Cramps Keep Getting Worse and I Already Loaded on Potassium And it Doesn't Help. Finally Figured out Why- Sharing

yerrag

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I had cramps before, and always I was able to fix it by loading up on calcium and bananas. But this time, it didn't work. It reminded me of my dad, who often had cramps before, but back then he never did fix it. I don't recall him taking lots of potassium thru food, and even if he did, I'm not sure it would have helped in his twilight years.

I was trying to understand why and searching on Peat's website, I found a clue, that sepsis inhibits mitochondrial respiration, which would confirm what I had been suspecting for a while now but wanted to get some confirmation.


I want to make this brief. The long and short of this is that when the body is busy fighting an infection, it downregulates mitochondrial respiration. When the infection is really bad, or when it is chronic, prolonged downregulation of respiration will leave the body with a deficit of carbon dioxide, as well as carbonic acid and bicarbonates.

This will cause the muscles to lose its ability to relax quickly. What I feel as cramps in my legs would also be felt elsewhere when the cause is not fixed - as I felt the cramp spreading to my back and to my hands. And since the heart is a muscle, it would be affected although in my case I couldn't feel it. But since I have an oximeter that measures the perfusion index (PI), which aive been monitoring for a year already, I could see the PI go down as well @TheSir

I could see acid-base imbalance by measuring my urine pH and saliva pH (breath rate too but since I have good sugar metabolism and CO2 balance it doesn't change that much). Normally, the urine pH should. be lower than the saliva pH (in a well-functioning set of kidneys and lungs, and a balanced nutrition) but in my case my saliva pH is lower than the urine pH.

So, for a quick fix, I had to drink some Coke but since that didn't fix it, I'm taking some baking soda. This should help for a while.

Note: I don't have sepsis but I have an internal infection along the blood vessels' plaque and the biofilm of bacteria woven in with calcium and foam cells. I disturbed the plaque and I opened a Pandora's box. If I left it alone, I think I would still pay a big price - but in old age when I would be pronounced dead because of sepsis. Usually, since patient is dead, no one is likely to look at the cause of death- which bacteria and biofilm are involved - Everyone is happy to move on to the burial.
 
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yerrag

yerrag

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very interesting thank you for sharing this!
You're welcome.

I know this post will easily get ignored and buried. the ideas take some getting used to. People unfamiliar with Beauchamp and his terrain theory can't connect with this post.

I'd like to expound some more, but know the more details are written, the more it will be ignored for being too long

I rather if member is interested in details, he will post a question whether or not he agrees with what's written.

I've stopped making long form posts. After spending so much time writing, I don't even know if it's time wasted when it doesn't connect with the membership. I will try to entice a reader's curiosity so that he will at least ask why. Or ask me for references.

I really do miss the membership makeup in the past.
 

Jon2547

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No, this post will not get ignored. You have my full and undivided attention.

Please keep us updated on this matter. Because I have had a problem with cramps myself.

My cramps started about 11 to 12 years ago. At first it was just in the calves. At times, but not always, it can be in my hands and thru my chest and back muscles.

I have tried everything that I know could help.

I have tried different potassium supplements, cutting back coffee, different diets (low carb, carnivore, lots of carbs).

If you find something that works, please let us know.

For the record, I take plenty of magnesium and am not dehydrated.
 

xpat

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No, this post will not get ignored. You have my full and undivided attention.

Please keep us updated on this matter. Because I have had a problem with cramps myself.

My cramps started about 11 to 12 years ago. At first it was just in the calves. At times, but not always, it can be in my hands and thru my chest and back muscles.

I have tried everything that I know could help.

I have tried different potassium supplements, cutting back coffee, different diets (low carb, carnivore, lots of carbs).

If you find something that works, please let us know.

For the record, I take plenty of magnesium and am not dehydrated.

I second this. It will not be ignored. For cramps, I take magnesium citrate. If I recall correctly, drinking cola used to make my cramps worse.
 

Perry Staltic

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sepsis inhibits mitochondrial respiration

I kind of have a problem with this. Sepsis is really not a thing. It is an abstract collection of conditions that can be caused by any number of things. Like ARDS. ARDS is not really a disease. It's a broader description of physiological conditions that can be caused by numerous things. It might be that inhibited mitochondrial respiration is a cause of sepsis.
 
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yerrag

yerrag

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No, this post will not get ignored. You have my full and undivided attention.

Please keep us updated on this matter. Because I have had a problem with cramps myself.

My cramps started about 11 to 12 years ago. At first it was just in the calves. At times, but not always, it can be in my hands and thru my chest and back muscles.

I have tried everything that I know could help.

I have tried different potassium supplements, cutting back coffee, different diets (low carb, carnivore, lots of carbs).

If you find something that works, please let us know.

For the record, I take plenty of magnesium and am not dehydrated.
Glad I'm not the only one. I was already feeling in deep ***t experiencing this only the past week. And despite us being in the "enlightened" age of the venerable internet search engine of all of mankind's putative knowledge, I can't helped but be disappointed that I could find a solution. Certainly, censorship has its benefits.

But I spent one morning in deep thought, and got my hypothesis. I'm only being modest calling it a hypothesis though. The reason for this was explained already in the OP. The short-term solution is increasing our carbon dioxide stores - by breathing carbogen, or drinking carbonated water, or taking sodium bicarbonate. But these are merely stopgap solutions, but good enough.

But these won't work if one doesn't know how to dose correctly. And as I made a brief blurb on it in the OP, it is by knowing how to use easy tests on our pH, using urine and saliva pH test strips, and if needed the breath rate. If interested in it, just let me know and I can start a thread on it.

The permanent and long-term solution is really to improve mitochondrial respiration, such that a lot of CO2 is produced. CO2 is the main buffer of the body in regulating pH, and this balancing is done by its conversion into an acid (carbonic) and a base (bicarbonate) continually.

With good acid-base balance, the muscles contract and relax freely, as the ionic gradients shift as calcium goes in and out of the cell. When the cell is producing CO2 out of having good sugar metabolism, the CO2, in the form of carbonic acid, transports calcium out of the cell. Without CO2, calcium won't flow freely in and out, staying stuck in the cell, where it shouldn't be in. This causes the muscle to fail to relax normally, and this is when cramps occur.

Like you, I have adequate magnesium and potassium, yet I still had cramps. And this is the reason for my thread. I didn't mention that I have adequate magnesium, and this detail is lost as I sacrifice detail to be brief.

In my case, the cause of low CO2 stores is downregulated mitochondrial respiration, and the cause of that is a chronic infection that has gotten worse.. In order to fight the infection, the body's resources has to be allocated towards fighting infection, such that energy production has to be downregulated.

So, my solution is to fix this chronic infection. The way I know this is so is for the past month I have been recording nightly a graph of my spO2 levels, and I can see huge transient drops in spO2 to as low as 71. These are transient, so I am not worried about poor oxygen transport from poor gas exchange in the lungs.

Since I rapid-fire write and don't want to be bothered by showing you a sample graph, please remind me tomorrow if you're interested in seeing a typical spO2 graph I get each night.

I would just speculate that this huge drop in spO2 is caused by the huge demand in the respiratory burst of phagocytosis-my immune system working to kill lots of bacteria, the supply from blood vessel plaque seemingly endless.

I must caution that this is just. my amateur analysis, but it's better than none. It may be that I fail to use the right keyword for search, but I am disappointed that I cannot find an answer in the censored worldwide web for what causes these spO2 drops except for sleep therapy sites selling us CPAP machines.
 
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yerrag

yerrag

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@yerrag have you tried hydrogen/brown’s gas?
No, I live overseas and I can't avail of George Wiseman's browns gas machine.

But since my issue is bacterial, brown' s has may not be the solution.

But also I have to admit to a certain degree of skepticism towards machines similar to the one in the movie Elysium.

I have tried reading about it, but admit I should do more but its just not on the top of the queue.
 
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yerrag

yerrag

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I second this. It will not be ignored. For cramps, I take magnesium citrate. If I recall correctly, drinking cola used to make my cramps worse.
I agree with addressing magnesium deficiency. Without enough magnesium stores, potassium stores cannot increase.

And Peat has said magnesium is needed also to, not sure if this is the right word, to "bind" with ATP for retention, and also it is needed for sugar metabolism.
 
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yerrag

yerrag

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I kind of have a problem with this. Sepsis is really not a thing. It is an abstract collection of conditions that can be caused by any number of things. Like ARDS. ARDS is not really a disease. It's a broader description of physiological conditions that can be caused by numerous things. It might be that inhibited mitochondrial respiration is a cause of sepsis.
Thanks for disagreeing.

I feel the same way about the use of the word sepsis. It really is a catch-all term that if you ask the experts, they themselves would come out with different definitions.

In my opinion, it is to hide the ugly fact that as we age, wee collect plaque inside our "tubes," in the same way calcium scales form and thicken in steel plumbing pipes over time. With bacteria biofilm intertwined.

As the blood vessels lose structural integrity with aging, it takes very little for the "plaster" to crumble, usually in a very diseased state, and all that bacteria that turns from dormant in biofilm become active in planktonic form. Considering how extensive the vascular network is, it is Armageddon when the bacteria are set loose all at. once in a feeding frenzy.

But this is. made unavoidable as the medical industry denies our. blood. vessels are teeming with biofilm bacteria..

Try to find a lab to test what special bacteria, other than the regular culprits, are in your blood, and you will come up empty.

Ah, it's better to let them die in old age. than try to get them to live biblical years lol


As for sepsis inhibiting Mito respiration. here is Peat's article which mentions it:


Just search sepsis
 

Inaut

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No, I live overseas and I can't avail of George Webb (?)'s browns gas machine.

But since my issue is bacterial, brown' s has may not be the solution.

But also I have to admit to a certain degree of skepticism towards machines similar to the one in the movie Elysium.

I have tried reading about it, but admit I should do more but its just not on the top of the queue.
Fair enough. A cheaper unit is sold by Hydrogen4Health. I'm debating buying one. It's my understanding though that the browns gas works on the the immune system, not directly on the infection. Overtime, if inflammation is quelled, I'm assuming the immune system can prioritize the infection and deal with it. May not help though in the end. Just thinking...
 

Perry Staltic

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As for sepsis inhibiting Mito respiration. here is Peat's article which mentions it:


Peat's syntax in your linked article doesn't accurately convey what Levy says in his 2007 study. It may just be that sometimes the intended meaning is not always conveyed clearly in words. Levy makes clear that factors in sepsis, not sepsis itself, likely inhibit mitochondrial respiration; Peat's words don't make that distinction clear. I have to be pedantic in situations like this because many times it is the difference between really understanding something and only thinking I understand.
 
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yerrag

yerrag

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Peat's syntax in your linked article doesn't accurately convey what Levy says in his 2007 study. It may just be that sometimes the intended meaning is not always conveyed clearly in words. Levy makes clear that factors in sepsis, not sepsis itself, likely inhibit mitochondrial respiration; Peat's words don't make that distinction clear. I have to be pedantic in situations like this because many times it is the difference between really understanding something and only thinking I understand.

If sepsis is a very loosely defined word, what is there a need to split hairs? The only gist of the message is that sepsis, or if you will, the factors of sepsis, inhibit mitochondrial respiration.

But did I not prove you wrong that it isn't the other way around, as you claimed? That inhibition of mitochondrial respiration causes sepsis?
 
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It's probably vasoconstriction from the serotonin in bananas causing reduced blood flow to muscles and cramps.
 

Perry Staltic

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If sepsis is a very loosely defined word, what is there a need to split hairs? The only gist of the message is that sepsis, or if you will, the factors or sepsis, inhibit mitochondrial respiration.

But did not prove you wrong that it isn't the other way around, as you claimed? That inhibition of mitochondrial respiration causes sepsis?

The need arises from the fact that sepsis doesn't cause anything. It is a moniker used to describe a collection of associated physiological abnormalities that have disparate etiologies. It's useful to describe what state a patient is in, but not what is causing that state or how to properly treat it.
 

InChristAlone

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I've never dealt with cramps except a few times a charlie horse woke me up at night when I was pregnant with my first baby, I didn't know anything about health and was following stupid vegeterian health ideas, I likely needed more sodium. No where do I see mention the need for sodium to increase retention of minerals. When you overload your system with potassium your body will produce more urine to get rid of it to maintain the sodium levels in the body. In which case more fluid is needed to go through the kidneys and could account for dehydration like symptoms such as cramps. Don't overcomplicate!
 
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yerrag

yerrag

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The need arises from the fact that sepsis doesn't cause anything. It is a moniker used to describe a collection of associated physiological abnormalities that have disparate etiologies. It's useful to describe what state a patient is in, but not what is causing that state or how to properly treat it.
And that it is.

So what is the point of belaboring this, if I may ask?
 

mostlylurking

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The long and short of this is that when the body is busy fighting an infection, it downregulates mitochondrial respiration. When the infection is really bad, or when it is chronic, prolonged downregulation of respiration will leave the body with a deficit of carbon dioxide, as well as carbonic acid and bicarbonates.

This will cause the muscles to lose its ability to relax quickly. What I feel as cramps in my legs would also be felt elsewhere when the cause is not fixed - as I felt the cramp spreading to my back and to my hands.
Thiamine deficiency also causes mitochondrial down regulation in spades, causing a deficit of carbon dioxide, etc.

You might find this article of interest:
 
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yerrag

yerrag

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I've never dealt with cramps except a few times a charlie horse woke me up at night when I was pregnant with my first baby, I didn't know anything about health and was following stupid vegeterian health ideas, I likely needed more sodium. No where do I see mention the need for sodium to increase retention of minerals. When you overload your system with potassium your body will produce more urine to get rid of it to maintain the sodium levels in the body. In which case more fluid is needed to go through the kidneys and could account for dehydration like symptoms such as cramps. Don't overcomplicate!
Being a short post, I. would be guilty as charged. I'm waiting for someone to say what about water? Not mentioning it would overcomplicate, yes?
 

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