Hello, really keen to find out if anyone else has experienced lower back pain in the first week. I’m on day 7 and have can’t shift the pain, particularly at night. Could it be my kidneys working on overdrive?

It does happen occasionally. Sometimes it can be a sign of dehydration—are you drinking plenty? When we lose our glycogen stores in the first week we also flush out the water associated with that glucogen (each gram is glycogen is bound to 3-4 grams of water!) so it’s crucial we replace the fluid. The other thing to know is that we flush out a lot of salt with that fluid, so make sure you’re putting salt in your veggies and salad to replace it.

Alternatively, it might be nothing to do with your kidneys and could be referred pain from your bowel—if you’re having issues with constipation that could also be it. All these things tend to resolve after a week or two but it takes the body a little while to get used to the change if you’ve never done low carb before.

Hope it eases soon. Obviously, if the pain is severe, do please get in touch with your doctor to rule out any other issues.

Hello,
I had terrible pains in my right kidney area when I first started BSD. Even to the point of having bloods and a CT scan done. All normal. My Doctor told me that when you up your protein intake it can affect your kidneys ( well know link between kidney stones and high protein diets) Naturally as we try to consume less carbs we do eat more protein and this certainly has been the case for me. 4 months of this way of eating my kidneys must have adjusted as I no longer have the pains. Hope yours settles.

I too have had this problem, pain in the right kidney area at night. It would go after getting up and moving around in the morning. To be honest I was unsure as to the cause, wondering whether my mattress needed changing or whether it was linked to a lower back problem that I have had for years. Eventually it did right itself so I never took it any further, it did take longer than a week though, more like three. I am reassured by this thread, knowing that it’s not just me. Thanks for posting FRich.