Oxalates anyone?
Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2019 11:54 am
One of those things where I'm not sure if it's a wild goose chase or if I'm up to something... There is an older thread about oxalates http://bb.rls.org/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=9571 so hopefully it's the latter. I'm not sure if Wahl's diet really reduces oxalates, but it does reduce lectins (both are plant toxins designed to keep insects from eating plants) even though lectins do not seem to affect uric acid. Maybe.
After my latest reduction of my medication (now 2 times 10mg Oxycodone a day) I am mostly symptom free, but have some bad nights occasionally where I fall asleep without problems but have severe PLMS (up to 150 times per hour) or even wake up due to RLS. I started a nutritional diary and think I may have found something: Symptoms flare up more often if I had a lot of oxalates, like almonds or dark chocolate (90% cocoa or more). I do drink a lot of black tea (which is high in oxalates) which would account for a baseline oxalate exposure, and I often eat greens containing oxalate (spinach, brussel sprouts, chicory and the like). I'll go low oxalate now for a while and see if it makes a difference. (I'm on a ketogenic, low-lectin diet. http://bb.rls.org/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=10588)
Obviously RLS is highly variable, but are there other sufferers out there who limited their oxalates and saw improvement?
Here is the possible connection between oxalates and RLS, even though it's not immediate. Oxalates are linked to gout/high uric acid (https://blog.daveasprey.com/gout-diet-natural-remedies/, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19779706), high uric acid inhibits nitric oxide https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2701227/, and low nitric oxide has a plethora of consequences, including reduced blood flow to the brain (our body cranks up the blood pressure to compensate, low nitric oxide is perhaps the main reason for hypertension). I came across oxalates because my uric acid levels continue to be high despite losing 30 pounds during the last year. This may be due to the diet (gout crystals dissolve during a ketogenic diet and there are some studies that uric acid rises if people lose weight), but I also ate a lot more almonds (including almond flour) and green vegetables after switching to keto...
Oxalate content: https://www.urinarystones.info/resource ... d-2008.pdf
After my latest reduction of my medication (now 2 times 10mg Oxycodone a day) I am mostly symptom free, but have some bad nights occasionally where I fall asleep without problems but have severe PLMS (up to 150 times per hour) or even wake up due to RLS. I started a nutritional diary and think I may have found something: Symptoms flare up more often if I had a lot of oxalates, like almonds or dark chocolate (90% cocoa or more). I do drink a lot of black tea (which is high in oxalates) which would account for a baseline oxalate exposure, and I often eat greens containing oxalate (spinach, brussel sprouts, chicory and the like). I'll go low oxalate now for a while and see if it makes a difference. (I'm on a ketogenic, low-lectin diet. http://bb.rls.org/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=10588)
Obviously RLS is highly variable, but are there other sufferers out there who limited their oxalates and saw improvement?
Here is the possible connection between oxalates and RLS, even though it's not immediate. Oxalates are linked to gout/high uric acid (https://blog.daveasprey.com/gout-diet-natural-remedies/, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19779706), high uric acid inhibits nitric oxide https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2701227/, and low nitric oxide has a plethora of consequences, including reduced blood flow to the brain (our body cranks up the blood pressure to compensate, low nitric oxide is perhaps the main reason for hypertension). I came across oxalates because my uric acid levels continue to be high despite losing 30 pounds during the last year. This may be due to the diet (gout crystals dissolve during a ketogenic diet and there are some studies that uric acid rises if people lose weight), but I also ate a lot more almonds (including almond flour) and green vegetables after switching to keto...
Oxalate content: https://www.urinarystones.info/resource ... d-2008.pdf