Amy Nett: Amy on the live call is submitting a question. She says, “For nighttime leg cramps in a 55-year-old female, anything other than magnesium and B vitamins in the form of nutritional yeast to supplement or test for a pescetarian that eats eggs and fish but no dairy? Same woman that had her parathyroid removed.”
I would think about potassium as well. Again, you can look at her diet and is she getting adequate potassium? And I can’t tell. You’re saying her B vitamins are coming from nutritional yeast and then she’s taking magnesium separately. I think that’s what you’re saying. So magnesium malate, I would suggest like 600 to 800 mg with dinner. Make sure to try the magnesium malate form if she’s doing something differently, and you can increase the dose to 600 to 800 mg depending on bowel tolerance.
And you’re saying you started her on Natural Calm. That’s magnesium citrate. Magnesium citrate, it can be calming, I agree. Because it’s a little bit more of an osmotic agent, sometimes I use that one a little bit more for constipation. There’s also a third-party test on that, like Open Door or something like Lab Door, I don’t remember, but they do testing on some of these supplements. Natural Calm might be a little bit higher in arsenic than you want to use every single night. I would think for leg cramps or any sort of muscle cramps, magnesium malate is my preference over magnesium citrate. And again, bump up the dose depending on bowel tolerance, but let’s say, start with 600 mg take with dinner and then try potassium and also look at her blood pressure. Potassium is great for high blood pressure. If she has high blood pressure, all the more that suggests to me that maybe potassium would be really helpful. Designs for Health has, I think, it’s called K+2 or something like that is their potassium formula that I’ve used a lot, or you can even just use … Designs for Health also has Electrolyte Synergy, so make sure she’s getting all of her electrolytes in.
Those are the three things that I might start with, the magnesium malate about 600 mg. If she wants to take some Natural Calm on top of that, it’s fine, just again, watch for loose stools. The potassium or the Electrolyte Synergy. Sometimes people do well with an Epsom salt before bed, so that could be something to try. Those are the places I would start with. Great question, though. Nighttime cramps are difficult.