Hi to the few people who may have some interest in an update and thank you Roy for the kind words.
Heres a synopsis:
I fasted for twenty days and the fast itself went very smoothly after days 3-4 where I had a difficult transition likely into ketogenesis resulting in chest pain rapid heart rate and heart palpitations. After that difficult transition things went very smoothly. I did check my electrolytes on day 7 and they were quite low and my physician who did the check recommended strongly that I end the fast. I had a hunch that my electrolytes were low because I was drinking too much water (1.5 gallons a day sometimes 2) and decided to continue the fast while decreasing my water intake to 1/2 gallon or thereabouts, and taking 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt on two consecutive mornings. I tested my electrolytes again on day 14 and they had risen to just slightly below normal and I knew I would be in good shape for the duration of the fast which I ended at day 20. I had planned on fasting for closer to 30 days and felt I could have reached that mark rather easily but ended the fast at day 20 because I have a very rare metabolic disorder which affects my appearance and the fast in combination with this disorder was having an impact. So I ended the fast for this very unusual reason only but feel I could have easily made it 30 days as the fast was going well, I was suffering no ill effects other than weakness and lightheadedness upon standing, the lightheadedness only slightly more pronounced than my usual orthostatic intolerance symptoms. I was feeling zero hunger at day twenty. I lost a total of 20 lbs in twenty days which is the normal rate, about one lb per day is what most people experience.
1st regarding the difficult transition on days 3 and 4. During those two days I was having considerable chest pain, racing heart mostly at night up into the 150's and considerable palpitations, skipping beats etc. My interpretation was not that I was having heart distress because of underlying heart disease issues but rather that it was more of an autonomic dysfunction issue and both my nervous and cardiovascular systems were struggling with the transition into ketosis due to underlying autonomic dysfunction. This is not to say that the symptoms were not serious. Its certainly possible I could have had a serious cardiac event but after considering breaking the fast I decided to wait it out and after those two days my chest pain palpitations and racing heart quickly receded about 90
%. After that things went relatively smoothly.
I should add that I could not have engaged in this fast at a worse possible time. I was at the time under great emotional duress due to family/relationships issues and was feeling very bleak and despairing at the onset and during the fast and also undertook the fast in the middle of a New England winter which brought four heavy snowstorms to my area in the twenty days of my fast and I was forced into the laborious task of shoveling out my car/parking spot, moving car for plows etc. which would have been hard enough to perform sans fast but made the fast very difficult. I tell you this because I think it is important to attempt to fast under the best conditions possible. Were I to have fasted under better circumcstances I feel strongly I may have had a better result.
From the beginning I felt that the fast was attempting to work on my gut, either by working on possible pathogens, or attempting to heal a damaged gut, possible leaky gut, or nerve damage, vagus nerve issues. I developed a very thick coating on the tongue which is very common and much to my surprise my tongue started to clear around day 15 and was about 90% clear on day twenty.
I had two very good days when transitioning back to eating, day 2 and 3, where I slept more soundly than I had in ages, slept almost through the night, and awoke with very a very normal breathing pattern which was remarkable seeing as my breathing patterns are so dysfunctional. My gut also felt very good and in the week following the fast it felt like it had 'come alive' and there was much more movement and activity, increased peristalsis certainly, but possibly greater pancreatic enzyme and possibly bile activity. Previously my gut felt very dead, like cement, with lots of pain and a feeling of little movement and activity. The week after my gut felt very alive and active and functioning more as it should be.
I believe I made some critical mistakes in the re feeding period, consuming too much food too fast and should have stayed a bit longer on just fruits beyond the first two days. I transitioned into meat and fish eating too quickly I believe and then transitioned at day five to raw milk and wished I had just gone a lot slower in getting back to some of the foods I normally consume. By the middle of the second week after the fast I felt my gut tilting back into its diseased state and the better sleep, better breathing I was experiencing started to fade. Four weeks after the fast now and I am just about back to where I was pre fast though there is still something in my gut that is trying to hang on to the gains I made the first week and a half after the fast. In retrospect I wish that I fasted under less stressful circumstances and wish that I decided to fast for the full thirty days as I originally intended. I think if I did those two things and transitioned back to my diet more slowly its possible I may have had a much better result.
I would like to fast again and soon but a metabolic disorder is holding me back at the moment. Well see how I feel in a few more months.
I don't plan on responding and being all that active in this thread as Ive got other things Id like to do. If someone wants to PM me about fasting they certainly can. I will not respond to any comments from the person who was not engaged in a civil debate in good faith about fasting but was rather engaging in a form of harassment, of a fellow CFS/ME sufferer no less.
Wish everyone god speed to better health and healing.
