Hi,

Since you can't take magnesium orally you should take it transdermally. Buy magnesium oil and apply it to your skin. Also, take epsom salt baths. Cramps could also be due to a lack of salt. Buy some Himalayan pink salt or another natural salt and add it to your water. Since you exercise a lot, you probably lose electrolytes quickly. Many people drink RO water without electrolytes which actually leaches minerals from your body.

On the IBS side, I would try to eat 100% organic and take probiotics daily. (Kefir, saurkraut, kimchi, kombucha etc.). I think IBS and related issues are caused by glyphosate which kills off beneficial bacteria in your gut. Everything non-organic will be contaminated with glyphosate. Avoid especially wheat, corn and soy. Those have the highest glyphosate loads.

I hope this helps!

Wow, you're doing so much I do to try and benefit every issue. But my cramping is not near as bad as yours @Gertjr. With mine, they just come on during the night, like I think you said yours do, and I jump out of bed and take a few steps around the room and that fixes mine. Maybe it has to do with the stretching??

I also do ACV but not real often just as needed kind of because I read it can make LPR worse (a type of acid reflux). Stretching before bed might help, and also, I've heard negatives on the Red Yeast. I find if I back off just my walking for cardio, I get more cramps at night. I do bodyweight, but just for the upper body. Stairclimbing on real stairs builds my leg muscles pretty good.

I'll keep my eyes and ears open for more things and it looks like some good info from Paracelsus. Please do let us know. I really love to hear from people here after they have found more answers,

For the muscle cramps, start with magnesium chloride oil spray MO, it will usually relieve muscle cramps in a minute when applied to the problem area, either before going to bed or if a cramp comes on while sleeping. Although it is absorbed through the skin, it should not be a problem for the gut unless you apply too much. Here is a link to a typical product.

https://www.amazon.com/Magnesium-Oil-Spray-STRENGTH-Essential/dp/B01N0KQ9QJ/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1380S2IR0NL18&dchild=1&keywords=mag+oil+spray&qid=1614551246&sprefix=mag+oil,aps,257&sr=8-3

This will not only relieve cramps quickly but will act as a pain reliever for things like arthritis and will also act to increase your magnesium intake without causing diarrhea. It can also be helpful for sleep.

If you are not getting much potassium from your diet, you can consider supplementing potassium in case potassium insufficiency is the cause or contributing factor of your muscle cramps.

Red yeast rice, like other statins, can cause diarrhea in some people.

You don't say how much ACV you are taking, but it can cause diarrhea in some people.

Art

Hi GertJr,

ACV can actually deplete essential minerals from your body depending on what you're low on already. What about stopping that for a while and see if it makes a difference? I love ACV, but there are a lot of side effects you can get from it, some of them quite severe Just check out our ACV side effects page.

Other than that, potassium supplements are often helpful for getting rid of muscle cramps if the magnesium oil isn't doing it.

Hello Gert Jr,

Your troubles are familiar to me! I used to get terrible cramping and spasms but I think I fixed the problem some time ago by seriously watching my Magnesium intake (boosting it that is! ). Most of us are really short and Mag. does about 200 jobs in the body I was once told!! If I feel that my muscles are "not quite right" I will immediately start including just a few drops of Magnesium Chloride LIQUID in my glasses of water until it tastes "funny"(which I should be taking more of in this hot weather anyway). Then, at other times, I will also mix some Magnesium Citrate powder in a (separate) glass of water and swish that down quickly once it has been stirred and dissolved completely. MC is touted as being "a high potency, easily absorbed form of magnesium, relieving muscle CRAMPS and SPASMS, supporting muscle health and muscle repair as well as supporting relaxation and SLEEP". What's not to like?

Magnesium therapy will often have an effect quite quickly. As has been pointed out on this Site before many times, trans-dermal Mag. therapy gets the product into the spot most effectively. I use the Mag. Chloride liquid for this one. I hear you re. the IBS but the beauty about Magnesium is that it can be absorbed through the skin (trans-dermally). Just take a twenty minute hot bath, or even a foot bath, with Epsom Salts in it, especially before retiring for the night.

As you may have picked up by now, there are several types of Mag. and they each have their role to play depending on what a person is suffering from.

Do you do warm ups and stretching before/after exercising?

Sounds to me that you might be overdoing the exercise stuff and depleting the electrolytes and liquids etc. and it might be kinder on your body to do less of it, at least for a while, to give your overworked body a breather. I would be tempted to suggest substituting stretching instead but in your case, I would go easy there too!

Some people gain more benefits from mild stretching than they gain from exercise but many injure themselves there too from "seeing how far they can stretch"! Not wise!

Others here have suggested such good ideas as a bit of good quality salt, which has dozens of important minerals therein; Calcium and the Magnesium / Calcium balance issue (which you should research further); the B complex tablets; Tai Chi etc etc.

An old, British, traditional folk remedy suggests massaging clove oil diluted with olive oil into muscles in order to give some relief. Can't hurt.

There are some creams for strained muscles and aching joints that contain capsaicins / peppers etc which can offer great temporary relief if needed.

Potassium may be required if the above protocol fails.

Please keep us posted on your progress (if any), as that will be useful to know for others - we aim to pool the knowledge you see.

Cheers from Down Under,

Michael

Hi GertJr...

If you've already tried most of EC's standard remedies for cramp then perhaps it's advisable for you to just concentrate on getting rid of your IBS problem, which can also upset the proper absorption of minerals and trace minerals from the colon -- which might also be causing your cramp problem. For example, research studies seem to confirm that IBS tends to deplete potassium in the body. And since you swim long distances on a regular basis, then there is also a clear danger of excessive absorption of chlorine into your body through the skin which would be quite bad for the body. That's why it might be advisable to stop heavy aerobic exercise and stop long distance swimming for a while to allow your body to properly rest and recover without any unnecessary stress. Yoga, Qigong, or gentle stretching are good exercise alternatives that will also help to heal your body.

And if you can overcome your IBS problem, you might just find that your leg cramps disappear as well. Here is Ted from Bangkok's method for curing IBS:

"Your condition [IBS] seems to be unstable bacterial flora where there is many, but changing bacterial flora colonies that flip flops with changes in your extreme dietary changes.

Always going in the morning and emptying the bowels work, but perhaps just as important is keeping the body's pH in a stable level is important to have a stable bacterial flora colonies that does not changes as pH is now under control.

A simple solution to the problem that should help the most, and you are encourage to try different level of dose.

1. For your age, the estimated alkalinity the body requires to maintain a stable set of bacterial flora colonies is about at least 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda in 1/2 glass of water taken twice a day. Once in the earliest morning you wake up, another time before bed time of the same dose.

2. To give a good friendly bacterial flora colonies, taking some good yogurt taken once a day, preferably after meal during supper or before supper. The bacterial colonies should at least stabilized.

3. A simple sea salt have a tendency to eliminate most unfriendly bacteria colonies. The preferred dose often is to drink this in a drinking water.

There are two possible dose, but your condition I think it is closer to 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt, plus 1/8 teaspoon of baking soda in one liter of water.

If this is too strong for you (diarrhea or too much loose stools), then go for 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt plus 1/8 teaspoon of baking soda as your drinking water.

If the solution appears to be too salty regardless of how little you put in to your drinking water, your water is contaminated with heavy metals, which is what causing all the problems. Therefore, at least give it a try to drink at least a week of bottled glass mineral water with the usual sea salt and baking soda as your drinking water.

Once you know if the source is in fact a contaminated drinking water with heavy metals, or that you take swimming course (chlorine can play havoc with your bowels once they get absorbed through your skin), then you need to take every day a reasonable amount say 1/2 handful of coriander chinese parsley in 4 days out of 7 days.

Assuming that chlorine is your source of problems of irregular bowel movements. Yes I had it and it was resolved by adding 3-6 more drops of dechlorinator, sodium thiosulfate 10% solution in 1 liter of drinking water, in addition to the baking soda and the sea salt. You may get initial loose stools in the beginning of use, but it is only a temporary condition as it rids of toxic bacteria by clearing up the system.

Keeping a stable pH, reduced dietary sugar, eating some yogurt in supper time, getting morning bowel movement, plus normal bowel movements preferably 2-3 times a day. should note some improvement in your health.

Your nausea can resolved by taking a good vitamin B complex supplements for the week, then stop. The appetite should normalize, and nausea should be gone. If not take 500 mg of vitamin C, preferably sodium ascorbate. Students seem to be deficient in vitamin C all the time, especially woman. Why that is so, I don't know, perhaps stress in school and too much studying depletes vitamin C levels"

Source: https://ted.earthclinic.com/cures/ibs-irritable-bowel-syndrome4.html

Had some horrible foot cramps after Covid. I used DMSO. I keep some in a dropper bottle. Just put some in the palm and apply. Then I finally got serious about hydrating with the 2 hour timer method - 8 ounces every 2 waking hours - and they stopped. But the DMSO stopped them instantly - which is why I let the hydrating slide, I suppose. I knew I was dehydrated but I'm no good at doing things "regularly" because I simply don't think about it. Hence, the timer method.

I've been here before asking about foot/leg cramps, and here I am again.

The cramping got better when I didn't work out for several days, but I really need to strengthen my bones and work on balance. So, Tuesday I did squats without additional weight, only a few sets of ten. The next day I was sore, but not overly so, and did simple yoga stretches. That night, last night, my feet and legs cramped seriously. I don't sleep well anyway and this makes it that much worse.

I've been taking B complex and drinking plenty of water, eating properly and getting all the electrolytes I need. I'm at a loss what to do. I simply cannot give up the exercising, as I already have osteopenia, and I'm really not overdoing the exercises I do. I lift weights, but since the recommendations to not overdo weights, I have done the same motions but without the weights. I feel that my muscles just stay so tight.

Epsom salts baths, magnesium oil, foam rollers, and a heating pad do not relax them. What am I doing wrong? The several days I didn't work out (out of town) they got better, but is that really my only option for relief? I can walk, but even that leaves the muscles tight.

I would try 3 things:

1. Add an oral magnesium supplement. I like taking magnesium chloride internally. 1 tsp of the powder, 1-2x daily
2. Potassium- potassium bicarbonate
3. Aquamin- to provide a natural source of plant based calcium along with other trace minerals.

I've heard of people solving leg cramps with 1 of the above 3 minerals (magnesium, potassium, calcium).

If that doesn't work, I.e. the cramps aren't due to a mineral deficiency, please report back. The next best option I believe would be to try a homeopathic remedy.

I'm so sorry to hear that GertJr. In that case, stick to what you can handle with the transdermal magnesium.

In addition to the potassium and aquamin (for the plant based form of calcium and other trace minerals), you could try the homeopathic form of magnesium which is very effective but should not cause any digestive disturbance. It is known as one of the homeopathic cell salts by the name of Mag Phos 6X. A very popular brand is Hylands (cell salt #8). You can take the manufacturer's recommended dose 3 times daily, and also more frequently when cramps are bothering you.

I also second Tessa's suggestion about trying Hylands other homeopathic remedy for leg cramps. They are gentle remedies that are astonishly effective yet safe.

Let us know how it goes!