ryan31337
Senior Member
- Messages
- 664
- Location
- South East, England
Hi all,
TL;DR: I have made massive subjective improvements in energy levels & symptoms in the past 6 months, which I attribute largely to adopting a ketogenic diet. Yesterday I had a repeat CPET, the results were improved & approaching normal range, compared to previously when I was deemed to have 'functional impairment due to metabolic disease'.
VO2max up from 19.6 (50% pred.) to 31.2 (80% pred.).
This is not an "I've been cured and know the secret to the universe!!!!1!11!!!" thread. I'm not suggesting all your problems will go away if only you change your diet. I'm not even suggesting that you should try the diet, unless you have given it some proper thought and/or consulted a doctor to make sure you don't have reasons precluding it. With all that said...
I'm posting 3x CPET results and an assumption that ketogenic diet has led to improvements in metabolic function shown in the tests. 2x tests were before the dietary change, 1x after. I hope that this might evoke some interesting discussion, confirm or refute my assumption, and perhaps inform others here that may be able to try it too. I also welcome any further insight you may have into the fascinating world of CPETing!
I was going to post my long history and describe my experiences but it soon turned into an essay! In brief, I have an ME/CFS diagnosis (ICC/CCC compliant) going back 21 years with a gradual relapse/remission pattern. I fit the moderate description at times of relapse, mild/very mild when in remission. I have had 2x long periods of remission and 3x relapses (including the initial onset) during the 21 years. It's speculated that the relapses have come off the back of other insults: suspected celiacs onset, severe viral/bacterial infection etc. Along the way I have accumulated various other suspicion/diagnosis like POTS, SIBO, MCAS & hypermobility spectrum. A fairly common ME/CFS picture I believe.
The adoption of a ketogenic diet last October appears to have halted and reversed the steady slow decline I had been experiencing, which began gradually after a significant unknown infection put me in bed for 6 weeks, 3 years prior. On the diet an improvement in energy/function was immediate - despite the keto adaptation weakness, I was able to sit up all day without crashing/sleeping. The symptoms labelled 'reactive hypoglycemia' by my endocrinologist and seemingly linked to fluctuating glucose levels vanished, as did my frequent disabling migraine & insomnia episodes. 6 months on I am continuing to build tolerance of exertion and experience far less symptoms. If I overstep these expanding limits I still suffer, but not for nearly as long nor severely as before.
Before adopting the diet I was beginning to see objective abnormalities in test results, things that I wonder were suggestive of abnormal metabolism: CPET, arterial blood gases, BP, heart rate, liver function. These results are now all normalising, so together with subjective improvement I'm hoping it means another long remission! I'm currently stable, able to cope with 5 minutes gentle swimming & an afternoon of office work most days without PEM. A very different picture to last year when leaving the house was difficult and almost always resulted in PEM, and where sitting at my desk reading for more than an hour resulted in crippling energy crashes, excessive sleepiness, deranged blood pressures etc.
If you want to know anything else just ask
Ryan
TL;DR: I have made massive subjective improvements in energy levels & symptoms in the past 6 months, which I attribute largely to adopting a ketogenic diet. Yesterday I had a repeat CPET, the results were improved & approaching normal range, compared to previously when I was deemed to have 'functional impairment due to metabolic disease'.
VO2max up from 19.6 (50% pred.) to 31.2 (80% pred.).
This is not an "I've been cured and know the secret to the universe!!!!1!11!!!" thread. I'm not suggesting all your problems will go away if only you change your diet. I'm not even suggesting that you should try the diet, unless you have given it some proper thought and/or consulted a doctor to make sure you don't have reasons precluding it. With all that said...
I'm posting 3x CPET results and an assumption that ketogenic diet has led to improvements in metabolic function shown in the tests. 2x tests were before the dietary change, 1x after. I hope that this might evoke some interesting discussion, confirm or refute my assumption, and perhaps inform others here that may be able to try it too. I also welcome any further insight you may have into the fascinating world of CPETing!
I was going to post my long history and describe my experiences but it soon turned into an essay! In brief, I have an ME/CFS diagnosis (ICC/CCC compliant) going back 21 years with a gradual relapse/remission pattern. I fit the moderate description at times of relapse, mild/very mild when in remission. I have had 2x long periods of remission and 3x relapses (including the initial onset) during the 21 years. It's speculated that the relapses have come off the back of other insults: suspected celiacs onset, severe viral/bacterial infection etc. Along the way I have accumulated various other suspicion/diagnosis like POTS, SIBO, MCAS & hypermobility spectrum. A fairly common ME/CFS picture I believe.
The adoption of a ketogenic diet last October appears to have halted and reversed the steady slow decline I had been experiencing, which began gradually after a significant unknown infection put me in bed for 6 weeks, 3 years prior. On the diet an improvement in energy/function was immediate - despite the keto adaptation weakness, I was able to sit up all day without crashing/sleeping. The symptoms labelled 'reactive hypoglycemia' by my endocrinologist and seemingly linked to fluctuating glucose levels vanished, as did my frequent disabling migraine & insomnia episodes. 6 months on I am continuing to build tolerance of exertion and experience far less symptoms. If I overstep these expanding limits I still suffer, but not for nearly as long nor severely as before.
Before adopting the diet I was beginning to see objective abnormalities in test results, things that I wonder were suggestive of abnormal metabolism: CPET, arterial blood gases, BP, heart rate, liver function. These results are now all normalising, so together with subjective improvement I'm hoping it means another long remission! I'm currently stable, able to cope with 5 minutes gentle swimming & an afternoon of office work most days without PEM. A very different picture to last year when leaving the house was difficult and almost always resulted in PEM, and where sitting at my desk reading for more than an hour resulted in crippling energy crashes, excessive sleepiness, deranged blood pressures etc.
If you want to know anything else just ask
Ryan