My husband has now been gluten free for a little over a month and is feeling so much better. He still has had bouts of D but when that happens it's not as severe as it used to be. His gut hasn't been bothering him (except for yesterday for some reason) one bit either...compared to the years he suffered. He's not fatigued anymore. Anyway, I made a glutenfree pantry skillet meal (the asian one) it was very spicy and he said his gut was really bothering him after...so I wonder what he reacted to...probably just too spicy.

Anyway, this past week he's been getting foot cramps. He said his foot feel permanently cramping and wondered maybe going gluten free he's lacking something in his diet. He's not taking any vitamins. Another amazing thing....he knew bananas have potassium and that they are good for people who are getting muscle cramps so he ate one. He hasn't had a banana in a long long time because they bothered his gut too much. Well, he said it didn't bother him at all. Hmmm....however now that I'm thinking about it...he ate that banana yesterday I think...and he thought it was the gluten free pantry meal that bothered him...maybe it was the banana.

So, I think I asked this before but what nutrional value does wheat have? Without wheat and grains what vitamins are you lacking? We are trying to figure out if this is causing his feet cramping.

Carecare

Well, some of the most common nutritional deficiencies (due to malabsorption) that come with celiac disease are magnesium and B12, either one (or both) could be causing the foot cramping.

It is advisable that your husband start taking a good vitamin B complex, vitamin D (best taken as cod liver oil, the Carlson brand is great and doesn't taste fishy) and calcium and magnesium, as well as a multi-vitamin. And extra vitamin B12, the sublingual kind (which doesn't have to go through the stomach and possibly still damaged intestines to be absorbed).

When I kept getting foot cramps I got myself a good sublingual vitamin B12 (with lower doses of the other B vitamins in the mix, since they all work together), and my foot cramps stopped within a few days.

Lacking certain minerals seem to be associated with cramping like that. I'd make sure he is getting plenty of potassium, magnesium and calcium although I actually seem to have MORE cramping if I have too much calcium.

Oh, about potassium........ there are foods out there that have more potassium than bananas, like watermelon for example.

But yes, you can get too much calcium, most people need to supplement more with magnesium, because those two need to be balanced.

If you don't have enough vitamin D though, you can use neither the calcium nor the magnesium, because they need vitamin D to be used by the body.

Still, a lack of vitamin B12 is known to cause neuropathies, and it did cause cramps in my feet.

Great advice already.....I agree with magnesium, potassium, and B12. I like the suggestion to get the potassium from another source. Many people have trouble with bananas as they are very sweet and will feed systemic fungus. They are also very high in latex if one has a latex allergy.

I'd like to suggest that cramping may be as simple as poor circulation due to athersclerosis in the arteries, dehydration.... not enough just pure water (not from the tap), or a pre diabetic situation.

See if warm (not hot) epsom salt foot baths seem to help at night before bed. I'm assuming that these cramps come during sleep or early morning???

Good luck and let us all know how it goes....

moldlady

Here's some info on the nutritional value of wheat flour: http://www.calorieking.com/foods/calories-...eT13aGVhdA.html

It's mostly carbs with a small amount of calcium and potassium. Note that the amount of potassium is 66mg for a half cup of flour (that's maybe 2 slices of bread?) versus 290mg in a banana so it's not like you're missing out on much in the vitamin department.

Thanks everyone. I knew I'd get some answers here. I told him he should probably take some supplements but not sure if he will. He's actually getting the cramping in his feet during the day so not always at night...more during the day actually. He drinks a lot of water, exercises a lot, drinks his milk and ummm...whatelse..LOL.

hmmm ...and the only other thing he took out of his diet which was last week was nuts. He eats peanuts every day at work to tide him over. He was wondering if the nuts could be also bothering him. Time to go see what nuts have in them too...thanks for the link above.

Carecare.

I see he 'drinks his milk'. That could be a huge problem right there. He may be dairy intolerant and should try eliminating milk. In reality you get NO calcium from milk, as the enzyme that would let us use the calcium is destroyed during pasteurization.

In a study some scientists did they found that North America has the highest rate of osteoporosis in the world. We also have the highest dairy consumption in the world! Which shows that it is just a myth that we need dairy for calcium (and where do cows get their strong bones, or elephants?).

My husband's grandmother had a severe intolerance to dairy all of her life. When she fell and fractured her femur at the age of 98, her doctors were astonished that when they tested her bones, that she didn't even have a hint of osteoporosis (and she walked again within six months and moved back into her own apartment)!

The best source of calcium is dark green leafy vegetables.

There's some great research about this in the book "Guns, Germs, and Steel". The book is super long, but the sections on agriculture are really interesting if you want to know about the origins of wheat production. There's some graphs showing the rate of osteoporosis versus the amount of cow's milk consumed for different countries. And guess what? As milk consumption increases, so does the rate of osteoporosis! Certainly surprised me.

Hi
Cramps spasems restless legs ect. are always a problem with calcium defficiency due to poor absorbtion. To absorb calcium you will absolutly need magnesium,& vitamin D, but a good multiple vitamin and mineral suppliment as well. Vitamin A blocks calcium absorbtion try to take the oil based vitamins at a different time, oils go well with your meals. I have for years struggled to find suppliments that not only are absorbed but allso utillized, and also careful as to the soarce that these nutrience come from, and be careful that they are gluten free as well. Through my profession I learned the value of a good calcium suppliment. Do you know that the lack of calcium can cause your heart to stop, and if it where know most young sports people especialy males have a high chance of having a heart attack due to calcium defficiency. I took prednisone several times due to skin loss due to drug allergy [penicillin]. It was do or die, and now I have very poor calcium absorbtion, prednizone is a calcium blocker. Your husband is probably suffering from stress and needs to take B vitamins as we get most of our B's from the grains in our diet, and be very carful of the soarce of the B's as this can be where they are derived.
I am getting tired and need to get away from my desk for a while, I have trouble sitting for long periods I hope this helps. I have spent years researching nutrition due to C.F. which if probably due to C.D.
Norma

Just to be thorough here, there are numerous grains which do not contain gluten. For example; Buckwheat, millet, rice, amaranth, t'eff, corn, quinoa, and sorghum.

Some people might end up with less fiber or protein when not eating grains I suppose. Unless they add other foods to make up for them of course.