Hello : )
Thanks so much for all your concern, it is greatly appreciated!
So this is what happened - it's very long as I thought we are all interested in docs commenting on LT! : )
Went to the doctor and explained my symptoms. She was actually incredibly nice and helpful, and balanced. She spent ages with me.
When I told her I was on a VLCD, she just gave a huge sigh. I said 'what?' then she said 'let's just wait and see what's going on.' It was, as I suspected, low blood pressure - all the symptoms were based on that - the dizziness, palpitations, numbness, vision problems, cramps and sickness she said. The chest pains were due to the palpitations. She then said 'now, here's the bit you're expecting. I have seen 5 or 6 patients this year with these symptoms on VLCDs.'
Then she just looked at me. Again I asked 'what?'
She said 'I'm waiting for you to argue. They always argue. They say 'it's not the diet'. And, Ok, it might not be (though I don't believe that) - but this is a commonly reported side effect and that is what I want you to know.'
She then said 'I want you to go home and eat NOW. I don't care what, but it is very important that you go home and eat at least 500-600 calories as soon as you get home, preferably more, and rest for the evening.'
She said 'I understand people do these diets because they are desperate, I even think there are some cases in which they are useful - but I have to tell you my medical advice is that you stop for good now. I would offer that advice to 99 per cent of people on these diets. However, if you do decide to carry on - because you have that look on your face that you are not paying any attention to me right now - I want you to pay attention to how you are feeling. I want you to eat more - protein if you want - if you start to feel like this again. If you feel dizzy, don't drive. And I want you to ask the pharmacist who is running this thing to take your blood pressure every single time you go in for your appointments.'
Anyway, she really was very nice and not patronising at all. I came home and had some smoked salmon and light cream cheese, which was 1g of carbs and 600 calories. It was really odd...I hated eating it at first, it tasted nice but not as nice as I would have expected if you'd asked me half an hour beforehand. A quarter of the way through I was full. Then it was like the floodgates opened and I wanted to eat everything in sight. But I decided to have my third shake of the day - in a way it was like closing the door on eating for the day, it worked well. I've not been hungry and about half an hour later I started to feel much better. I even had the energy to cook a roast for my DH : )
Anyway, have only had 1000ish calories, will be in ketosis still and plan to try my shakes tomorrow and see how they go down!
Wow this was the longest post I have ever written but thought anything to do with doctors' reactions was always interesting to us lot!
Anyway, I feel absolutely fine...and guess what? The shake was tastier than the smoked salmon!!!