Despite a very low salt meal yesterday evening, I was still hit by cramping during the night. The good news is that the burning was minimal, which I'll gladly take.

I just don't understand what could be wrong that my muscles can't make it through the night without cramping. I used to be able to sleep eight solid hours without ever waking up for any reason, but now it seems I can't go four-to-five hours without having to re-hydrate. My basic kidney values are fine.

i take slo mag which is available at walmart if you have one near you. it has really cut down on my muscle cramping, especially while sleeping. i still cramp up from time to time, but much less than in the past.

I took a generic version of Slo Mag for a long time before switching to threonate to give it a try. Maybe I'll switch back and increase the amount...just to try.

One thing I've learned in this journey that you can ingest all the nutrient-rich food and supplements that you want, but if your body can't process and make use of them, it's pointless. I learned that with my biotinidase problem. I have low levels of the enzyme necessary to unbind biotin from protein sources. When tested, my biotin levels are fine, but without adequate levels of the enzyme, I couldn't make use of it. I have to take a supplement in a freely bioavailable form to circumvent the enzyme problem.

What if my body can't process magnesium, or calcium, or whatever? The levels show as normal, but it doesn't mean the proper processing is taking place. I can't help but wonder if something like that is going on.

Posting these here for future reference:

Renal Control of Calcium, Phosphate, and Magnesium Homeostasis

Electrolyte Balance | Boundless Anatomy and Physiology

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it can get quite maddening after a while....even the tests cant be trusted to be accurate for your individual case.

i have another illness now, diagnosed in June 2018 via biopsy....sarcoidosis.
less is known about the causes, and process than even peripheral neuropathy. testing is limited to imagining, cat and pet or biopsy. none of the blood tests are accurate. treatments are also limited, either prednisone, or methotrexate. prognosis is there is none, it can stay active, it can become less active, it never leaves your body so there is no remission.

to complicate matters, im sure i have had sarcoidosis since at least 2006, which was my first chest cat scan that picked up lung nodules, which was finally diagnosed to be sarcoidosis in 2018.

now the complexity of did sarcoidosis cause my peripheral neuropathy which first presented in 2001, or did sarcoidosis and peripheral neuropathy develop independently from the same toxic exposures. i am sure that i will never know. like i said it can get maddening

Gads, sorry to hear about the sarcoidosis. That's just downright rude to have TWO disorders that aren't well understood!

Interestingly, I had two inflammatory spots in my lungs show up. My PCP had nothing to say about them, and when I showed my neuro the report, she wanted to know what my PCP had to say. When I told her that my PCP had nothing to say, she looked a little surprised and said, "Well, that is interesting to me," but nothing more. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

She did refer me to another neurologist/neuromuscular specialist at the Univ. of MD just to see if he has any thoughts.

you might want to have a pulmonary doctor take a look at those two inflammatory spots.

I've had terrible cramping in both legs at the same time during the night. I've been using "Theraworx Relief" before bedtime, and it has really eliminated the leg cramps. It's a magnesium sulfate foam that I get on Amazon.