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Why do I have spasms and what do I do about them?

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Why do I have spasms and what do I do about them?back-pain-921

 

There are many reasons you might have spasms and the hard, painful clenching of contracted muscle can hurt enough to wake you up in pain.  What you do is not the same for everyone

 

Overuse or overtraining can cause your body to go into spasm, especially if a nerve is involved.  This serves two purposes: it gives you temporary if somewhat distorted support and gets you to stop what you are doing.  Use an analgesic that reduces pain and moves blood like aspirin or Dr. Christopher’s Antispasmodic formula or a Chinese martial arts dit dat jiao trauma formula.

 

A dit dat jiao is a liniment or topical tincture made up of herbs that increase circulation (including microcirculation of the capillaries), release the muscle layer and relieve pain. If there is a lot of redness and swelling a cooling effect can be added with mint or menthol the first day since this relieves inflammation without the bad effects of ice.

 

There has been controversy about using ice when a spasm first starts.  Don’t.  In Chinese medicine ice has always been proscribed because it drives the pain in deeper while giving surface relief.  Blood can congeal (clot) deep inside, blocking the circulation necessary to nourish the tissue, so it takes longer to heal the spasm.  Heat both increases circulation and relaxes the spasm.  Western medicine has finally caught up with Chinese medicine, although some trainers and doctors have not yet caught up with the research.

 

Related to overuse is poor functional posture which over time stresses some muscles and produces weakness in others that ought to work together.  An example of this is “computer neck” where the SCM, trapezius and other neck muscles become rigid because the head is held too far forward.  Yoga, Pilates and MELT classes can work on correcting posture while structural integration can  separate conjoined fascia so that muscles can work independently. While nutrients and herbs can reduce pain it is important to improve the functional posture to eliminate the cause.

 

Lack of magnesium which is an endemic condition in America can also affect cramping. Dietary magnesium is down 50% in the last 30 years as soil has been depleted by industrial farming and erosion.  Oral magnesium is difficult to absorb and I have been able to reach good testable levels using Jigsaw Sustained Release capsules twice a day plus topical magnesium oil from the ancient Zechstein inland sea.  I also do periodic soaks in Epsom salts or Magnesium Chloride salts.

 

Lack of iron is also a cause of spasmodic leg shaking but should not be supplemented unless blood tests low.  The Chinese cure would be to eat liver for such Liver Wind conditions.

 

The widespread use of statins for cholesterol has led to a wholesale depletion in Ubiquinone (Coenzyme Q10,) the body’s natural antioxidant.  While statins have tested as useful for males who have had heart attacks, the usefulness for anyone else is unclear.  Cholesterol is the body’s natural bandage for inflamed arteries and is the building block of steroid hormones and brain tissue, so there are good reasons to not lower it.  Statin use is known to frequently lead to muscle pain and more rarely rhabdomyolysis, a severe condition which affects the muscles.  The most common signs and symptoms of rhabdomyolysis include:

 

  • Severe muscle aching throughout the entire body
  • Muscle weakness
  • Dark or cola-colored urine

 

The higher the dose of statins, the higher the risk of rhabdomyolysis becomes. The risk also increases when taken in combination with certain drugs.

 

Low B vitamins can also cause spasms. Try methylfolate instead of folic acid and methylcobalamin instead of normal B12, particularly if you know you have the MTHFR gene snip.  (If you don’t know I’d take these forms anyway.) Low doses three times a day are best and take a methylated B complex.

 

Although it does not seem intuitive, eating gluten can cause muscle and joint pains. Once the inflammatory proteins get past a leaky gut they circulate with the blood all over the body, causing pain

 

Diseases like Parkinson’s and Essential tremor can cause hard spasms due to the continual shaking.  Work on increasing liposomal glutathione, CoQ10, Vitamin C and Folate as well as a full component of minerals, detoxification and exercise.

 

Body work is very important. Deep massage, myofascial work, bonesetting tuina or chiropractic can make a great impact on nerve-related or muscle work.

 

Acupuncture is very good for spasms, on both a local and distal level.  It is not necessary to needle directly into a spasm, but if the spasm is not too hard or sensitive,

 

 

local needling can increase circulation into the spasm.  But needling on the opposite side, along the meridian or into special points can signal the brain to release muscles or endorphins.

 

 

 

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cholesterol, diet, heart-disease, herbs, sunlight, Uncategorized, vitamin-d, western-medicine

Vitamin D, Statins and Red Yeast Rice

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red-yeast-rice-300x238As those of you who read my blog are aware, I am not a big fan of statins.  The first reason is that cholesterol is not really the problem. The second is that statins depress the body’s own anti-inflammatory compound CoQ10.  But recent research shows that, against our logical assumptions, Vitamin D levels may rise when statins are taken.

Cholesterol is good?  Yes.  Cholesterol is the building block of hormones, and it is the body’s own bandage for inflamed arteries.  When the inflammation is high, cholesterol rises and if it isn’t enough to lower you get cardiovascular disease.  It doesn’t get rid of the inflammation to remove the body’s bandage, you need to look at diet and stress and other causes of inflammation.  Besides if you block cholesterol with statins, you block the body’s formation of CoQ10 which is our natural antioxidant.  And that can cause a painful disease called rhabdomyolysis where the muscles ache and cramp.

But isn’t it helpful to prevent heart disease?  Sort of.  You are less likely to get a second heart attack, but not a first one.  You may be less likely to die from a heart attack but no less likely to die from other causes within a normal study period.  And it probably isn’t because it reduces cholesterol, but because it is anti-inflammatory (replacing your body’s own anti-inflammatory coenzyme with its own effect).

How about Red Yeast Rice?  Red Yeast Rice is a kind of statin, and is the source for lovastatin which it contains.  Red Yeast Rice is somewhat less dangerous- it spreads itself out among liver detoxification pathways without clogging a few important pathways.  And the dosage is lower, which is common in a whole herb and does not impair its action. But it still reduces CoQ10,  and adds some liver taxation  I use it rarely.

The information about Vitamin D and statins is a surprise.  Vitamin D and cholesterol have the same precursor, and those of us in the natural medicine field assumed that statins would reduce absorption of Vitamin D if you took a medication that reduced the precursor.  In a Turkish cardiology study, 91 patients with high blood lipids were tested before and after an eight week course of Rosuvastatin  (Crestor).  Their blood levels of Vitamin D (25 hydroxy D)  went from 14 to 36 on average, and a number of other measures of Vitamin D improved.  Why?  Well we don’t know, but it could have to do with the breakdown products of the drug and the precursor fitting into the receptors.

Do I recommend asking your doctor for Crestor to build Vitamin D?  No.  There are several formulations of high value D3 on the market, from drops to fast-dissolving dry pills.  They go from a tiny pill with 5000 iu to capsules of 50,000 iu.  If one doesn’t work well to increase your serum (25 Hydroxy D) Vitamin D levels to a level of 50, look at others.  You may build up your dose to a higher level.  And you should consider supplementing your D3 vitamins with even a little midday sun exposure without sunscreen because sunlight energy can’t be reduced to one isolated vitamin.  (Your body will not make too much.)

If all else fails, then I would try taking the Vitamin D with some Red Yeast Rice for a period of up to two months while you load Vitamin D.  Red Yeast Rice has not been studied like the Rosuvastatin so you are experimenting on yourself but chances are good that it will work.  Add extra Co-enzyme Q10 to protect your liver and your muscles.  And when you get your levels up, stop the Red Yeast Rice.