Leg Cramps at night and diabetes

[Jhanananda]

We have discussed Leg Cramps at night on various threads on this forum: Leg cramps; Sam's health blog; Unpleasant Dreams and Sudden Hesitancy to Continue Rigorous Meditation; The mendicant lifestyle. It turns out that Leg Cramps at night are a classic symptom of diabetes; and since I have been eating eggs every day I have had no more Leg Cramps at night.  In fact my feet had gone numb (Neuropathy, nerve damage) for a few years now, but now that my blood sugar has been normal for 2 month, then the numbness has gone away as well.

You can also see these links:  Leg Cramps in diabetics.
Are Leg Cramps Caused By Diabetes?
Leg Cramps and Common Problems in Diabetics

    http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/neuropathies/
    http://www.cdc.gov/Features/DiabetesFootHealth/
    http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/SR20/nutrlist/sr20w306.pdf

[bodhimind]

Hi Jhanananda,

My father experiences a swelling of the feet and it only goes down when he goes for a 20-30 minute cycling journey. Do you experience these symptoms? Have you managed to treat this? He does describe some numbness as well. It's not so much a cramp as swelling though.

[Jhanananda]

I used to cycle as well, before my last cycling accident.  I still keep a bicycle, but I do not ride it much.

No, I do not get swelling of any of my limbs, but you did say your father had developed type 2 diabetes.  I am curious. Were eggs ever a part of his daily diet?

Good news for me, the numbness in my feet for the last few years has been gone for about a month.  It apparently took eggs in my daily diet for about 10 months before the numbness in my feet went away.  I am not sure how long it took my blood sugar to normalize, because I had stopped taking my daily blood sugar readings shortly after starting on eggs and finding no real immediate change in my blood sugar.  Now looking back I think it just takes time for the repairs to be made from chromium supplementation.

[bodhimind]

I used to cycle as well, before my last cycling accident.  I still keep a bicycle, but I do not ride it much.

No, I do not get swelling of any of my limbs, but you did say your father had developed type 2 diabetes.  I am curious. Were eggs ever a part of his daily diet?

Good news for me, the numbness in my feet for the last few years has been gone for about a month.  It apparently took eggs in my daily diet for about 10 months before the numbness in my feet went away.  I am not sure how long it took my blood sugar to normalize, because I had stopped taking my daily blood sugar readings shortly after starting on eggs and finding no real immediate change in my blood sugar.  Now looking back I think it just takes time for the repairs to be made from chromium supplementation.

Interesting, currently... not too many eggs as my dad is overly concerned about cholesterol from the yolks. Does the chromium come from the white? I think I will try to add some chromium supplementation to his diet!

[Sam Lim]

Chromium is good but you have to have magnesium in his diet. The complement each other for the absorption of glucose into the muscle tissues. Incidentally, the leg cramps is due to lack of magnesium. Calcium is needed for the muscle to contracts and magnesium is for it to relax.

Cholesterol is in every cells of our body. It's the firefighter that comes to the aid where-ever there is an inflammation or injuries.. Without it, you're dead. There are lots of bad science with regards to cholesterol.

The swelling of the legs is due to kidney weakness. Hawthorn will provide the healing factor for the kidneys.
One of my friend, who is a fishmonger had this problem all the time. I told him to take hawthorn. It just a week, the symptoms are gone and after a few months the symptoms never re-appeared. Just for your information.

[bodhimind]

Chromium is good but you have to have magnesium in his diet. The complement each other for the absorption of glucose into the muscle tissues. Incidentally, the leg cramps is due to lack of magnesium. Calcium is needed for the muscle to contracts and magnesium is for it to relax.

Cholesterol is in every cells of our body. It's the firefighter that comes to the aid where-ever there is an inflammation or injuries.. Without it, you're dead. There are lots of bad science with regards to cholesterol.

The swelling of the legs is due to kidney weakness. Hawthorn will provide the healing factor for the kidneys.
One of my friend, who is a fishmonger had this problem all the time. I told him to take hawthorn. It just a week, the symptoms are gone and after a few months the symptoms never re-appeared. Just for your information.

Wow that sounds very promising. How is the hawthorne ingested? Did he take an extract? Haw fruit itself?

Something like this?



Thanks for your input.

[Sam Lim]

Yes, the fruit itself. Take a handful and boil in water for about ten or fifteen minutes. Do not add sugar. If you must add stevia.

[Jhanananda]

Interesting, currently... not too many eggs as my dad is overly concerned about cholesterol from the yolks. Does the chromium come from the white? I think I will try to add some chromium supplementation to his diet!

Cholesterol is in every cells of our body. It's the firefighter that comes to the aid where-ever there is an inflammation or injuries.. Without it, you're dead. There are lots of bad science with regards to cholesterol.

Sam is correct, cholesterol actually rises as a consequence of diabetes.  Your father will find that if he eats at least 1 egg a day (I eat 3), then in a few weeks to months his diabetes will go away, and his cholesterol count will actually fall, even though he is eating food that is high in cholesterol.

[Sam Lim]

One more thing. If your dad is taking statin drugs, there will be leg cramp symptoms. Overall body weakness due to the fact that statin blocks the nutrients intake at a cellular level. It also depletes COq10.

[bodhimind]

Great stuff. Thanks for the advice. I got him started on daily eggs and hawthorn. I got it from an eastern medicine shop, since I can't find the actual fruit around the markets and they did say it was a prescription for swelling feet too.

He's quite phobic about drugs so he doesn't take any, fortunately! Hoping the symptoms alleviate over time.

[Jhanananda]

bodhimind, your father might find it useful to monitor his morning blood sugar before eating.  It might help him to monitor his progress in recovery