Hyperoxaluria – Could oxalates be behind your joint pain, fatigue and headaches?
If you get a chalky taste in your mouth after eating foods like spinach or silver beat, that’s from oxalates, a protective component of many plant foods aimed at preventing predators from consuming them.
A low oxalate diet can help relieve symptoms such as inflammatory conditions, fatigue, autoimmune disease, mineral deficiencies, restless leg syndrome and more.
This is particularly the case if you develop hyperoxaluria, a disorder where you excrete excess oxalates via your urine.
There are two kinds of hyperoxaluria.:
Primary hyperoxaluria is an inherited defect of oxalate metabolism
Secondary hyperoxaluria occurs with an increased intake of oxalates or with altered gut flora that's unable to help your deal with them safely
In my clinic I use organic acid urine testing (OAT) to check whether someone has elevated oxalates
When oxalic acid is elevated in addition to high levels of glyceric and/or glycolic acid, this can be a sign of genetic hyperoxaluria
When elevated without high glyceric or glycolic acid, this is related to a yeast/fungal overgrowth of candida albicans and/or a very high vitamin C intake along with a vitamin B6 deficiency. The OAT test also checks for these too
This is a personal post in some ways. I’ve had moving joint pain off and on since I was 19 years old. Only recently I discovered I’m currently suffering from primary hyperoxaluria – the genetic kind, and suspect this has been a missing piece of my health puzzle.
While improving my gut health has had a major impact on my health, some of my joint pain persisted at times and I haven’t known why. After eating a moderate oxalate diet for 2 weeks, those issues resolved. Then last weekend I ate a nutty granola as a test. Within 24 hours I was in a world of pain.
Oxalates may not be part of your health journey, but I’m discovering it’s a factor in a plenty of chronically ill clients. This or other dietary approaches could be worth tyring for 1-2 weeks, just to see.