today (paid for it because I just couldn't wait anymore) and she got the results from my chest xray (a couple of weeks back that the radiologist took to see if I had asthma, it was totally unrelated to this and that my insurance covered) and everything came back normal, I did not have anything wrong with my lungs or heart (thank God) and when I told her this she decided to give me an EKG (I think that is what it is called?) and I had these things attached to me that checked my heart rate and everything was fine. They also checked my blood pressure and it was normal then. I don't know why this is happening and it's really scaring me. I don't know if I should get off of the Whole30 for now. Its making me a bit scared to take a shower too I don't want to smell bad but yes it happened again. 

 

I will do that water intake activity and sleep as well as the food record starting tomorrow and I will post it here to see if that can help.

[strawberryfields]

I'm just adding my 2 cents ... whenever I lower my carbs, this happens to me. I have only finished day 1 of the Whole30, but I woke up lightheaded this morning. If you've ever done Atkins, they call this carb flu. So if you've lowered your carbs a lot by following w30, this could be it. I'm not a doc, but this happens to me any time I lower my carbs. Again, this is just me, but it usually passes after a few days. Google "carb flu" and see if that's what you felt.

I have heard of carb flu before but I didn't think it was going to happen like that. I mean I feel fine all the other times. It just after I take a shower I get super light headed. It may be a drop in blood pressure or sugar? (Since I cut off the carbs I might not be getting as much as I usually do) but this all started a couple of days before I did my whole30 too. 

[ShannonM816]

Have you checked out the meal template?  If there are no other problems going on health-wise, my guess is that you may not be eating enough.

 

Your goal is to eat three meals a day, and each meal should consist of

 

• 1-2 palm-sized pieces of protein (that's length, width, and breadth of your palm) or if you have eggs as your only protein, as many whole eggs as you can hold in your hand, usually 3-4 for most people.
• 1-2 thumb-sized portions of fat -- don't count the fat you cook in, because it usually stays in the pan instead of ending up on your food
• 2 or more cups of vegetables -- more if you have raw leafy green stuff, because while they look like a lot, they pack down into tiny amounts as you chew them.  At least once a day, have a serving of starchy vegetable like sweet potato, winter squash (like acorn, butternut, or spaghetti) or root vegetables like beets or turnips. You may even want to have more than one serving of these per day for now and see if it helps with the lightheadedness and dizziness.
• you can have, if you choose, 1-2 servings of fruit a day, but you don't have to. If you do have fruit, have it with your meal, not by itself.

 

Additionally, salt your food to taste. If you ate much processed food before, and now you're not, your salt consumption automatically has gone down, and we actually need salt in our diets.

[strawberryfields]

Have you checked out the meal template?  If there are no other problems going on health-wise, my guess is that you may not be eating enough.

 

Your goal is to eat three meals a day, and each meal should consist of

 

• 1-2 palm-sized pieces of protein (that's length, width, and breadth of your palm) or if you have eggs as your only protein, as many whole eggs as you can hold in your hand, usually 3-4 for most people.
• 1-2 thumb-sized portions of fat -- don't count the fat you cook in, because it usually stays in the pan instead of ending up on your food
• 2 or more cups of vegetables -- more if you have raw leafy green stuff, because while they look like a lot, they pack down into tiny amounts as you chew them.  At least once a day, have a serving of starchy vegetable like sweet potato, winter squash (like acorn, butternut, or spaghetti) or root vegetables like beets or turnips. You may even want to have more than one serving of these per day for now and see if it helps with the lightheadedness and dizziness.
• you can have, if you choose, 1-2 servings of fruit a day, but you don't have to. If you do have fruit, have it with your meal, not by itself.

 

Additionally, salt your food to taste. If you ate much processed food before, and now you're not, your salt consumption automatically has gone down, and we actually need salt in our diets.

Thank you for this! I have been eating, maybe not as much (since when I eat eggs, I only eat one) . I have been feeling pretty decent and normal the whole day, this only happens after I take a shower which is the reason why I am so freaked out and it's gotten worst after participating in the whole30. It's a weird feeling, like I have such a hard time to speak and there is this ringing in my ear and everything feels so far away as if it is a dream and it's like my tummy hurts and the only way I feel better is by sitting down or lying down. I like how you pointed out the salt intake, I barely put enough salt in my food to begin with, my relative had kidney problems in the past so our whole family got used to eating food with not enough salt in it so maybe I should increase that. 

[ladyshanny]

How hot are your showers? You'd mentioned in an earlier post that they were upwards of 30 minutes. A very hot shower can cause your blood vessels to dilate allowing the blood to flow quickly towards your feet causing light headedness. Similar to the effect folks get when they sit in a hot tub for a prolonged period and then get out. Instant dizzy.

Try shortening your shower and cooling the water a bit. Based on the fact that this seems to be ONLY shower related, you can probably safely assume that eating protein, veggies and fat is not to blame.