Oxalate Dump: Almost Went to ER


(Jon H ) #1

I almost went to the ER today from what I assume to be an oxalate dump. About day 30 carnivore no cheating. How long do these dumps go on for? When should I expect them to go away and all my oxalates to be cleaned out of my body?


#2

All? That’s not happening unless you’re Carnivore, and even then it’s unlikely. Did you ever have an issue with Oxalates to begin with? People that eat really high oxalates then stop cold can have those symptoms, most people don’t. Did you go from tons of broccoli and spinach daily for an extended time to nothing?

Not saying this is your deal, but “Oxalate dumping” is on the list of go to blames for unexplained things in the keto world, then it’s dairy. Yours may have been real, but unless you had issues with oxalates prior, which typically people only find out because they know they eat foods high in oxalic acid then go cold turkey.

At whatever rate your body processes them out.


(Bob M) #3

I always wanted a way to test this. I haven’t found a simple way to do that.


(B Creighton) #5

Broccoli is not very high oxalate - most cruciferous vegetables are not. They are actually typically among the lowest oxalate vegetables, although that can vary upon soils and varieties. Spinach, chard, almonds, dates, and lots of root “vegetables” are among the highest in oxalates. The low grade oxalate foods can be handled by most people with healthy biome including oxalobacter spp,


(B Creighton) #6

What R UR symptoms?


(Alec) #7

The standard advice to avoid oxalate dumping issues is to continue to consume small amounts of oxolate containing foods, and wean it down over a period of time.

What were your symptoms that you had to go to the ER? What did the doctors tell you?

One key piece of advice that is often lost is to move to carnivore slowly, over a period of 10-12 weeks. There are various reasons to do this: avoid stomach/microbiome issues, avoid oxalate dumping, avoid constipation, avoid keto flu/carb withdrawal, allow time to get your salt/electrolyte rebalanced. Doing carnivore can be very exciting, and you might want to do it as hard as you possibly can. My advice is: do the changes slowly, but make sure when you get to full carni, you do it forever.

I have had some mild oxalate dumping symptoms in my 3 years of carnivore eating, mainly involving rashes. I have heard (Sally Norton) it can take literally years to remove all oxalates from your body.


(Edith) #8

Dumping can occur on and off for years depending upon your previous diet and your own physiology. I would suggest joining the Trying Low Oxalate Facebook forum. It is run by oxalate researchers and moderated by dieticians/nutritionists. They even have a carnivore subgroup.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/TryingLowOxalates

The suggestion is usually to ingest some oxalate containing food or drink to slow down the dumping. I had some very painful dumping when I did a stint on carnivore several years ago. Drinking some black tea or having a square or two of dark chocolate helped.

Also, looking into increasing your calcium citrate intake when you are dumping. It is supposed to bind with the oxalate and help your body excrete it. You will find all this info in the Facebook group. It is really a wonderful resource, very science based.


(Bob M) #9

Oh, and if you take calcium-containing foods with oxalate-containing foods, supposedly less oxalate is absorbed. Thus, chocolate + yogurt probably leads to less oxalate absorption than chocolate alone.

Did a search and came up with this, which are case reports of people having issues due to oxalates:

I didn’t know peanuts had oxalates.

I can’t find what I was looking for, but I know there are studies of oxalates + calcium where oxalates are less absorbed.