Mailman that walks a lot – leg cramps

#1

My husband started a new job in March at the post office. He’s a city carrier and walks about 15 miles a day, carrying about 50lbs of mail on him. According to his tracking app he burns about 4,500 calories. He works 10-12 hours a day, 6-7 days a week.

We’ve been keto since 2018. He started this WOE to support me get my blood sugar under control. He eats OMAD, a pretty big meal after a hard days work. We’ll have a protein (chicken, beef, pork, lamb or sausage) with a side of keto veg (broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, etc) and usually some olives and cheese. He sometimes has some nuts or blueberries with cream after his meal.

He feels pretty good except for leg cramps and other aches and pains when he gets home in the evening. He asked the other guys at the office what they do and most all said they eat lots of bananas. He tried that (just one banana a day though), but the leg cramps never went away. He takes potassium and magnesium supplements.

He uses a leg cramp foam we got on amazon. And aspercream to help with leg pains. Lots of motrin. But nothing is working well. He didn’t have these issues before he started this job.

Oh. He is 51, 5’10” and weighs about 185. And he’s 100% sure he’d never be able to do this job if he ate like he used to, SAD.

We’re not sure what to do that will help. Increase/decrease carbs? Increase/decrease protein? Electrolyte imbalance? He drinks about 4 gallons of water a day (he’s working in 100degree heat this summer). We’re missing something. Any suggestions?

#2

Other than sufficient magnesium and potassium. Sodium and Vitamin C come to mind.

Does he take any supplements?

#3

Yes, he does take a few.

Potassium citrate 275mg
Magnesium - 150mg of Magnesium Taurate, Glycinate, and Malate
Collagen peptides
Turmeric 1000mg
Super enzymes

Plus he’ll drink a couple of Zip Fizz and add Mio Energy to his water.

#4

I would remove the turmeric and see if his leg cramps go away because turmeric is often adulterated with lead chromate. I’ve also read a piece of research where turmeric caused heart issues in a patient. I’ve also tried myself and noticed a reduction in blood pressure which sounds great but it isn’t when we have normal blood pressure.

Vitamin D deficiency is the last thing that comes to mind because I now recall experiencing severe muscle cramps a decade ago before supplementing with Vitamin D. I take the following 5000iu lichen based Vitamin D every other day (mostly in the winter) because I found it to be most effective but it will cause insomnia if the average daily dosage is too high. 2500iu daily for me. Others will require more or less.

https://naturelo.com/products/vegan-vitamin-d3-2500 (450000 iu per bottle)
https://naturelo.com/products/vegan-vitamin-d3-5000 (900000 iu per bottle)

#5

Ok I’ll take the turmeric out. He’s only been on it a couple days. I just got it to see if it would help the muscle pains/soreness. His BP is on the low side.

He does work outside all day so he’s getting at least some Vit D. I’ll order some supplements. We’ll try the lower dose to see if it will help.

Thanks so much for the suggestions.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #6

First try rubbing alcohol, applied liberally directly on the legs, thigh to foot. If that does not alleviate the cramps, advance to Absorbine or Absorbine Jr., again applied liberally. If neither works, then he needs more magnesium and/or sodium/potassium.

PS: 275mg of potassium and 150 mg of magnesium are diddly. For comparison, I consume 4000mg of potassium and 500 mg of magnesium daily. I’m 75 years old and started supplementing to alleviate night cramps in my legs and feet. It worked.

#7

He’ll try the rubbing alcohol tonight. Thanks for the suggestion. It’s been really hard for him to sleep through the night. And that makes me not sleep through the night. So hopefully something will work.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #8

Your husband may also find it helpful to soak in a warm bath of Epsom salts, which will allow magnesium to reach his leg muscles directly.

The potassium and magnesium supplements will also work best when his salt intake is in the right range, which is 4-6 grams of sodium intake daily. This translates into 10-15 grams of table salt (sodium chloride). If he eats foods that contains a lot of salt already, he won’t need to add as much to his food.

Sodium is the linch-pin of the body’s mechanisms that regulate electrolyte balance, so it pays to pay some attention to how much sodium we eat (and we need a bit more on a ketogenic diet, because we don’t have all that glucose in our diet to cause us to retain water and sodium). Staying properly hydrated also helps, though some of the sport drink manufacturers publish excessively high recommendations (for some mysterious reason :grin:). It is sufficient, as Prof./Dr. Timothy Noakes says, to drink to thirst.

Your husband should also beware of overdoing the potassium, because too much potassium (hyperkalaemia) is just as potentially deadly as too little (hypokalaemia). The safe range is reasonably broad, but he doesn’t want to go bonkers with the potassium.

#9

He is working too hard.

#10

Vitamin D is required for the absorption of all essential minerals. So a deficiency will lead to reduced absorption and requirement of more minerals.

Another suggestion would be to wear 100% polyester shirts so his skin can reabsorb the minerals instead of a cotton shirt which soaks them up like a sponge.

4 gallons = 15 liters of water. Are you sure he drinks this much water?

Does he have any tingling in his fingers?

Clinical symptoms in legs, such as paresthesia, burning pains, and spontaneous pain, were ameliorated by MeCbl (Vitamin B12).
-https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3888748/

I take the following Vitamin B12 once in a while because it is the only one I’ve found to be effective for what I need it for.
https://www.google.com/search?q=jarrow+formulas+methyl+b12+1000mcg

#11

Yes, he’s does Epsom salt baths but they just don’t work for leg cramps anymore.

I do the cooking and salt everything. He adds salt as well. But it might be something he can up just to try to see if it will help. He did cut back on purpose because it was listed as a cause for his kidney stones and he does not want another one. The last one he had was in the beginning of January.

We need to figure out some sort of balance. Thanks for the suggestions!

#12

I had very bad leg cramps, went to podiatrist and got orthopedic inserts for my shoes. No cramps since. Just my experience, ymmv.

#13

He does work hard at everything he does. He’s been trying to find data/info on how to properly rest and repair his body. He’s lucky if he has 3 days off a month. There really isn’t any data, that he could find, on mailmen. Lol Who knew they worked this hard? Other than “eat bananas” and “suck it up” is all the advice he got from work.

#14

That’s really interesting about polyester shirts! I believe his uniform shirts are all cotton. I can check to see if there are other options.

Yes, he has 3 one gallon water containers and he drinks those during work. Sometimes it’s not enough and will grab water bottles kind people on his route leave for him. He drinks at least another gallon each evening at home. He wakes up at night thirsty and drinks water. That’s pretty normal for him though. We’ve been together for almost 35 years and he’s always thirsty. He always has a big glass of ice water next to him. Our sons are the same. They also get up at night to drink.

No tingling in his fingers. But his thighs do itch in the evening. He’s also really super hot and can’t sleep with a cover or sheet. We keep our home 68 year round. It’s nice and cool.

We’ll look in to B12. Zip fizz has B6.

Thanks so much for trying to help!!

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #15

That’s a lot of water and it’s going to flush out lots of electrolytes. He might also find it helpful to add a salt mix of sodium and potassium (also maybe a little mag as well) to his water. It does not have to be a lot, so the water will actually just taste slightly salty, not at all like drinking swamp or ocean water. I’ve done this for so long, non-salted water tastes rather insipid to me. :smirk:

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #16

I forgot about the inserts. Thanks for the reminder. I used to get terrible pain in my heels, until I started wearing arch supports at work.

#17

I forgot about tonic water with quinine. I had terrible leg cramps during both of my pregnancies, and this did the trick. I hated the tasted and mixed it with cranberry or orange juice. I’m going to pick some up today. Wish I would have thought of this sooner.

(Bob M) #18

Wow, that’s a lot of water. Is that a natural or forced intake? In other words, does he drink this because he’s thirsty or because he thinks he SHOULD drink it?

#19

Really good shoes with a lot of cushioning?
Best wishes for finding a solution.

#20

He is 100% thirsty. He’s always been like this since I met him when we were teens, about 35 years ago. Always drinking ice water. I think he drinks more now during the day since he’s been working in 100 degree heat. People always comment on how much he drinks. Other than getting kidney stones he doesn’t have any other health issues.