Thread: Common P2 Physical Issues

During the low calorie phase of the HCG protocol (P2), you may come up against some common adjustment issues. In this post, I'll seek to outline the usual ones. You man not experience any of these, but if you do, you will know its not anything strange and will have some low-cost suggestions on how to deal with it.

Headaches
You may experience headaches during the first few days to a week on P2. This can be caused by sugar detox, caffeine withdrawal, or just the big shift in water stores that is going on in your body. It will pass on its own, but you can take anagesics like aspirin or ibuprophen. You may also get some relief from peppermint tea, or even smelling peppermint essential oil.

Faintness or light-headedness
This can be caused by a drop in blood pressure (blood pressure is often lowered in P2). The remedy is to get some salt into you immediately. (You can add 1/4 - 1/2 tsp to your water a couple of times a day.) Preferably mineral or sea salt. But if you don't have that on hand, any kind of salt will help, even a dill pickle or a cup of hot bouillon.

Weakness or extreme fatigue It is similar to the the muscle fatigue you have with the flu. It also might feel like the lactic acid build up you get in your muscles when exercising past your endurance level, as if your legs are made of lead. This is generally caused by an electrolyte imbalance. The remedy is to supplement with magnesium and potassium. (These minerals will also help banish leg cramps.) Regularly adding mineral salt to your water and foods during P2 will help prevent this from happening to you.

Constipation
Dr. Simeons mentions this as an expected side effect of the HCG protocol and minimizes it as a problem. However it is uncomfortable to be in this condition, you want to keep things moving for your health and comfort. A safe way to do that is to supplement with magnesium. It causes your body to send water to the intestines and promotes elimination in a gentle way. It's a good choice because most of us are magnesium deficient anyway. It will usually work overnight. Start with the dose on the bottle and increase daily if needed until you get a result. Big doses of vitaminC will do a similar thing, although its not as gentle. Many choose magnesium citrate (Natural Calm drink is an option.), but any form of magnesium will work.

Caution: If you are already bound up, the worst thing you can do is take fiber supplements. It will form a plug behind the current stoppage and you will be in worse condition than before. You can add fiber supplements after things are moving again if you think you need them. Also, though you will see recommendations for laxative formulas like Smooth Move tea (which for me is anything but smooth), even natural laxatives are hard on your system. A better idea is to use a suppository or even an enema. Both will give you quick relief, and then you can start a daily regimen of magnesium and/or VitaminC to maintain.

Cravings
We know to pay attention to hunger and/or poor losses as an indicator of the correctness of your dose, however, many are not aware that cravings can also signal that a dose is "off". If you find yourself having regular cravings, even if not hungry, please start a topic so that someone can help you assess your dose. If you just have an occasional craving, a small amount of glutamine powder dissolved under the tongue can help banish those.

Insomnia
This is both dreaded and expected in P2. Its just harder to stay asleep during P2, likely because the liver isn't getting enough glycogen during this time. I've written a blog post with some ways you may be able to have better sleep. Some may work for you. https://hcgdietinfo.com/hcgdietforum...dies-p2-22829/

Meat Aversion
It is quite common to hit a wall after a couple weeks of P2 where you just don't want to eat meat anymore. No one knows why this happens, but there are a couple things you can try if it comes upon you.
1. Try blending your protein and veggies together into a puree for soup.
2. Utilize the optional protocol proteins: 1 egg plus 3 eggwhites, or non-fat cottage cheese.
Off original protocol:
3. Try a Jay Robb whey or eggwhite protein shake (this works for vegetarians on protocol, so I think it is a viable option.)
4. Use a fat-free bone broth , or make gelatin to meet protein needs.

Its the same as your meat protein:

Originally Posted by original manuscript

In countries where cottage cheese made from skimmed milk is available 100 grams may occasionally be used instead of the meat...