hey this is dr. ken berry family
physician with over 20 years of clinical
experience and author of lies my doctor
told me for the next few minutes I want
to discuss leg cramps seven causes and
seven cures millions of people suffer
from leg cramps some people have them
just very rarely some people have them
almost every day you can help yourself
and your friends and your families by
watching this video and also by sharing
this video on your social media so many
people think that leg cramps are just
part of life for them and it doesn't
have to be that way because you can
share this information and help them out
now let's jump into the seven causes of
leg cramps and then we'll I'm gonna
actually at the end of each cause I'm
going to go ahead and talk about the
cure right there on the spot so that you
can figure this out for yourself
I've ranked these causes from the most
common to the least common now the most
common is not really that dangerous the
least common causes can be very very
dangerous so you probably want to watch
the last one just to make sure you know
the most serious dangerous causes of leg
cramps so you can get that checked out
if you need to okay let's jump into this
now number one is is by far the most
common cause of leg cramps and that is
not getting enough salt in your diet
we're we were taught starting about 50
or 60 years ago that salt is bad for us
that we should need salt we should limit
salt we should cut back on salt there's
no research to support that there's a
great book that I'm gonna put a link to
down and in the show notes you can check
out where you can actually look at the
meaningful research behind salt human
beings are mammals all mammals love and
need salt on a daily basis so stop being
afraid of salt and eat salt to taste I
have a favorite salt that I'll put down
in the show notes down below but in your
process of eating more salt I want you
to focus on eating real salt so much
salt that comes in the you know from the
superstores
dextrose which sugar has multi dextran
has aluminum to keep the salt from
clumping it's natural for salt to clump
real salt will clump and that's okay
that's one of the ways you know that
it's actually real salt also salt that
comes from the modern oceans can be full
of micro plastics and nano plastics
neither of which you need so make sure
you're eating a real salt that is from
an ancient ocean not from the modern
ocean number two electrolytes and and
under electrolytes here I'm going to
include magnesium potassium and calcium
and I'm gonna talk about a rakha donek
acid because it kind of helps your
muscle cells use the electrolytes so
it's almost everybody in modern society
is depleted in magnesium and in
potassium and many people calcium this
doesn't mean you need to take a calcium
supplement it just means you need to eat
more calcium rich foods any fish that
contains the bones that you eat the
bones like sardines anchovies these are
great sources of calcium you can get
some calcium from dark leafy green
vegetables and some other sources I
actually have a video on this channel
about good calcium sources in your food
magnesium and potassium you can also get
from your food but keep in mind
regardless of your diet whether you're
eating the standard American diet or
you're eating a low-carb keto carnivore
diet we're all almost all of us in
modern society are deplete in magnesium
and in potassium and you got to go out
of your way to get these extra things
now I try to eat lots of foods rich in
magnesium and potassium but I also use
an electrolyte drop that I put in my
coffee and my other liquids that really
helps me stay on top of my magnesium and
my potassium I lots of bony little fish
eat their bones that gives me lots of
calcium and now a rakha donek acid this
is something that your body makes but
also you can get it in your diet for
meeting lots of fatty meat both red
meats white meat and seafood a rekha
donek acid helps calcium go into your
muscle cells and your muscle cell
can either contract nor relax properly
if you're not getting enough calcium
inside the cell and arachidonic acid
helps that so make sure you're eating
lots of fatty meat and seafood that's
going to help you have plenty of
arachidonic acid to help the calcium do
the job at the muscle that it's supposed
to do number three the third most common
cause is is temporary over exertion
let's say you're living just a sedentary
life and your friend comes to visit and
says hey let's go for a hike in your
life I know I used to like hiking okay
so if you go for a hike and it's eight
miles all uphill and so that night or
the next night since you've over exerted
your leg muscles you may very well have
some leg cramps these leg cramps that's
normal that's very common it's not a
sign of anything medically wrong with
you it's not even necessarily a sign
that you have an electrolyte or a salt
efficiency it just means you over
exerted those muscles in a few days
those cramps will go away and what that
means is not that you should never go
hiking with your friend again it means
that you should be more active more
often because the more you use your
muscles and the more you stretch them
and the more you strengthen them the
less likely you are to have leg cramps
muscle cramps in your legs so don't
worry about that over exertion
number four is medications now a lot of
people aren't even aware that
medications can really increase your
risk of having leg cramps by far the
most common medications for this are the
statin drugs which lower your total
cholesterol and your LDL cholesterol
people take these drugs thinking that
they lower their risk of heart attack
and stroke the research on this is
equivocal at best and ridiculous at
worst
I've got other videos on this channel
about should you should you not take a
statin to lower your total cholesterol
but one of the most common side effects
of the statin drugs which includes zocor
lipitor Crestor lavalla all these things
will cause you to have muscle aches
joint aches and muscle cramps in your
legs the next most common that I hear in
clinical practice is Forteo
or Avista these are both
medications to try and improve your bone
density if you've been diagnosed with
osteoporosis if you'd like to get off
that kind of medication if you're having
leg cramps from it then talk to your
doctor but also watch my video on this
channel about osteoporosis you can
actually strengthen your bones naturally
without taking a lot of prescription
medications any of the fake estrogens
like estradiol Astra test primer and
prim Pro any estrogen you take in the
form of a pill is a fake estrogen and
they can increase not only your risk of
just leg cramps but also of blood clots
in your legs which is another cause of
leg cramps I'm about to talk about down
below but if you're gonna optimize your
hormones please use a bioidentical real
hormone don't use the fake estrogen
pills another medication that will
increase your risk of leg cramps is
naproxen celebrex any of the
anti-inflammatories that are
non-steroidal in nature ibuprofen all
these guys can increase your risk of leg
cramps calcium channel blockers like pro
kardia and norvasc fiddle with the
calcium channel and they fiddle with all
the calcium channels not just the ones
in your heart and in your arterial tree
but also the ones in your striated or
skeletal muscle as well and so if you're
taking a calcium channel blocker and
you've already taken care of it ease
other most common causes of leg cramps
you might talk to your doctor about
another medication choice sir Tech I
hear people patients talking about leg
cramps if they take Desertec too often
it's fine to take Asian aliy but don't
take it every day for years and years
cipro which is an antibiotic
ciprofloxacin can cause problems with
muscles and tendons and muscle cramps
leg cramps are a symptom that often here
celexa which is a serotonin reuptake
inhibitor can tend to increase your risk
of leg cramps so if your own celexa or
any of the SSRIs you might talk to your
doctor about decreasing the dose or
changing to something else or just
weaning down and stopping if you're
having
leg cramps now number well let me ask
you this if you've ever been on a
medication that you think caused leg
cramps putting the comments down below
what the name of that medicine was and
if the leg cramps stopped after you
stopped taking the medication because a
lot of people taking these medicines
think they're completely harmless
and they're taking an antibiotic that
just works on the bacteria it doesn't
have any other effect in the body if
you're taking a calcium channel blocker
that just lowers your blood pressure
that doesn't do anything else to you and
so seeing your comment may help somebody
else understand hey these things have
multiple potential effects and side
effects maybe I should think about not
taking that every single day of my life
number five is a blood clot in your leg
called a DVT now this would present
usually as a cramp that kind of comes on
in one leg not both legs but in one leg
that the more you walk the more the
muscle seems to cramp and then you won't
have it and then all of a sudden you'll
have this and it might stay the same or
it might get worse if you have a cramp
in just one leg while you're walking
then you need to go see your doctor and
get a venous Doppler done which is an
ultrasound that looks not at the surface
veins on your leg but at the deep veins
that you can't see but the ultra can't
altra sound can't see these veins and if
there's a clot in one of these deep
veins then that needs to be medically
addressed because it can increase your
risk of a pulmonary embolism and all of
the potentially devastating effects that
would go with that so if you have a
cramp in one calf or in one find of
started over the last few weeks and it's
not getting better or it's getting worse
go see your doctor ASAP for that kind of
cramp
number six is a blockage in the artery
in your legs you can have this in one
leg or in both legs and this is gonna be
the more you walk the more your leg
muscles seem to cramp you can also have
leg cramps in the nighttime if you have
blocked arteries that are supposed to be
getting blood supply down to your
muscles in your legs and your feet in
your toes this comes for people who have
been diabetic for years or smoked or use
they need tobacco
product for years and years had high
blood pressure for years and so for this
if you suspect this so basically if
you've taken care of of causes one two
three four and you know you don't have
five then it could be peripheral artery
disease which can potentially cause you
to wind up losing toes and feet and legs
so if you have this and you've taken
care of the salt and the magnesium and
you know you haven't over exerted you
need to go see your doctor and tell them
you're you're worried about the arteries
in your legs your doctor will probably
order a test called an ankle brachial
index and ABI and that will show if the
if the arterial circulation in your arms
is about the same as in your legs which
it should be to a certain degree if
that's abnormal you're probably gonna
wind up getting an ultrasound a special
kind of ultrasound of your leg arteries
and then you may even get angiography or
a CTA to look at that even in more
detail some people with lots of
blockages down in the leg arteries have
to have stent or even a bypass and it
doesn't get better quickly unless you go
see your doctor and get these tests
ordered number seven the final which is
by far the rarest cause of leg cramps
but in many cases is the most concerning
the most dangerous and the biggest
reason for you to go see your doctor if
you're having leg cramps that you've
taken care of steps one through five one
through six and you know it's not that
then you need to go back to your doctor
because number seven is some forms of
cancer can cause you to have leg cramps
because they can mess with your
electrolytes even though you're getting
enough electrolytes in your diet they
can mess with your electrolyte
metabolism and lead it to muscle cramps
some of the autoimmune diseases can lead
to muscle aches and muscle cramps down
in the legs cirrhosis of the liver and
other liver diseases can cause you to
have muscle cramps in your legs and on
the initial lab work at your annual
visit there may be no indication that
you have cirrhosis or liver disease your
doctor is going to have to dig to the
next level and look deeper to uncover
this another very common cause of leg
cramps is lumbar stenosis
usually you're gonna have lower back
pain with this as well but not always
and so go to have a conversation with
your doctor about could this be coming
from my lumbar spine and I'm not having
low back pain is that possible and then
you can have that conversation now these
are the by far the most seven common
causes of leg cramps and the Seven cures
or at least the seven interventions that
go along with them I've got links to my
favorites alt down below and the
electrolyte drops that I use and the
salt book that you probably need to read
so you can tell your doctor to stop
worrying about your salt intake if you
enjoyed this video where I take
ancestral history of the human species
and add it with some common sense and
then look at the meaningful research
behind it then please consider
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this is dr. Barry I'll see you next time