Muscle Cramps

Howdy,

Some questions:

1. How many milligrams of supplemental magnesium do you take daily?

2. Do you take any supplemental calcium? If so, how much?

3. Any idea how much potassium you get in a day? As potassium supplements are limited to 99 mg, I'm guessing you probably don't supplement with potassium. But, please correct me, as needed.

4. Do you generally use salt? If so, do you consume a lot or a little?

5. What is your diet like? Is it whole foods you cook yourself? Processed? High/low meat? High/low starches? High/low fibrous and leafy green vegetables?

6. Are you taking any prescription or over-the-counter medications? Supplements?

Sorry, I know that's a lot to ask. But, it's good to know more details, so maybe we can see something obvious.

Dude,

Hey! All great, logical questions.

I take around 1,100 mg of Natural Calm mag powder. Yes, I know that’s outrageous. Got to get the poop out.

I do have potassium supplements, and I do take them occasionally when I sweat a lot or feel like my electrolytes are wonky. I eat leafy greens almost every day, so I do get get potassium there, right??

I eat a largely processed diet, so I get more than I should of sodium. When I eat salads at home, I add a little pink salt.

Nothing has really changed as far as diet is concerned.

Treatment has changed in recent months with the addition of: Serrapeptase, oregano, Ivermectin

I take the mag powder at night. The cramps often happen after I take a shower in the early evening. They are more likely to occur on days when I have done a lot of walking or after doing yard work.

I am flat footed, and the cramps in my feet happen in the arch, but I also am feeling calf muscles tighten up.

It’s not like I just started walking or doing yard work more frequently, though. That’s what I don’t understand. It’s like this kind of came out of nowhere.

Hey, thanks for the answers.

MAGNESIUM

Yeah, I'd say 1,100 mg of magnesium is a lot. We can take too much of anything -- even water. I realize you use it to induce bowel movements, but do you have any idea why elimination is a problem in the first place?

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323349
https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/magnesium-healthprofessional

CALCIUM

How about calcium? Do you take any supplemental calcium? If yes, how much. (Do you use the Natural Calm version that includes magnesium?)

Basically, I'm trying to get an idea of your calcium/magnesium balance, among other things. Previously, I've read that the calcium-to-magnesium ratio should be 2:1. More recently, I've read that the ratio should be 1:2 or at least 1:1. Calcium is not something to be careless with, as we don't want it to end up in our arteries. Vitamin K2 (MK-4 or MK-7) helps keep calcium in the bones where it belongs. Of course, it's more complicated.

https://www.myfooddata.com/articles/foods-high-in-calcium.php

POTASSIUM

As for potassium, many foods have potassium. As for leafy greens, I found a lost of high potassium plants and beet greens was listed at the top. For one cup of cooked beet greens, that's 28% of the Daily Value (DV) for potassium. Here are some foods: the first list is vegetables only and the second list is all foods.

https://www.myfooddata.com/articles/high-potassium-vegetables.php
https://www.myfooddata.com/articles/food-sources-of-potassium.php

SALT

Unless you're one that's sensitive to salt, then your salt intake probably isn't a concern. Now, I'm not referring to the regular "table salt" like Morton Salt that we grew up with. Morton does now have sea salt, too, but I don't know if it's got the extra ingredients like anti-caking agents, etc. I use various salts, like Redmond Real Salt and Celtic Sea Salt, among others.

TRACKING INTAKE

While it's a bit of a pain (not bad), I'd suggest you use a free online tool like https://cronometer.com and enter the foods you eat for one or two days. (I have a free account and registered it with a temporary e-mail address under a fake name.) The program will show you the totals for vitamins, minerals, fats (omega-3 and -6, saturated, MUFA, PUFA), protein, amino acids, and more. To those numbers, manually add the amounts from your supplements. You could also manually calculate things from package labels and searching online, but I think that's likely a far bigger inconvenience.

Or...

You could try taking a powdered electrolyte supplement in water or drinking a pre-formulated electrolyte drink. If either works, then it would seem like it is an electrolyte issue. But, unless you want to drink electrolyte products on an ongoing basis, I'd experiment with your diet using some of the above food lists and try to dial it in yourself. That way, you get a better sense of what's doing what. Of course, there's more in whole foods than just those few, aforementioned minerals.

Again, I know that's a lot to consider. I'm sorry about that. Obviously, I'm not good at asking few questions and I'm terrible at giving short recommendations. It's important that I do my best to understand the situation and try to give a thoughtful answer. Before making any changes, though, be sure to discuss the matter with someone who actually knows what they're talking about!

I hope you're able to resolve the matter. Keep us updated on what you discover.

Dude

Sore feet is a known symptom of Bartonella.

I had sore feet every morning for a couple of years.
And at odd times they would cramp up.

Treating bart resolved that symptom.

The past several weeks my feet are a bit tender upon waking up and some light sweats - so I’m doing my protocol this week.

(I’m on Maintenance now and have been “stretching” the time between my protocol - it’s supposed to be one week on and four weeks off)