Leg Pain - Please Help Me

#1

Hello :slight_smile: I started keto a few weeks ago. I started IF a week ago.
I am loving everything but restless leg/leg sensations at night.

I drink lots of water with pink salt added, I just started a supplement (yesterday) with magnesium, & eat leafy greensā€¦ definitely trying to get magnesium & potassium through food. I also started a potassium supplement yesterday.

But Iā€™m miserable at night :frowning: So much pain Iā€™ve thought maybe I should stop. Not b/c I want to but b/c I canā€™t sleep!

Last night after putting essential oils on my legs, was the first time in about 4 days I had less restless sleep. But itā€™s not totally gone.

If you can offer insightā€¦ thank you. :slight_smile:

(Jay Patten) #2

You are describing my legs at night!

Lots of salt, water, potassium and magnesium (but donā€™t overdose, especially on potassium).

Be careful drinking coffee or tea. Caffeine dehydrates and has a diuretic effect (which keto already has).

I have made the mistake of drinking too much coffee and not enough water and paid dearly for it at night! I actually cut back my coffee by 90% and it has helped.

Bullion cubes/ chicken broth with added salt helps too. If I work outside all day I drink broth to help rehydrate.

Oh, and donā€™t just chug water at night. Thatā€™s too little, too late. Force yourself to drink more water during the day.

#3

Itā€™s maddening!

I drink 1 cup of coffee a day 8-10oz.
I used to do 2-4, so I feel like this is reasonable. And itā€™s bulletproof coffee. I donā€™t drink tea.

I drink so much water that I find myself go to the bathroom every 15 min. So thatā€™s obviously not working. So I cut back how often but not the amount. My potassium is 99mg/1 tablet/day. Iā€™m not even sure if thatā€™s enough lol

I will try broth! Thank you! I just bought bone broth but we also have boullion cubes.

(Carl Keller) #4

Iā€™ve noticed leg cramps a few times, at night, when my sodium levels are low. Increasing sodium the next day has made the problem go away each time.

Two+ teaspoons of sodium, over the course of your day, is a good starting point. You must remember that when we restrict carbs, we excrete sodium at much greater rates than we are used to.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #5

You may be removing electrolytes from your body by drinking so much water. Tim Noakes advises drinking to thirst, not forcing fluid.

#6

Hi, and welcome!!
I get this kind of leg pain from caffeine withdrawal. When did you cut down from 2-4 to one cup/day?

#7

Thanks! About 3 weeks ago. This started on Saturday night.

#8

Hmm - ok, I donā€™t knowā€¦ that seems like a long response time, so maybe this is more of an electrolyte issue as suggested above. I just know that I went through something similar and it took me a while to figure out what the heck was going on. It would be a pretty easy check for you: just up your coffee temporarily to see if that helps. If it does, cut back more slowly over the next few weeks to get down to that one cup again.

('Jackie P') #9

This is purely anecdotal, but my mum swears that the tumeric capsules I gave her for her arthritis has cured her restless legs!
I got them from Amazon and they are Organic Tumeric Curcumin 700mg+Organic Black pepper 5mg. Worth a try?
I take them too as they are said to regulate blood sugar and insulin! Is it true? Who knows!

#10

Thank you! Will try!

(Roxanne) #11

Calcium may also be requiredā€¦it helped me.

https://www.ketogenicforums.com/t/leg-cramps/7805

#12

Thanks. My supplement is calcium, magnesium & zinc. :slight_smile:

#13

I loaded up my ground beef yesterday with Tumeric and last night was the first time in probably 3 nights that I didnā€™t experience restless leg issues when trying to fall asleep - I was so happy it was gone, didnā€™t even consider that maybe the Tumeric had helped, will continue adding it to my food to see if it stays away :blush:

('Jackie P') #14

Blimey! Thats brilliant!

(Full Metal KETO AF) #15

You definitely donā€™t want to OD on magnesium either! :poop:

But seriously I had restless leg syndrome for like 15 years at least. I tried a couple of medications over the years and not much help. I would start getting it around 7-8pm and have trouble getting to sleep. I used to get up around 2am feeling miserable and would get up and wash dishes or something. While I was at it I would have a piece of toast or crackers and my legs would calm down and I would get back to bed.

Before keto I didnā€™t make a connection but it was sugar/carb shortage that was causing me to suffer. When I cut those out and figured out the salt thing it was gone. I occasionally start to get them but my 9pm magnesium dose usually kills it quickly. Sometimes I still have to resort to a couple grams of salt in the evening but usually not. So in my case keto helped get rid of the problem once I got the electrolytes in order. I never supplement calcium.

#16

Potassium supplements are near hilariously trivial for potassium. That 99mg is, what, 2-3% of what a _non_keto user needs?

If you can find some Lo Salt or NoSalt or whatever ā€œsalt alternativeā€ stuff in a store, pick that up. While we need extra sodium on keto too, this stuff happens to be potassium salt usually, and gives several hundred mg of potassium per serving.

ReHydr8 suppliments are decent for getting a range of electrolytes, but youā€™ll want to take multiple of those a day, and the potassium content still isnā€™t very high.

Also notable: Pink salt has less sodium per serving than many other salts, and while many hype the fact that there are other minerals/salts in it, I havenā€™t found anything to indicate how much yet, and only indications that itā€™s mostly negligible amounts of the other salts anyway. I use a bunch of pink salt around here because it, strangely enough, happens to have been cheaper when I bought a bunch of it than most the other salts, but I need to keep in mind I need to use extra too.

Interesting thing with the coffee I found the other day, most of the most highly concentrated sources of magnesium are in coffee and tea ā€˜powdersā€™. I donā€™t drink coffee at all myself, and donā€™t now how well that transfers to a cup which is mostly water, but itā€™s something to think about if you recently cut back on the coffee too.

#17

According to the info on the supplement, the daily dose of magnesium Iā€™m getting is the daily suggested about: 300-400 mg. Mine is 400mg daily.

Iā€™ve been wondering if I need to up my carbs a bit?

Iā€™ve never this. Ever. Until now. Not in my life, not through pregnancyā€¦ not until about a month on keto. Pink salt on all I eat and a pinch in my water.

#18

I know! I read the minimum potassium requirements and then I saw a ā€˜doseā€™ and laughed! I do try food sources first but this is for supplementation b/c Iā€™m in so much pain, Iā€™ll try nearly anything.

Thank you for the info on coffee and Lite Salt!

#19

Are you sure youā€™re getting enough protein?
I canā€™t remember why my own legs started acting up, but it hasnā€™t happened on keto yet, except maybe once. It wasnā€™t salt, but may have been lack of sleep or lack of protein. Iā€™ve been getting occasional protein cravings even before keto, so Iā€™m sort of wondering. Whatever guidelines there are regarding this nutrient, some historian allegedly found that slaves got larger meat rations than the average current American consumes.

But donā€™t go back to carbs yet. Or if youā€™re desperate, only add low carb beans to see if thereā€™s any difference. But beans have protein too, so if thatā€™sit, you wonā€™t be any wiser.

#20

I just noticed my chia seeds have 240mg of potassium for 1 tablespoon & 1 net carb - lots of fiber. I wonder if these might help? Anyone have insight?