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PSA: keto appeared to cure my psychosis. A while ago I experienced a traumatic event. Immediately I had sleep disruption and slowly I began to have textbook sy

PSA: keto appeared to cure my psychosis. A while ago I experienced a traumatic event. Immediately I had sleep disruption and slowly I began to have textbook symptoms of psychosis. It was horrible and unpleasant. I went on keto and the symptoms went away. I stopped due to side effects and the symptoms came back. I went back on and the symptoms went away immediately. And on and off for a long time, with a perfect correlation between the two. The doctors who diagnosed me with psychosis don’t care that keto does this. I told them that I have figured out how to cure my symptoms and they just give me a blank look. They prescribed me an antipsychotic which I have never had to take although I have come close to needing it a few times. I tell them there are other people who have written about similar experiences and they don’t care. So I have to get the word out like this. The psychosis is curbed within 24 hours of starting keto. Sleep disturbance persists for about five days. After five days it’s as though nothing had been wrong at all. I get a really bad rash after a couple of days of keto. This is a well known side effect of keto although it is uncommon. I’ve tried various things, the only one that worked was applying drysol prior to keto, preventing the rash-prone areas from sweating. This gives a clue about the rash, which is important because no studies have been done and its cause has not been determined. If I didn’t get this rash I would happily stay on keto forever. There’s never been a study about ketosis and psychosis. There’s one being done in Finland right now, although the sample size leaves much to be desired. I’m in contact with the primary researcher and the paper might be released as early as one *year from now.

MFLoon 7y ago
I'm glad that's worked for you. But I don't think you should go around telling people that a keto diet will cure them of their psychosis; there are too many potentially confounding variables to just recommend a keto diet as a general treatment for psychosis, and it's not like it's necessarily a harmless thing to just shrug and try and see if it cures you, as you noted there can be serious side effects of a keto diet. People should make their medical decisions based on consultation with their doctors or other medical professionals, not anecdotes from strangers on the internet.
- jdkdnfndnfjd 7y ago
  You don’t get it. I had severe, debilitating psychosis. And ketosis took that situation and turned it into being a happy and productive person. You don’t understand what it’s like to experience a miracle. It’s not just “working for me,” it’s a miracle. This is like if I cured my terminal cancer and I told someone and they just said “that’s interesting but don’t tell people.” I’m telling you I had psychosis and I cured it. Doesn’t that warrant at least some kind of investigation or inquiry? You don’t mention any kind of inquiry but you go out of your way to tell me that I shouldn’t be saying anything? Keto isn’t dangerous for non diabetics. There’s no reason at all people with psychotic symptoms shouldn’t try it. I highly encourage people to try it. As for the doctors, maybe they would recommend it if they would listen and actually investigate it.
  - brycesbeard 7y ago
    I wonder if ketosis cures your psychosis, or if you started ketosis at a time when your body fixed itself.
    - jdkdnfndnfjd 7y ago
      I have gone on and off keto many, many times with no pattern in timing or duration. Each time, t he psychotic symptoms emerge and recede with the same quality, in the same amount of time and so on. There is no other pattern in anything that might also cause this. People are not known to go in and out of severe psychotic symptoms so regularly and suddenly in the absence of drug use. It cannot be a coincidence that my symptoms nap to ketosis without exception. it absolutely warrants some kind of inquiry at the very least. I don’t take drugs. I don’t drink alcohol. I don’t have any encounters of any kind with psychoactive substances. I’m smart enough and well educated enough to recognize “confounding factors” and it’s extremely frustrating to be disregarded after all my careful thought and effort.
      - ghostbrainalpha 7y ago
        What's your theory about the mechanism in Ketosis is affecting you? My first thought was about Ketosis being used to treat epilepsy, but Ketosis can DRASTICALLY change the quality of your sleep. Maybe you just needed the extra sleep, or deeper sleep that you are getting while on Keto. I've taken maybe 10 medications for depression. Ketosis was more effective for me than probably 8 of them.
devopsdoughnut 7y ago
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing! There have been a couple of studies on remission of schizophrenia. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0920996419301136?via%3Dihub https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S09209...
- jdkdnfndnfjd 7y ago
  These are case studies, not studies. But they are valid and interesting. My story could be a case study.
bad_user 7y ago
Ketogenic diets have been used to control seizures in people suffering from epilepsy. It has reportedly been used for controlling migraines and possibly other neurological conditions. Ketones being an alternative fuel for the brain, it can relieve neuronal starvation from cognitive hypoglycemia. Whether there's some other magical property of ketones at play, or it's simply that in some people glucose metabolism in the brain is broken, it's all speculation at this point. Note that for epilepsy patients, the classic ketogenic diet isn't something that people can adhere to, being something that's normally done under medical supervision. --- Btw I tried the ketogenic diet for several months and I noticed cool effects like my face acne almost disappearing. However the beneficial effects persisted after switching to a moderate carbs diet made of whole foods. The standard diet is a disaster for health, being very inflammatory and obesogenic, but you might want to also experiment with a whole foods diet, made primarily from fresh plants and animal products cooked at home. You might discover the same benefits. And if you eat at maintenance, or with a caloric deficit, you'll naturally cycle in and out of ketosis daily anyway. But if what you do is working for you and you feel great, then good for you, keep doing it.
- DenisM 7y ago
  I am having hard time finding information about "cognitive hypoglycemia". Can you provide some pointers?
- agumonkey 7y ago
  Hi, interesting comment, do you know solid websites (or Books or places) about keto diet and diet in general ?
  - bad_user 7y ago
    I recommend this one: https://examine.com/store/keto-guide/ https://examine.com/store/keto-guide/
- b0rsuk 7y ago
  As an atheist, it cracks me up that The Bible might have a clue for this. A documentary movie on ketogenic diet brings up a quote about possession, which says something along the lines "This kind of demons can only be exorcised with a post." The movie starring Jayne Seymour wasn't strictly a documentary, but a fictionalized story based on real events.
DenisM 7y ago
For how long do you stay on Keto each time, normally? I wonder if the improvement effect recedes with passage of time or remains stable.
- jdkdnfndnfjd 7y ago
  I haven’t stayed on it longer than a month. I often wonder if I stayed on it forever if the effect would wear off. There are case studies where people are put into remission for years.
protocolture 7y ago
I have seen lots of articles recently linking all sorts of psychological conditions with inflammation, chiefly depression and anxiety. Seems like a short walk from the parent article, discussing inflammation reduction in flu ridden mice on keto, to keto reducing inflammation affecting psychosis.
christefano 7y ago
Have you done any allergen testing? Skin rash is a common reaction to dairy allergy.
1e-9 7y ago
I wonder if a more moderate level of ketosis could achieve the same benefit without the rash? Perhaps you could experiment with shifting your late-day carbs to morning time along with a smaller reduction in total carbs in order to find the minimum level of ketone bodies required? Maybe perform a binary search on total carb intake?

MFLoon 7y ago

I'm glad that's worked for you. But I don't think you should go around telling people that a keto diet will cure them of their psychosis; there are too many potentially confounding variables to just recommend a keto diet as a general treatment for psychosis, and it's not like it's necessarily a harmless thing to just shrug and try and see if it cures you, as you noted there can be serious side effects of a keto diet. People should make their medical decisions based on consultation with their doctors or other medical professionals, not anecdotes from strangers on the internet.

jdkdnfndnfjd 7y ago
You don’t get it. I had severe, debilitating psychosis. And ketosis took that situation and turned it into being a happy and productive person. You don’t understand what it’s like to experience a miracle. It’s not just “working for me,” it’s a miracle. This is like if I cured my terminal cancer and I told someone and they just said “that’s interesting but don’t tell people.” I’m telling you I had psychosis and I cured it. Doesn’t that warrant at least some kind of investigation or inquiry? You don’t mention any kind of inquiry but you go out of your way to tell me that I shouldn’t be saying anything? Keto isn’t dangerous for non diabetics. There’s no reason at all people with psychotic symptoms shouldn’t try it. I highly encourage people to try it. As for the doctors, maybe they would recommend it if they would listen and actually investigate it.
- brycesbeard 7y ago
  I wonder if ketosis cures your psychosis, or if you started ketosis at a time when your body fixed itself.
  - jdkdnfndnfjd 7y ago
    I have gone on and off keto many, many times with no pattern in timing or duration. Each time, t he psychotic symptoms emerge and recede with the same quality, in the same amount of time and so on. There is no other pattern in anything that might also cause this. People are not known to go in and out of severe psychotic symptoms so regularly and suddenly in the absence of drug use. It cannot be a coincidence that my symptoms nap to ketosis without exception. it absolutely warrants some kind of inquiry at the very least. I don’t take drugs. I don’t drink alcohol. I don’t have any encounters of any kind with psychoactive substances. I’m smart enough and well educated enough to recognize “confounding factors” and it’s extremely frustrating to be disregarded after all my careful thought and effort.
    - ghostbrainalpha 7y ago
      What's your theory about the mechanism in Ketosis is affecting you? My first thought was about Ketosis being used to treat epilepsy, but Ketosis can DRASTICALLY change the quality of your sleep. Maybe you just needed the extra sleep, or deeper sleep that you are getting while on Keto. I've taken maybe 10 medications for depression. Ketosis was more effective for me than probably 8 of them.

devopsdoughnut 7y ago

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing! There have been a couple of studies on remission of schizophrenia. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0920996419301136?via%3Dihub https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S09209...

jdkdnfndnfjd 7y ago
These are case studies, not studies. But they are valid and interesting. My story could be a case study.

bad_user 7y ago

Ketogenic diets have been used to control seizures in people suffering from epilepsy. It has reportedly been used for controlling migraines and possibly other neurological conditions. Ketones being an alternative fuel for the brain, it can relieve neuronal starvation from cognitive hypoglycemia. Whether there's some other magical property of ketones at play, or it's simply that in some people glucose metabolism in the brain is broken, it's all speculation at this point. Note that for epilepsy patients, the classic ketogenic diet isn't something that people can adhere to, being something that's normally done under medical supervision. --- Btw I tried the ketogenic diet for several months and I noticed cool effects like my face acne almost disappearing. However the beneficial effects persisted after switching to a moderate carbs diet made of whole foods. The standard diet is a disaster for health, being very inflammatory and obesogenic, but you might want to also experiment with a whole foods diet, made primarily from fresh plants and animal products cooked at home. You might discover the same benefits. And if you eat at maintenance, or with a caloric deficit, you'll naturally cycle in and out of ketosis daily anyway. But if what you do is working for you and you feel great, then good for you, keep doing it.

DenisM 7y ago
I am having hard time finding information about "cognitive hypoglycemia". Can you provide some pointers?
agumonkey 7y ago
Hi, interesting comment, do you know solid websites (or Books or places) about keto diet and diet in general ?
- bad_user 7y ago
  I recommend this one: https://examine.com/store/keto-guide/ https://examine.com/store/keto-guide/
b0rsuk 7y ago
As an atheist, it cracks me up that The Bible might have a clue for this. A documentary movie on ketogenic diet brings up a quote about possession, which says something along the lines "This kind of demons can only be exorcised with a post." The movie starring Jayne Seymour wasn't strictly a documentary, but a fictionalized story based on real events.

DenisM 7y ago

For how long do you stay on Keto each time, normally? I wonder if the improvement effect recedes with passage of time or remains stable.

jdkdnfndnfjd 7y ago
I haven’t stayed on it longer than a month. I often wonder if I stayed on it forever if the effect would wear off. There are case studies where people are put into remission for years.

protocolture 7y ago

I have seen lots of articles recently linking all sorts of psychological conditions with inflammation, chiefly depression and anxiety. Seems like a short walk from the parent article, discussing inflammation reduction in flu ridden mice on keto, to keto reducing inflammation affecting psychosis.

christefano 7y ago

Have you done any allergen testing? Skin rash is a common reaction to dairy allergy.

1e-9 7y ago

I wonder if a more moderate level of ketosis could achieve the same benefit without the rash? Perhaps you could experiment with shifting your late-day carbs to morning time along with a smaller reduction in total carbs in order to find the minimum level of ketone bodies required? Maybe perform a binary search on total carb intake?