Advice on leg ache....Please

(Lorinda Mutsaers) #1

Hi, I still consider myself a newbie as I have only been keto for four months. About five weeks ago I started to get a terrible ache in my right leg. I now have a teaspoon of organic sea salt every morning. Unfortunately, the pain has got worse. I now get it in my arm, ankle, wrist and sometime in my left leg and arm. It is worse at night when I am lying on my left side. I also take magnesium at night. Could I be deficient in a vitamin or mineral? I do have an appointment with a dr on Thursday. Actually a bit excited as I am going to see one of the dr’s who is quoted in Jimmy More’s book Keto Clarity. Just thought I would get some advice from you, the people in the know. :slight_smile:

(Chris W) #2

hmmm.

I don’t know what organic sea salt is? I assume that is some sort of purity thing.
I would tend to say joint issues are either a lack of adequate protein, collagen or hydration.
My next line of thought would be inflammation, are you eating much in the way of seed oils? It can be hidden in certain foods like mayo.

(icky) #3

Can you describe the pain?
Is it in the muscles, the joints, the tendons?
Is it a dull ache, or a stabbing pain?

Try and be as descriptive as you can, so we get a better idea.

(Jay AM) #4

Where’s your potassium?

(Olivia) #5

Could it come from some physical activity or a new desk chair? If I have neck pain, I try to purposefully stand and walk more and do 1 or 2 soothing yoga sessions.

This may sound weird but extended fasting is used here in Germany for joint diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. A couple of days of water fasting might help.

(Donna ) #6

I ache exactly like you describe if I don’t take my potassium supplement. I take one 99 mg potassium pill in the morning and at bedtime. It completely fixes the ache for me. Hope that helps! :smiley:

(Lorinda Mutsaers) #7

Deep muscle pain. Can go down to the ankle and I get it in the wrist too.

(Lorinda Mutsaers) #8

I am going to try a fast, thanks. I also think it might be potassium. Have gone from strict Paleo to Keto which wasn’t hard but maybe missing important vitmin or mineral due to diet chage,

(Rob) #9

Lots of good advice. It may be worth considering if you have 2 different pain sources that are coinciding? Muscle pain and joint pain may be the same, related or may be from different sources.
Gout is a possibility, and can occur in almost any joint. I’ve had it in elbow, knee, heel and (the classic) big toe. Each time it causes pain in the surrounding muscles.
However, I find it unlikely that it is this since it usually comes (with keto) from significant weight loss and flooding the system with released toxins. It would also be fairly extreme and often debilitating.
Just another thought…

Good to see the doc in case it is more serious (though if it moves around it is more likely to be something systemic like electrolytes).

(Chris W) #10

This sounds a little like the sciatica to me, but never had it to my wrist only mid back down one leg. It got worse when I lost weight(no more fat cushion) I can not longer sit on my wallet.

(Bunny) #11

Let us know what Doc says?

Could be vitamin B1, salt, potassium and magnesium balancing thing?

I do the kale shake thing with some broccoli, celery, spinach, turnip greens, and other leafy greens and add a little unfortified nutritional yeast, wheat grass powder, chia seeds, flax seed powder and dandelions from back yard (all organic) everyday to bypass these types of anomalies!

(Lorinda Mutsaers) #12

Interesting you say that Chris, my chiro (I have been 5 times in the last three week!!) said to me yesterday had I lost weight and that could have something to do with it. Will post what the doc has to say. Very pleased I am going to see someone that knows about Keto.

(Chris W) #13

It is getting better along with everything else, except for my eyesight that only seems to get worse with age. I was terribly gouty when I started this WOE, knee pain, shoulder pain, stiff. could hardly bend over. That was not an issues when I started, once i was no longer inflamed it came back(a few weeks in), it got worse for a while and now it seems to have gone, The seats of my new truck also used to feel comfortable, now after spending a week driving around in they are hard as rocks. Amazing what 50+ pounds will do in a few months.

(Jay AM) #14

Potassium is one of the trifecta of essential electrolytes (along with sodium and magnesium) and it’s not likely most people would get enough with food. But, it can be dangerous to get too much from supplemententation. It’s worth making sure you intake some however.

(Chris W) #15

Also its pretty area specific, that is not typically the case with potassium, normally it is several things. When mine was too high I got heart issues, I was hot, and twitchy all over. I would not add potassium, salt yes you cannot really screw that up unless you have kidney issues.

(icky) #16

In Lorinda’s case I would at least try supplementing potassium (at a safe rate!) to see whether it helps or not. If it helps, the potassium is the issue and she needs to find a safe rate at which to supplement. If it doesn’t help, then it would seem it’s not potassium and she needs to identify a different source.

(Lorinda Mutsaers) #17

Up date on leg. Turns out I have Tendinopathy. All blood work and x-rays came back good and Dr says Keto diet is working really well for me. Over did the exercise… Knew I was allergic to it. lol Off to the physio for me.

(icky) #18

When starting a new exercise regime, this can be a problem.

Apparently, muscle builds really quickly (days to weeks) to manage with the new level of work.

But bones/ joints/ tendons take months to strengthen and adapt to the new strains.

So they are quite vulnerable in the first months of a new level of exercise.

(Lorinda Mutsaers) #19

That is exactly what the Dr said, I never knew that. I need to work on building up strength in my muscles first then get back to the walking.

(Vincent Hall) #20

[is quote=“sugar-addict, post:18, topic:39189”]
Apparently, muscle builds really quickly (days to weeks) to manage with the new level of work.

But bones/ joints/ tendons take months to strengthen and adapt to the new strains.

So they are quite vulnerable in the first months of a new level of exercise.
[/quote]

Wish I knew this January, I had been lifting some weights trying to build some muscle, arms and shoulders looks bigger and for sure stronger. However, I was at work and went to move some 30-40 kllo rolls of aluminum, I know I should have used mechanical assistance, but it seemed not to bad, then pop! Done a rotator cuff, it’s still causing me problems now some 4 months later. Very slowly improving. I can still do dumb bells and press ups now so not too bad. I put it down to stronger muscles but weak tendons and ligaments in comparison.
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