I Have Been On The Atkins Diet For 5 Weeks, And For 1 1/2 Weeks I Have Been Having Headaches With Vision Problems, Like You Get When You Have A Migraine. Does Anybody Have These And Does Anyone Know What Causes These? I Take Ibuprofin And It Goes Away.

I went through something similar, but not until after I'd been on Atkins for over 2 months. Turned out I had low blood sugar. I was skipping breafast, eating a light lunch, and eating a large, but late, dinner. I've now found that it's very important to space your food out through the day, eating a minimum of 3 meals and 2 snacks. (I've now turned into a "grazer" and all's well again.) Trying looking at your eating schedule to see if this could be the reason for your headaches. Also, inadequate water consumption can sometimes the same problem.

Hi Barbarella, Welcome! I've been on the Atkin's nearly 4 years and the only times I've had headaches was when I quit drinking coffee for 2 weeks and when I've gone off the diet. I hope you're feeling better soon and the headaches go away. Barbie

I had bad headaches for the first several weeks. For me, it turned out to be withdrawls from the starches. I just had to tough it out and it went away.

I had the same problem for the first three weeks, especially around TOM. If they don't go away after a while, I would see a doctor. Hope you feel better soon!

yeah, definitely check your blood sugar. for about the first weeks, my blood sugar went INSANE from not eating many carbs and it made me feel really terrible. eating regularly really helps, and i always kept little things like raisins around so i could pop a few when my blood sugar got dangerously low (around 55)

This talk about blood sugar...Do you all check it? Is it a diabetic thing?

i'm not diabetic or anything like that, but my mom has type 2 so she had a meter handy. she checked it because she recognized my symptoms as being the same as hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) and sure enough it was really low. this worked itself out within the week though, and i don't have any problems now. i think it was the carb withdrawal that atkins says some people experience.

I have problems with headaches since I started low carb diet... I think eating sugar and candies causes me to have headaches.

I've now been on Atkins for only 2 days so far and I'm having real bad symtoms. These include feeling very dizzy/faint, nasty headaches, tiredness, hungry even when full and generally crap!! Can anyone explain if all is well? Also, how do I get my blood sugar level checked out....do I have to go to my doctors?

Thanks.

Drumajo, your headaches are probably caused by withdrawl symptoms of coming off starches and sugar and caffeine if you are cutting that as well. It is a usual symptom. Make sure you are eating regularly to avoid the dizziness. Just drink your water and eat lots of veggies. Just wait it out for a few days and you should start to feel better, I had weakness and headaches for a full week on Atkins.

BARBARELLA: I have been getting nasty, almost migraine like headaches when I eat Splenda or products with splenda in it. Although it is supposed to be made from real sugar and better than aspartame it bothers me. If the blood sugar thing isn't the problem, maybe you can see if the splenda thing is. Hope this helps.

Good luck.

There's a few things you should be doing. Make sure you're getting enough veggies, vitamins, water, and calories. If all is good there, then give yourself a few days to 'detox'. Many people experience withdrawl symptoms when they lower their carb intake this much. It will go away as soon as your body stops trying to burn the carbs that aren't there and switches over to burning fat instead.

Have you read the book? It's immensely important that you really understand how Atkins works before trying it. The people that don't are the ones that end up hurting themselves.