"Uncle, why did you come to buy calcium tablets this time" Mr. Zhao has come to the pharmacy downstairs for the third time to buy a bunch of calcium tablets, and the clerk is also curious.
"Yes, is your calcium tablet impure, why is it useless to eat it for so long?"
"Uncle Zhao, this is a tonic and not a medicine, why are you uncomfortable?"
"Oh, my legs, I have cramps when I sleep at night, but it hurts, sometimes I cramp several times a night, I can't sleep well at all, I think this is not a lack of calcium, make up for it"
"Uncle Zhao, you have eaten so much, you should make up for it, this cramp may not be a calcium deficiency problem, you better go to the hospital to check it out"
"That's the case, then I'll go to the hospital to have a look."
"That's right, let's see and treat the disease early, besides, if you eat so many calcium tablets, it's not good to eat too much."
"It's just a calcium tablet, what other harm can there ......", daily calcium supplementation is achieved through dietary therapy or health care products, therefore, many people always feel that too much calcium supplementation is like eating too much, and it is quickly digested.
Blind calcium supplementation does not cure the disease but causes the disease
First of all, if there is too much calcium, the gastrointestinal tract will be the first to suffer.
Calcium tablets are alkaline substances, and excess calcium will stimulate the gastric mucosa, causing gastric acid rebound secretion, causing gastric mucosal congestion, swelling, and even ulcers and erosions, and gastrointestinal discomfort symptoms such as acid reflux and nausea. In addition, too much calcium makes the intestines unable to absorb in time, and the excess calcium accumulates in the intestines and absorbs the water in the intestines, resulting in dry and hard stools, causing constipation.
Patients who continue to take calcium blindly may be at risk of elevated blood calcium.
Long-term calcium supplementation is beyond the body's compensatory range, and excessive calcium will be integrated into the blood, resulting in electrolyte imbalances in the body, resulting in hypercalcemia, and patients often experience fatigue, fatigue, loss of appetite and other uncomfortable symptoms.
Hypercalcemia accelerates the formation of deposits in the arteries, and if ectopic transfer of calcium occurs, calcium binds to chemicals in the organs, forming calcified plaques and damaging vital organs, such as excess calcium circulating in the bloodstream, increasing the accumulation of coronary plaques, aggravating atherosclerosis, and increasing the risk of heart damage in patients.
In addition, even if the patient has hypercalcemia, there is a possibility that the body cannot absorb calcium properly and develop osteoporosis. Therefore, calcium supplementation is best under the guidance of a doctor, with the corresponding absorption of vitamins.
Excessive calcium intake may affect the absorption of other substances.
The absorption of minerals by the human body is in a stable and balanced state, when the patient blindly supplements calcium, the excessive intake of calcium leads to the inability of the body to absorb other minerals at the same time, breaking the balance of the proportion of various nutrients in the body, affecting the absorption of other nutrients, which is not conducive to physical health.
Some people will still have night cramps even if they take calcium supplements, which may be because excessive calcium intake reduces the intake of trace elements such as magnesium, and hypomagnesemia may also cause calf twitching at night.
Excessive calcium supplementation increases the risk of urinary stones.
Excessive calcium supplementation leads to an increase in free calcium in the body, and the calcium content in the urine will also increase, excess calcium is deposited in the kidneys, affecting kidney function, and the unabsorbed calcium will combine with oxalic acid to form calcium oxalate stones, causing kidney stones.
If there is a large stone that cannot be discharged, it will cause symptoms such as renal colic, and it is necessary to go to the hospital in time to seek medical attention and perform lithotripsy surgery to avoid irreparable consequences to the kidney caused by delaying for too long.
Now that we understand why the doctor does not recommend calcium supplementation, the question arises again, if it is not because of the lack of calcium caused by night leg cramps, what else can be the cause? The doctor reminds everyone to pay attention to these three aspects.
Sleeping cramps, your legs "want to open"
1. Vascular lesions of the lower limbs
If the blood vessels of the lower leg have atherosclerosis, inflammation and other lesions, such as varicose veins of the lower limbs or vasculitis of the lower limbs, resulting in blood circulation disorders in the lower limbs, the acidic metabolites produced by the leg muscles cannot be taken away in time.
When a certain concentration of metabolites is accumulated during the day, the accumulated metabolites at night stimulate muscle contraction, causing calf pain and cramps.
Some people may not have reached the level of lesions in their legs, because they sit in office for a long time during the day and do not exercise, and the blood flow in the legs is not smooth, so they may also have cramps when sleeping at night.
2. Liver damage
When the liver function is damaged, the body's metabolic ability is affected, and bile secretion is reduced, which may lead to insufficient nutrient intake, resulting in calf cramps caused by nutrient deficiencies.
In addition, when hepatic ascites due to cirrhosis is generated, the wide ascites may compress the inferior vena cava, resulting in obstruction of venous return to the lower extremities, which may also cause calf cramps.
I heard from a colleague in Chinese medicine that there is a similar saying in Chinese medicine: "Chinese medicine believes that the main tendons of the liver and the main fascia of the liver mainly depend on the nourishment of liver blood, if the liver blood is insufficient and the kidney essence is lacking, it will lead to the tendons and veins being tight, and the flexion and extension are unfavorable, and when there is a problem with liver drainage, it will also lead to the influence of the meridian tendons, resulting in leg spasms." ”
3. Hypohemia
The presence of hypomagnesemia reduces the level of magnesium ions in the body, resulting in the leakage of intracellular potassium ions, and the excitability of neuromuscular cells due to insufficient potassium ions, resulting in symptoms such as muscle spasms in the hands and feet, and even at night, it stimulates the sympathetic nerves to continue to excite, resulting in calf cramps at night.
If you are usually malnourished, or have been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, diabetes, kidney disease, etc., you may wish to consider this aspect more when you have calf cramps at night.
Calf cramps during sleep can affect sleep, but it is also our body's warning to us, so we should also pay attention to the following conditions when we sleep.
Some diseases are not safe to sleep in
Situation 1: Hot flashes and night sweats can be a sign of endocrine disorders.
When hyperthyroidism, the body secretes more thyroid hormones, which accelerates the body's metabolism, causing increased excitability of the nervous and circulatory systems, resulting in excessive sweating at night.
After infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the toxins produced by the pathogenic bacteria may affect the dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system, making the vagus nerve in a state of excitement, resulting in night sweats, and such patients often have symptoms of coughing up blood, and the nocturnal cough may increase.
In the perimenopausal female group, due to the decline of ovarian function, the level of estrogen in the body decreases, causing autonomic nerve dysfunction, resulting in the symptoms of patients sweating at night, often accompanied by gradual decrease in menstrual flow, irritability and other manifestations.
Scenario 2: Nocturia increases, or the urinary system is alerting.
If you urinate more than twice during the day, it is considered to be an increase in nocturia, and you need to be careful about whether there is a problem with the urinary system.
Some men will have symptoms of prostatic hyperplasia after the age of 50, after prostatic hyperplasia, the prostate will become larger, may protrude to the bladder, the compliance of the bladder is reduced and the effective capacity is reduced, resulting in the bladder can not effectively discharge urine every time, and the bladder's urine storage is reduced, so there is frequent urination and increased nocturia.
As a result, the urethra of the prostate will become longer and narrower, and the resistance to urination will increase significantly, affecting the function of the urinary system and aggravating the symptoms of nocturia.
Situation 3: Coughing at night does not rule out that our lungs are "staying up late and working overtime".
If patients with respiratory diseases will find that the cough at night is often heavier than during the day, this is because the lungs store more garbage and toxins during the day, which cannot be eliminated in time, and when the night rests, the lungs also start his "detoxification" work, through coughing to expel the garbage toxins accumulated in the body, which is a self-defense mechanism of the body.
It is also possible that there is too much phlegm accumulated in the lungs, and when you lie down at night, it stimulates the sputum to loosen and the diaphragm rises, causing a cough.
For middle-aged and elderly patients with cardiac insufficiency, the decline in heart function leads to disorders of blood circulation throughout the body, and the position of lying down at night leads to blood accumulation in the lungs, causing pulmonary congestion, which leads to cough at night.
Patients with coronary heart disease who have frequent nocturnal cough to be aware of may be a sign of left-sided heart failure.
Therefore, at the end of the article, I would like to remind you once again that we should pay attention to various abnormal changes in sleep, which may help us detect diseases in time, curb the development of lesions, solve the symptoms caused by diseases or bad Xi lifestyle habits in time, and give us a good sleep.
bibliography
Family Medicine,2011,(07):15.
[2] You Wei.Is night leg cramps the fault of calcium deficiency[J].Health Care Medical Yuan,2023,(03):37.
Leg cramps may also be induced by these diseases[J].Jiangsu Health Care,2022,(11):23.)
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