Why does eating salt nearly immediately relieve leg cramps?
I get serious leg cramps. I've found that eating salt relieves them almost immediately. Why? It's not like the salt is absorbed that quickly by the body. Or is it?
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Salt gets absorbed by the intestines and if you are having just salt with a water chaser it will go straight through the stomach and be absorbed faster than if you add it to food.
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Thanks. No water chaser. Just salt. :-)
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Pickle juice will work too!
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Pickle juice. I rent furnished houses by the week to refinery contractors. Whenever they move out (2-10 weeks) there are always bottles of pickles sitting around all over the house and fridge, mostly empty. Sometimes it's pickles jalapenos.
These guys drink the juice religiously. Welders, pipefitters, boilermakers...scary looking guys with neck tats. |
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How much salt? Then just drink a glass of water?? |
Maybe the sodium-potassium pump, more sodium facilitates more potassium getting into the cell.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6_NCdV7YO8 |
1/8th to 1/4th of a tsp of table salt (or 50:50 sodium/potassium salt is my preference) in the palm of my hand works for me, which I follow with 4-8 oz of water. You can take more later if you need it. It also works with plantar fasciitis (cramps in foot arches), which I sometimes get in the middle of the night, typically after a day where I hiked a lot or let myself get dehydrated. The body seems to be screaming for both salt and water, and magnesium, which I take in pill form before bed.
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Prevention is my motto, now that I know salt is the cause.
I do keep a bottle of lite salt near my bed at night as the early morning seems to be when the legs cramps strike. ANd oddly, the cramps have actually become worse over the years. That is WHEN the cramps strike, it isnt just in a foot or a calf like it used to be, it is along the inner thigh too. ANd instead of just the left leg, it is the left AND the right, though the right is less so than the left. I am no longer afraid to EAT MY SALT. All meals are well salted now!! 1/4 tsp of lite salt at a time; potassium causes effects to the heart rhythm and eyes sight if too much is consumed at once, like 1/2-3/4 tsp of lite salt. |
I've always wondered this, too. It's almost always relieved within minutes of me taking the salt water. My concoction is salt + NoSalt in a shot glass of hot tap water, then a swig of pickle juice and/or apple cider vinegar... then a chaser of cold water, 'cause all that other stuff is gross. The pickle juice and vinegar may be folk remedies, but when your toes are curling themselves into shapes they shouldn't be able to at 2:00 am and you just want to get back to sleep, you'll try anything. :tears:
I think Nawchem is correct; especially when you're talking about middle-of-the-night cramps and your stomach is already empty. Anything you ingest will be absorbed pretty quickly. Imagine (or remember) consuming alcohol on an empty stomach. It might only take minutes to hit you. I've thought of keeping some salt at the bedside, but I think getting up and walking off those cramps helps, too. Maybe because you're stimulating your circulation? My other rare last-ditch effort when the aforementioned doesn't work is to stand in the bath tub and run piping-hot water on my feet. As for prevention, I try to be liberal with the salt and NoSalt, even though I'm not a big fan of salty foods. I also take calcium/magnesium with dinner. I was just taking magnesium, but I had a long spell during which I was still having night cramps, and it wasn't until I ran out of the Mg and started taking the Ca/Mg which I had bought by mistake that they went away. Calcium is an important electrolyte, too. :idea: Just to add to Gypsybird's question, I also wonder why whichever muscles cramp. Why not all of them? Why only one or two, and why not the same ones all the time? I swear, I've never had the exact same combination of weird foot muscle cramps. :q: |
If I eat too many carbs, I immediately get hand cramps\
a couple of 99 mg Potassium stops it quickly. Sometimes add Magnesium |
lol, ya, that happens to me too.
Major swings based on huge shifts in carb consumption. Either decrease or INCREASE. |
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I want to know more, cause I drink pickle juice twice a week now. even when I fast, I have like 6oz of pickle juice. |
I eat a lot of pickles and a lot of meat; and there's plenty for all my electrolytes, seemingly :)
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Pickles are one of my favorite foods, and the juice never goes to waste. I, too, eat a combination of sodium chloride and potassium chloride (Nu-Salt) followed by a large glass of water before workouts, and it helps. In the warmer weather, I make an electrolyte drink by adding Calm magnesium (original flavor), sodium chloride, potassium chloride to water, mix and drink. Really a great way to maintain hydration, prevent muscle cramps, and avoid the marketed crap drinks with lots of sugars like Gatorade.
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