Returning Leg Pain Help

(Ben Anderson) #1

Hi everyone. Bit of an introduction and some history which will hopefully help set up my issues.

I’ve battled with my weight for probably 25 years but had some success in my early 20s with the Atkins Diet (lost 75 pounds in about 5 months - was young and fairly active). Eventually I went off and regained everything and then some.

Finally reached a breaking point when my scale tipped 275 last summer (I’m 5’10) and decided I couldn’t live like this anymore and I had some coworkers working through keto so I joined in. Lots of success which has been awesome and I’m down to 233 as of this morning.

About 3 months in I started having some chronic leg pain late in the day. I’m a teacher and I’m on my feet all day (regularly squatting down to tables to help students) and I regularly get 10k steps in before the end of my teaching day. My leg pain started to develop around 4pm (typically when I was sitting down to rest for the first time over the previous 4 hours) - the longer I stayed stationary, the deeper the pain/cramping would develop. It got to a point where even walking to the kitchen was a major chore. I went to my Dr who ran some blood work and everything came back normal and I came back negative for Rheumatoid… He prescribed an anti-inflammatory and told me to supplement with tylonal as needed.

Anyway, I took the holidays off of keto (I also had my wisdom teeth extracted and needed some variety of soft foods I could eat) and my pain/cramping went away… Recently (9 days ago) returned to keto. About 4 days in the leg pain returned.

The pain is fairly symmetrical - thighs, calves, swollen joints at the ankle and pain on the top of each foot. Progressively gets worse the later into the day I go and the longer I sit, the worse off it is. I’ve been using some CBD oil to try and offset some of the pain as well, along with heat, but the only real cure tends to be sleep. In the morning I can walk the pain off and I’m typically okay until the late afternoon.

So based on the bits of research I’ve done I’ve tried adding electrolytes (I’m taking two pills a day of the ketovitals) along with drinking a powerade zero each day. I’ve tried adding pickle juice as well but nothing seems to be working… My water intake is around 70-100oz a day, and I still drink diet soda (caffeine fix). I’ve tried adding extra veg (broccoli, leafy greens) to the diet but it doesn’t seem to be helping.

I’ve dealt with the charley horse cramping before and have had success managing/eliminating that pain before but nothing seems to be working now… I"m frustrated as I’d really like to lose another 30 lbs and the keto diet has been so successful for me, but I’m in fear of not being able to handle this pain. It’s really killed any activity I can do after work so my exercise levels have gone way down. I just can’t live with this type of pain long term…

Any thoughts / advice are very much appreciated.

Ben

(Chris) #2

Do you think it may be wise to get it checked out by a professional? I doubt you’ll get much useful stuff from us random internet denizens aside from some anectdotes.

How will we know if you do or don’t have arthritis, or cartilage problems?

(Ben Anderson) #3

Yeah, I’ve been frustrated… why I came here was the 5ish weeks I was off of keto all of the pain went away… 4 days back on the pain was back.

(Chris) #4

“Keto” is a broad term that could be meant to mean you only drink vegetable oil and eat nothing else. Any diet can be low in carbs and high in fat, and still be completely terrible for a human.

What actual foods do you eat?

#5

Could it be the pain subsided because of being layed up/on winter break and not because you were eating carbs?

(Ben Anderson) #6

It’s fairly regimented. 1 hard boiled egg and two slices of bacon in the morning before work. Lunch can range from salads to beef w/ veggies, to ham and cheese and lettuce. I usually eat a brat as an afternoon snack along with some sliced red peeper or cucumber. Dinners range from soups to wings to streaks to eggs. I usually have a sugar free jello with a splash of whipped cream for desert. When I think of it sometimes I have a low carb shake mid day. Have mixed in quest protein bars and other breakfast/lunch meats for variety. Did nuts last time through but am waiting for my mouth to heal a bit more post wisdom teeth.

(Chris) #7

Okay, so we’ve established you at least eat real food. Good start and thank you for answering.

(Edith) #8

I don’t know what is in Keto vitals but electrolyte supplements I’ve seen are actually pretty low.

You need 400-600 mg/day of magnesium and about 5 grams (a little over 2 teaspoons of salt) of sodium per day.

Deficiencies in either of those and/or potassium can cause muscle cramps. Mg deficiency can also cause restless leg syndrome. One of Mg’s jobs is to help muscles relax.

About a year ago, I stopped my salt supplementing thinking I was getting enough through my food. Boy, was I wrong! I developed TERRIBLE muscle cramps and aches that moved all around my body. The worst was the hamstring cramps while I was sleeping.

As soon as I got my sodium back up to the 5g/day level, the cramps went away. It took a day or three, I don’t remember quite how long it took to recover.

Now I take 1/2 teaspoon salt + 1/8 teaspoon No Salt (KCl) three times a day, and those troubles went away. I also take 400-600 mg of Mg every day. That keeps cramps away.

(Ben Anderson) #9

Thank you for your reply - I’ll take a much closer look at my numbers tonight.

(Carl Keller) #10

This is what I determined to be the cause of my leg cramping. When I was not getting enough sodium, I would get these wicked charley horses in the back of my leg. Adding more salt the next day and the problem went away. It’s happened 3 times over the last 5 months but hasn’t for at least a month.

#11

It’s good at least you had a doctor check it out. Have you ever tried Turmeric? Some people swear by it. On Amazon you can find a ton and read reviews, etc. I don’t know if losing can cause random pains but the other day my elbow (for the first time ever) was hurting for a few hours. I took some ibuprofen and then it stopped and hasn’t come back.

(Running from stupidity) #12

Wouldn’t that much be hard to store?

(Isaura Manzo) #13

I have this problem too. my legs are really heavy and in pain! I will increase the salt and magnesium to see if it helps.
Did anyone got a improvement with this electrolytes adjustments?