OXALATES & RSL

[Fatno]

Anyone get any improvement following low oxalate diet?? I've never had kidney stones, but have been doing research on problems oxalate excess can cause....RLS is one of them.

[ChrisColumbus]

Welcome to the forum.

If you search the forum for oxalates (or indeed any other subject) you'll find previous posts and replies. The very long post by notnowdad - and the replies - is particularly interesting. As with every diet, some benefit, some do not:

healthunlocked.com/rlsuk/se...

[Joolsg]

There are many who find a restricted diet helps. The problem is finding which one, if any, helps.I tried paleo ( no carbs, no sugar) 9 months, low FODMAPS for around 4 months and vegan for 6 months. Zero effect on my RLS.

But, it's worth a try. But you'll know within 2 months if it helps..Don't waste longer, like I did.

[Merny5]

Hi Fatno. I have tried a lo oxalate diet due to kidney stones and I never noticed a difference in RLS symptoms. However, it’s worth a try. The diet is not too restrictive.

[notnowdad]

I believe there are three reasons that some RLS sufferers have trouble finding relief using a low oxalate diet:

1) It is not widely known that many non-organic fruits and vegetables in grocery stores have been sprayed with an oxalic acid solution post harvest in order to “preserve freshness and nutrients”. Unfortunately there is a growing trend toward spraying oxalic acid onto fruits and vegetables pre-harvest in order to increase the yield and the robustness of the plant. If you don't buy organic lettuce, asparagus and other low oxalate plants, you are likely to be eating oxalic acid solution.

2) People who suffer from RLS typically have two problems with oxalic acid. They have a damaged mucosal lining in their large intestine which allows inappropriate absorption of oxalate from foods. And they have impaired liver function which causes over production of oxalic acid, a normal waste product of the citric acid cycle. Although most websites offering advice for Low Oxalate Diets say that eating meat products are not a problem because they have virtually no oxalate, the glycine in gelatin and gelatinous soups and stews contributes to the liver’s over production of oxalic acid. Magnesium supplements are recommended for RLS sufferers but Magnesium Glycinate will trigger a bad response in people who have the low grade hyperoxaluria.

3) Trying to perfect a LO Diet is frustrating because the available information is inconsistent. As you observe your reactions and try to make adjustments, it is critically important to understand that if you make a mistake, say combining too many Medium Oxalate foods in one meal, the RLS response shows up the next day, roughly 24 hours later. Knowing this has been critical to the success of many of the people who have taken my advice.

Most people who succeed with a low oxalate diet approach get about 90 to 95% relief. Even after I achieved almost complete relief I used to have some “leg awareness” as I lay in bed at night. Eventually I stumbled onto an interesting dietary modification that gave me complete relief and, I believe now, after several years on my new protocol, a complete recovery from RLS. I don’t eat them every day, but I frequently enjoy meat based soups and stews, sweet potatoes, nuts and even spinach. After my oxalate breakthrough, I kept experimenting and trying to find further improvements in my diet. When I happened to experiment with avoiding both fluoride and refined, bleached and deodorized cooking oils made from seeds (the common cooking oils of corn, soy, canola, etc.) all my very severe pollen and dust mite allergies vanished. I have been on this very difficult regimen for more than 3 years because I hate having allergies and I hate taking allergy medicine. Much to my surprise it seems to have cured my RLS. Avoiding fluoride means filtering water that is high in fluoride, avoiding common non-stick cookware, tea, and most manmade pesticides. I have only eaten in a restaurant once in the past four years and I avoid canned foods. I hope you find this information useful. I have more detailed posts on the rls.org discussion board for Non-medical, diets and supplements.

[Fatno in reply to notnowdad]

Thank you for all this information! It gives me hope!!

[Wordsworth99 in reply to notnowdad]

Tea? Is that due to pesticides? Thanks so much for posting what you have researched and concluded. We live on a farm so drink pure rain water. I imagine it’s difficult and costly to remove fluoride from tap water where it’s added into the municipal supply. Well worth it though I believe!

[collageartist52]

i have had RLS for 45 years. Have had a horrendous journey with it. At the same time i have had many other conditions, multiple and various medications..all starting in the 80's when big pharma seemed to be the answer to everything. AND eating lots of plants was the second big answer. I'm beginning year 5 of reducing and eliminating oxalates from my diet . It cannot be done quickly as you can have a metabolic crisis and end up in hospital. Eating oxalates, and getting off them is an even harder journey than getting off mirapex. But yes, i would say that oxalates contributed to my RLS....the hard part to accept is that getting off oxalates involves now releasing them back into your system from your tissues, so you can eliminate them...so they are still causing you the problems! However hard this journey has been, it has been worth it to me. I would not recommend this lowering-oxalates journey to someone who is late 60's like i was..but now that i have been on it, no getting off. The problem is that like fibromyalgia, exercise makes the symptoms of dumping oxlates feel much worse. Well i could go on. If you want more info, let me know. For now, avoid all collagen products, including stuff like pork rinds. Read sally k norton's terrific book called toxic super foods. And join instagram where you can follow all kinds of really supportive and informative people on your oxalate reduction journey. Oxalates are poisonous for all of us...some of us just do not know that yet.

[Fatno in reply to collageartist52]

Thank you collageartist52 so much!! I've known about oxalates for many years, but never followed the diet until recently my best friend got terrible kidney stones. I'm now taking it seriously & so desperate for a natural "cure" for RLS, or at least enough improvement to be able to stop the drugs.

[collageartist52 in reply to Fatno]

oxalates are plant poisons. There ARE good sources of information on oxalates..just realize that you cannot just stop all oxalates. You have to go slowly...read the book. And DM if you want referral to some excellent sources of information on instagram. There is a FB page that is very very good also