Holy Charlie Horse Batman!

(Consensus is Politics) #1

So a couple of days ago I made a lunch using ground beef, bacon, sour cream. Also fried some galic in as I browned the beef. A wuick and easy lunch.

I used a lot more salt in it than I usually put in a meal. It was riding the border of inedible :grimacing:. So I ate it. I survived. No events.

Yesterday, subconsciously I assume, I failed to use any salt, all day. Including my night cap, .5 liter nottle of water with a teaspoon of salt in it.

At 0300 the wife (yes, the wife) woke me up screaming in pain. She was having horrible shin cramps in both legs. I shot out of bed and made her a salty drink. About 5 minutes later she was able to ho back to sleep. The whole muscle cramp thing is the clencher for keeping her from hoing keto. Simply because she doesnt like to use much salt, ever.

Exactly 30 minutes later I got the worse calf cramp I have ever had. I did what I always used to pre Keto. Stood up, and moved that foot as far behins me as I could and streached that thing out. Sure, the pain doubles for a split second, but then its gone. Then back to bed. 30 minutes later I get cramps on the top of both feet, and my toes curled upwarads (oh yeah, wrong way for sure and painful). So I run into the kitchen (run is me being polite to myself. It was anything but. I looked like I belonged in the Ministry of Silly walks, with John Cleese. My laughing at the problem didnt make it any easier to put a teaspoon of salt in a water bottle.)

But 30 minutes later same cramps… plus something new that scared me a little. HAND CRAMPS. WTF?!? My hands were useless. But i managed to get about 2 teaspoons of salt in the water bottle, and about 3 or 5 on the floor. As im shaking it to get the in solution, my bladder wakes up and says “pee now, or else”.

I didnt get a timeline on the “or else”. I discovered the or else was NOW. I barely made it, chugging my extra strong saline. Uhg…

Looking at the scale this morning my body made it all up to me. I lost 5 pounds, AND… was under 190 pounds for the first time in a long time.

Moral of the story…

Keep your electrolytes up!!!

And don’t worry about what the scales say, just keep calm and, well, you know the rest. :cowboy_hat_face:

(Bunny) #2

Amazing pickle juice quick fix to the rescue…lol

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #3

In addition to the cramping, I also get migraines and develop constipation when I forget to keep up my salt. I also stay less bloated when my salt is good.

(Consensus is Politics) #4

I just happen to have about a gallon. The kids helped me polish of a couple of jars, and laughed at me for putting the empty bottles back in the fridge :sunglasses:

(Consensus is Politics) #5

And there was that. But a few years ago, before going keto, my migraine headaches went away. But they didnt leave. They just moved to another part of the brain. So I still get them, but they don’t hurt. I just get a freaky light show. Like my own personal thunderstorm. Flashes of light, across half my field of vision. I think it’s called an optical migraine. I had to park the car once and wait for the lightshow to end. It was bad enough it blocked half of my vision just as bad as if I had a white sheet of paper covering half of each eye.

(CharleyD) #6

After reading The Salt Fix by Dr Nicolantonio, I always keep normal salt tabs with my taekwondo bag and take 2 prior to every hour spent working out. And as a recovery, 3 tablets of Magnesium Glycinate before bed.

I’ve had a calf cramp during class, to my chagrin while judging a sparring match, that hurt worse than being kicked deliberately, and also did not recover on its own until salt consumption commenced.

I always take some salt during the day now, with the understanding that excessive caffeine consumption requires extra salt and just water intake over the day to compensate.

And the easy ‘tell’ to know you’re about at salt balance is that salt doesn’t taste good anymore.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #7

You suddenly started spouting a foreign language there, Charley! :grin:

I was quite surprised to read something similar on the label for an electrolyte drink they made us drink on really hot days at a factory where I used to work: “Drink until the product no longer tastes good.” Worked, too! The change sometimes occurred between one swallow and the next. The body is simply fascinating!

(Hyperbole- best thing in the universe!) #8

Well, this makes me feel better about not getting in my salt because “I just can’t.”

Dr Berry also mentioned that if you salt food to taste, that is the right amount of salt.

(CharleyD) #9

Yup, it’s amazing how fast the feedback mechanisms in the brain can send hormones out that can shift tastes like that.

(Cindy) #10

For me, it’s the magnesium. If I don’t stay on top of that, I get crazy cramps in the weirdest places.

(Consensus is Politics) #11

Indeed. I never noticed this until after I started keto. Once I realized I needed to up my salt intake, I was always worried i was taking too much. But there was this feedback loop.

I knew I put two full teaspoons in my water. Why doesnt it taste salty? I was in full solution. By the time I drank half the bottle, the salt became overpowering. I figured that was my feedback loop. My body said, “ok, thats enough. I’ll let tou know later again when its low.” :grimacing:

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #12

I had some charlie horse nights well into doing keto because I got really lazy about the salt and staying hydrated. I wrote it in my thread but I’ll recount the night I got one in the back of my thigh and shot out of bed, trying to figure out how to stretch it out. Then I realized I had to pee bad so I hobbled to the bathroom and mid stream I got another one in my calf. Talk about poor timing! It was a fiasco, I got up as quickly as possible and was able to walk that one off. I stayed up drinking chicken broth, pickle juice and chugging water. I took a magnesium for good measure. Now I’m not stingy with the salt, ever, and always keep pickle juice in the fridge.

(Consensus is Politics) #13

This may not be pickle juice is the purest sense…

I have been using it to cook with. I just saw it sitting there, and thought of this thread. Now, I wonder? :thinking:

image

(CharleyD) #14

Indeed, you must’ve been at salt balance. Careful of putting too much salt in water, you’ll do what I did and discover what a salt flush is! (You probably ONLY want to try that at home, haha!)

(Consensus is Politics) #15

I believe I discovered that completely unintentionally. :flushed:

Something unusual (only related because of the salt in this story) once when I was passing a kidney stone. Several months before going carbonongrata.

I was in sever pain, fetal position on the floor. So much pain. I couldnt get off the floor, and felt like I was going to puke. I called for a bucket, and one appeared. No idea where from or how it fot there, I was face in the carpet.

I managed to get the bucket, git my head in it somehow, and wretched. Nothing. Dry heaved again. Nothing. One more time… A new sensation. Water began flowing from my mouth. Salt water. Probably two to three cups in the bucket. It was coming up. It was coming from my mouth. Like saliva flowing like a water faucet. Took maybe 15-20 seconds to stop. Tasted super salty.

I ended up in the ER that night. They gave me meds for pain, and enough to get me through a few more days if needed. Took a week to pass that stone. Looked like “Dr Suesses worst nightmare” if you know where that quote is from, you might get why i say that. (My kids explained that quote to me. I didnt get it at first. My kids said, “you know how the mountains look in a Dr suesse book”. :roll_eyes:

(CharleyD) #16

Eeek! I’ve had gout pain, since going keto, only after eating shellfish, both fried and raw, sashimi. So I’ve at least identified a mild intolerance since going keto. And now know the pain of crystals in the body as well, to a smaller extent.

So much for the new age mumbo jumbo of the healing power of crystals, eh? :joy:

I kid, I kid! dodges Karmic smite bolt

#17

I know this was an older post, but had to say Thank You!!! I had a super scary moment earlier today, heartbeat felt weird, got clammy and thought I was going to faint. I have been having worsening muscle cramps and twitches for the past couple of days and ignored them (obviously a bad idea). In the moment I remembered reading a post and link about pickle juice and took a few quick sips…started feeling better right away (followed it up with some magnesium and hemp seeds for potassium). Not sure what exactly happened, but thank God for pickle juice :grinning: