Beware of oxalate dumping (it's not fun)

[-Luke-]

Since I've read about oxalates for the first time on this forum, I thought a few people might find this interesting.

A few weeks ago I read about oxalates and the low oxalate diet. I ate some foods high in oxalates (a lot of dark chocolate, occasionally sweet potatoes, certain dried fruits,...) and had some symptoms of oxalate toxicity. So I thought I might give it a try. Basically every site that talks about low oxalate diets (including the people on this forum) talked about how it is important to reduce oxalates slowly and gradually from your diet, as it could otherwise lead to a process called oxalate dumping with some weird side effects.

I ignored these warnings and reduced oxalates almost completely from one day to another. I ate a lot of dark chocolate before and stopped eating it all at once and basically only ate foods with no or a pretty low oxalate content. Some days later I had some constipation and skin rashes, both of which are described as common in oxalate dumping. But it wasn't that wild and I didn't see it as a warning.

Today I had a pretty horrible day. The constipation was so bad, I thought I was almost dying. It felt like I had a big rock in my stomach, but when I went to the toilet nothing came out. I took more than 1000mg magnesium, but that didn't help either. Fortunately I'm visiting my parents over the weekend and my mother had some sort of laxative in the house (something similar to an enema). That gave me some relief, but it is still not "all out".

I've never had constipation before in my life and the oxalates were the only thing I've changed in my diet. So I think it's safe to say that this is due to oxalate dumping (and because many people warned about that exact same thing).

So if you want to cut out oxalates from your diet, follow the instructions and do it slowly and gradually. Don't think you're smarter than people who really studied those topics. It's no fun, it's horrible.

 

[Apple]

Strange post...What do oxalates have to with constipation ?
Obviously you went too low fiber , probably lots of white rice without bulking foods like milk or resistant starches

 

[Elize]

Try oxbile to clean out the. Use it for about 5 days and then once a week only. Helps a lot.

 

[GreenTrails]

Since I've read about oxalates for the first time on this forum, I thought a few people might find this interesting.

A few weeks ago I read about oxalates and the low oxalate diet. I ate some foods high in oxalates (a lot of dark chocolate, occasionally sweet potatoes, certain dried fruits,...) and had some symptoms of oxalate toxicity. So I thought I might give it a try. Basically every site that talks about low oxalate diets (including the people on this forum) talked about how it is important to reduce oxalates slowly and gradually from your diet, as it could otherwise lead to a process called oxalate dumping with some weird side effects.

I ignored these warnings and reduced oxalates almost completely from one day to another. I ate a lot of dark chocolate before and stopped eating it all at once and basically only ate foods with no or a pretty low oxalate content. Some days later I had some constipation and skin rashes, both of which are described as common in oxalate dumping. But it wasn't that wild and I didn't see it as a warning.

Today I had a pretty horrible day. The constipation was so bad, I thought I was almost dying. It felt like I had a big rock in my stomach, but when I went to the toilet nothing came out. I took more than 1000mg magnesium, but that didn't help either. Fortunately I'm visiting my parents over the weekend and my mother had some sort of laxative in the house (something similar to an enema). That gave me some relief, but it is still not "all out".

I've never had constipation before in my life and the oxalates were the only thing I've changed in my diet. So I think it's safe to say that this is due to oxalate dumping (and because many people warned about that exact same thing).

So if you want to cut out oxalates from your diet, follow the instructions and do it slowly and gradually. Don't think you're smarter than people who really studied those topics. It's no fun, it's horrible.

Thank you so much, Luke, for your post. I've just started thinking about oxalates and I realize I have eaten a high oxalate diet for several years. I eat lots of nuts, especially almonds, leafy greens, including spinach, beets from my garden, navy beans, dates, raspberries, and, oh yes, lots of dark chocolate. And at times I was taking 1,000 mg. of vitamin C. At the same time, I pretty much eliminated dairy. A recipe for disaster, I am finding out.

But what really hit me hard was the connection between oxalates and breast cancer. I was diagnosed with breast cancer last fall, had a bilateral masectomy in Sept 2020. I couldn't figure out why I would get cancer because I've always been very physically active, never overweight, ate a very healthy diet (or so I thought), and my PCP told me I was "very healthy". The only thing I could figure out was maybe the excessive amount of radiation, C-scans, from a dental implant.

"We found that all tested breast tumor tissues contain a higher concentration of oxalates than their counterpart non-pathological breast tissue. Moreover, it was established that oxalate induces proliferation of breast cells and stimulates the expression of a pro-tumorigenic gene c-fos."

My first inclination was to immediately stop eating all high-oxalate foods, and I have thrown out several foods, like almond meal, goji berries, spinach, beets, chocolate and nuts.

I have a walnut orchard, and we used to have lots of raspberries. Nuts and chocolate are my favorites.

But I really appreciate your post, Luke, and I will take it slow. I hope your problems resolve. Almost nothing is worse than severe constipation, which I had for the first time in my life last year, after being hospitalized. I'd never had constipation before that time, laxatives didn't do a thing. The only thing that helped was to call the Emergency Room at the hospital and they told me to take Ducolax suppository. That worked.

 

[Elize]

I also eat low oxalate and histamine. Rather than cutting things out totally ear according to your load levels. I can have 7 almonds a day, a tablespoon of chocolate chips or 1/2 a cup of milk. Thereafter reactions start. Eat a 4 day rotation diet. This way you can get nutrients from all foods.

 

[schultz]

B vitamin deficiencies can cause an increase in oxalate production in the body. From what I remember it's specifically B1 and B6.

 

[Blossom]

I ignored these warnings and reduced oxalates almost completely from one day to another.

I did the same thing inadvertently 2 years ago and when I realized my error a couple months later and tried adding in small amounts of oxalate to stop the dumping I just ended up with worsening symptoms. My experience doesn’t seem typical though. They literally go right through me and start wreaking havoc within hours of consumption and are equivalent to my gluten issues from celiac. Dumping is much more tolerable for me than attempting to manage a dump with small amounts of high oxalate foods. I asked about this in the trying low oxalate group back in the summer of 2019 but no one had good answer. I may try to figure out if I’m an endogenous producer at some point but it probably won’t change anything I’m doing.

 

[Whisper]

It is not due to the oxalates. You are making a connection where there is none.

 

[Blossom]

It is not due to the oxalates. You are making a connection where there is none.

What is it?

 

[Whisper]

What is it?

I have no idea. As the other commenter said - oxalates do not cause constipation. Constipation is mostly caused by overeating or toxic food combinations.

 

[Blossom]

What is it?

I have no idea. As the other commenter said - oxalates do not cause constipation. Constipation is mostly caused by overeating or toxic food combinations.

Thank you for replying.

 

[ursidae]

what can one eat on a low oxalate diet if they have trouble gaining weight, can only digest a certain amount of meat/fat, don't do well on white rice, honey, dairy and can't afford a lot of low oxalate fruit?

 

[Blossom]

what can one eat on a low oxalate diet if they have trouble gaining weight, can only digest a certain amount of meat/fat, don't do well on white rice, honey, dairy and can't afford a lot of low oxalate fruit?

That’s a good question. I’ve managed to maintain my weight rather than continuing to lose for close to 6 months now while staying low oxalate. I’m thinking eating more overall is the only way I could gain weight. Do you eat eggs? Are you able to tolerate goat dairy?

 

[ursidae]

That’s a good question. I’ve managed to maintain my weight rather than continuing to lose for close to 6 months now while staying low oxalate. I’m thinking eating more overall is the only way I could gain weight. Do you eat eggs? Are you able to tolerate goat dairy?

I eat 1 yolk a day, I suspect more than 3 a week aggravates my acne but cant get that restrictive. no cant do any form of dairy.

 

[ursidae]

wait up bananas are low oxalate. I can get a decent quantity organic and cook those.

 

[Blossom]

wait up bananas are low oxalate. I can get a decent quantity organic and cook those.

It looks like apple juice is low oxalate too.

 

[Blossom]

How To Eat A Low Oxalate Diet | Kidney Stone Evaluation And Treatment Program

Here are some juices that are low in oxalate and better substitutes: Apple juice, apricot juice, orange juice, grapefruit juice, grape juice. For all the lemonade drinkers, diet lemonade is low in oxalate.

 

[TabulaRasa]

Has anybody had burning diarrhea when dumping? It seems that this is the most clear sign that I’m dumping. It seems to happen when I decide to do a day with no oxalates. Like yesterday where I only ate eggs, steak, and some vanilla ice cream. By the end of the day I started having burning diarrhea (very painful, believe me—extremely painful to wipe) with black specks. I know it’s not any of those foods individual because eating any of them with some foods containing oxalate throughout the day will not cause this. It seems to be simply the lack of oxalate. My urine also caused a little burning too, but not as bad. It seems to be the oxalates leaving which causes the pain…

 

[AncestralJoy]

Has anybody had burning diarrhea when dumping? It seems that this is the most clear sign that I’m dumping. It seems to happen when I decide to do a day with no oxalates. Like yesterday where I only ate eggs, steak, and some vanilla ice cream. By the end of the day I started having burning diarrhea (very painful, believe me—extremely painful to wipe) with black specks. I know it’s not any of those foods individual because eating any of them with some foods containing oxalate throughout the day will not cause this. It seems to be simply the lack of oxalate. My urine also caused a little burning too, but not as bad. It seems to be the oxalates leaving which causes the pain…

oh yes this is one of my main easy to notice symptoms lol.
like the worst hottest curry you've ever eaten burning out the back end. SO painful and yes for me def ox dumping and includes more bladder pain as well for me.

I found a raw milk diet for a few weeks (store bought pasteurised didn't seem to have the same effect) seemed to suck the oxalates out of me which was very satisfying. it induced what I call 'spicy poohs' but without the diarrhoea which was much more bearable. quite amazing how long and steady that went on for. I've done a few weeks a couple times in the last two years.
But I've got a bit of an aweful history of overdoing things including oxalate foods and clearly have a heap stored.

B vitamin deficiencies can cause an increase in oxalate production in the body. From what I remember it's specifically B1 and B6.

Thats very interesting about the b vitamins. I've recently stumbled upon the whole thiamine thing and tried a few higher doses like 300mg and it does actually seem to help me. I've run out but will be getting more soon. I did take b6 for a bit a few years ago as per elliot overton but didn't notice anything, might try it again.

I did the same thing inadvertently 2 years ago and when I realized my error a couple months later and tried adding in small amounts of oxalate to stop the dumping I just ended up with worsening symptoms. My experience doesn’t seem typical though. They literally go right through me and start wreaking havoc within hours of consumption and are equivalent to my gluten issues from celiac. Dumping is much more tolerable for me than attempting to manage a dump with small amounts of high oxalate foods. I asked about this in the trying low oxalate group back in the summer of 2019 but no one had good answer. I may try to figure out if I’m an endogenous producer at some point but it probably won’t change anything I’m doing.

The only thing I found that stopped a dump for me when I first fell down this rabbit hole was bread. all the other ox foods that should 'do the trick' just made me worse but bread sort of felt like it mopped things up and stopped the diarrhoea

 

[Blossom]

The only thing I found that stopped a dump for me when I first fell down this rabbit hole was bread. all the other ox foods that should 'do the trick' just made me worse but bread sort of felt like it mopped things up and stopped the diarrhoea

That’s a great tip! Thank you.