Hi everyone,
Almost completed day 6 of a 10 (but potentially longer) water fast. My reasons for attempting this are to try and see if it can help me recover from some lingering health issues that I am suffering with (suspected long covid and potential digestive issues leading to constant fatigue, quit severe brain fog and difficulty sleeping).
I have already noticed some improvements in some areas that I wasn’t expecting - my nasal congestion has cleared and I am beginning to be able to breathe through both nostrils which I haven’t been able to do for about 10 years!
I am also witnessing some quite targeted temporary ailments which I assume are the autophagy / detox process getting to work. I was getting quite bloated on the 3rd and 4th day but this has mostly calmed down (re digestive issues). I have also experienced some aches in my shoulders in legs which are almost identical (yet less severe) to the feelings I had through my several bouts of covid (3 times!).
I have completed a number of blood, urine and other tests in the process of trying to fix my issues, which eventually led me to this fast. All the results came back fantastic. I am keeping well hydrated and supplementing with electrolytes so I think I am in pretty good shape - and not really concerned about these temporary issues that crop up.
I am currently still feeling quite tired and not mentally sharp. I am assuming this is still due to the autophagy / detox process. In particular, I am having real difficulty falling asleep in the evenings (more so than the difficulty I normally have).
I think my main questions really are (for those who have been through an extended fast, specifically for healing issues they had) :
- Did you also suffer with sleep issues during? And if so, did they resolve at any point during the fast?
- Did you hit that breakthrough moment where you *actually* felt better during the fast?
- I would love if you could share a brief timeline or your experiences as you went through it, and for how long you fasted.
Thank you in advance!
My longest fast is 5 days. I do battle to fall asleep and I wake up earlier. I started taking epsom salt baths. This really helps with the falling asleep.
I have yet to feel good during a fast. I don’t get the energy or mental clarity others report. I don’t fast to lose weight. Based on nothing but my uneducated opinion, I think fasting is easier if you have excess body fat to sustain you.
6 days is awesome and you’re reporting some positivity sounding results. I have seen people post that it gets easier after day 7, so you never know.
Good luck.
Your reasons for fasting are very similar to mine so I want to start with a small warning: CFS/Long Covid some people have shown to get worse through fasting so please pay close attention to your body and take things slowly if your body isn’t reacting well
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Sleep time got shorter yes, but I still noticed feeling just as refreshed. Like the quality was better so I needed less
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Breakthrough wasn’t on my first fast. It was after I got more experienced. Now most of them feel great all the way through save for hours 60-70 and another chunk around 115-130 hour marks
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Fast for health reasons as I stated (CFS; mainly brain fog, poor sleep, joint pain/headaches, exceptionally low energy/fatigue)
Have always leaned towards eating fewer meals or skipping days all together with no other reason than I wasn’t hungry (just a natural inclination to fast through my life)
Intentionally started early last year
Would tap out around 60h fairly consistently
Last summer started going for longer and introduced OMAD once it became apparent that digestion was a huge trigger for symptoms
Added keto shortly after. Carbs noted as another, smaller trigger
Keep a schedule of roughly 1 5 day fast a month
OMAD all month otherwise save for a few days of “free feeding”
140h was my longest but I find \~100-120 is my personal sweet spot for benefits without noticing a downtrend in symptoms
Have noticed good improvements across the board from OMAD and fasting
Have noticed free feeding periods always drag me down be a LOT
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Good luck. In my opinion if you listen to your body, things will get better as your body gets more adapted to the skill
Look into vitamin b1 (specifically ttfd & benfotiamine) for the covid issues. Looks like a ton of pepole are having great success with it for cfs and covid longhaul stuff. (type this into your browser: “site:reddit.com/ thiamine covid”).
Nasal congestion and other inflammatory issues will feel better during fasting, but fasting will not cure them. Inflammation is what signals the immune system to go to a site in the body to repair it. So turning down the inflammatory pathways via fasting will make you feel better, but actually hinders repair. Fasting is putting your body into the most catabolic state possible and the people that reference HGH don’t actually know much about these topics and are parroting Dr. Fung who is generally disreputed in the scientific community.
It’s normal to be tired & wired while you’re fasting. Essentially, catecholamines like adrenaline and HGH get boosted to promote alertness & catabolism of tissues for fuel. I’ve fasted up to 7 days and probably around 100 in total over the past few years. Sleep is always an issue and I think I’ve only felt refreshed waking up once. I use benadryl/melatonin to knock myself out.
As for feeling good – it’s always waves up and down based on the aforementioned cortisol levels. It’s the same thing as people who go on a vegan or carnivore diet or whatever feeling amazing a few days in. Unknowingly they’ve actually just gone into a calorie deficit and are riding a cortisol wave. Hunger does diminish as ketosis is established, but it never goes away entirely.