Foot/Shin cramping page

[Catrin]

I am trying to figure out what I might be deficient in. It's been close to two months since going Primal and I am pretty strict with it. I don't do dairy right now outside of grass-fed butter and a bit of cream in my coffee, and I've been feeling so good I don't care to cheat. Am I in ketosis? Probably not as I tend to eat too much protein, but have been cutting that back a bit, we will see.

The last couple of nights I've awoken with my toes, foot, and my shin (not calves) cramping. Once I get it to calm down, if I dare to move that foot, or even my toes, it comes back. I seem to remember being told that leg cramping is usually a lack of potassium, but every time I enter my daily food into MFP I am never short of anything outside of calcium.

Any thoughts of what I might be lacking? The shin cramping has me a bit perplexed, I don't think I've experience that before. Ever.

[Nady]

Could be electrolytes are off~ it's not just potassium, it's a balance potassium/sodium/magnesium and a couple of others (need to google ) Anyway, Vitamin B6 helps keep them in balance, unprocessed sea salt is a good supplement (¼t. per liter water) And I find a glass or two of tonic water in the evenings help stop nighttime cramps.

[jojohaligo]

I notice leg cramping at night when I haven't been drinking enough water. I know the thinking is to just drink when you feel thirsty, but in my case a couple of days of that and I wake up with leg cramps.

[Catrin]

Thanks for the suggestions and I will try them out. I DO tend to not drink enough water...

[Wrenwood]

I have had foot cramps in the past - the only thing that got rid of them was magnesium supplements. I buy the CALM brand. They're no fun, hope you can find what works for you!

[Ferti]

This is an excellent blog The Blog of Michael R. Eades, M.D.Tips & tricks for starting (or restarting) low-carb Pt II » The Blog of Michael R. Eades, M.D.

[SophieScreams]

I've been plagued with leg and foot cramps nearly my entire life. I tried potassium and drinking more water, never worked. I finally had laser vein ablation last year, which relieved my painful varicose veins, but not the cramping.
Now, I take a simple, cheap store brand magnesium 250mg before bedtime, and don't wake up cramping unless I've been working out in my Vibrams. Bonus: regular morning poops!

[Lewis]

The last couple of nights I've awoken with my toes, foot, and my shin (not calves) cramping. Once I get it to calm down, if I dare to move that foot, or even my toes, it comes back. I seem to remember being told that leg cramping is usually a lack of potassium, but every time I enter my daily food into MFP I am never short of anything outside of calcium.

Any thoughts of what I might be lacking? The shin cramping has me a bit perplexed, I don't think I've experience that before. Ever.

It's usually calves people get problems with. Why there for you I don't know. It may be linked to some activity you do

Magnesium helps with cramping. But the problem seems to be further up the chain. Have a look at Jack Kruses's Brain-Gut 12:

Iodine is found in high concentrations in the synapse of neurons to optimize signaling. With more time for further iodine loss, it affects more epithelial tissues like the breast, ovaries, and testes to cause fibrocystic disease, cancer and infertility. It even can cause thyroid cancers. Once iodine goes, Magnesium is not far behind. This affects our cells ability to make energy from ATP. Our bodies ATPase is magnesium dependent. This is why diabetics and fat folks are so magnesium deficient; because they are energy inefficient because they live in the chronic oxidative pathway their entire life.

BRAIN GUT 12: DARE TO DISAGREE? | Living an Optimized Life

That's the maverick doctor telling a few (well-deserved) home truths to the paleosphere.

The basic point here is that brain chemistry (this guy is a neurosurgeon) tells us that we evolved around water not on the savannah. (And that does fit the geographical situation in the Rift Valley, too.) Modern people are dangerously lacking in some nutrients that you can get from river-food ,and particularly seafood, including most importantly DHA and iodine. (700 million people worldwide are thought to be clinically iodine-deficient and that's with many governments having made the iodination of salt compulsory. What would the figure be otherwise?)

I would take a magnesium supplement, probably magnesium malate or magnesium glycerinate is best absorbed, but the powder you make into a drink is OK -- Naturalcalm.

But I would also up your consumption of seafood, i.e., fish and shellfish, quite a lot. You might also add some seaweed into the mix.

[sbhikes]

Bone broth is another option. It'll contain a wide array of minerals due to the bones. I buy soup bones from the meat market. It's a large knuckle joint sawed in quarters with some meat and tendons still attached. I add a half a cup of wine (don't like how it tastes with vinegar) and a bit of salt (can always add more later) and fill the crock pot with water. I toss in a pigs foot or tail, too, for the extra gelatin. A cup of this before exercising makes for a better workout and keeps the cramping away.

[Ferti]

It's usually calves people get problems with. Why there for you I don't know. It may be linked to some activity you do

Magnesium helps with cramping. But the problem seems to be further up the chain. Have a look at Jack Kruses's Brain-Gut 12:



BRAIN GUT 12: DARE TO DISAGREE? | Living an Optimized Life

That's the maverick doctor telling a few (well-deserved) home truths to the paleosphere.

The basic point here is that brain chemistry (this guy is a neurosurgeon) tells us that we evolved around water not on the savannah. (And that does fit the geographical situation in the Rift Valley, too.) Modern people are dangerously lacking in some nutrients that you can get from river-food ,and particularly seafood, including most importantly DHA and iodine. (700 million people worldwide are thought to be clinically iodine-deficient and that's with many governments having made the iodination of salt compulsory. What would the figure be otherwise?)

I would take a magnesium supplement, probably magnesium malate or magnesium glycerinate is best absorbed, but the powder you make into a drink is OK -- Naturalcalm.

But I would also up your consumption of seafood, i.e., fish and shellfish, quite a lot. You might also add some seaweed into the mix.

That's the second thread that I've read where you quoted that, fascinating stuff. I started supplementing with iodine (I've also increased my seafood) because I believed myself to be seriously lacking in iodine. I wish I liked seaweed because that would be a great addition to my diet. My husband no longer has leg cramps but it could be the magnesium, the iodine, the better diet, being properly hydrated etc.