Cirrhosis is associated with a range of debilitating symptoms that can significantly diminish the quality of life for those affected.
“Patients with cirrhosis face numerous difficulties, including disrupted sleep, physical frailty, and muscle cramps,” stated Elliot Tapper, M.D., a hepatologist and associate professor of internal medicine at Michigan Medicine. “Despite their suffering, many patients do not communicate their experiences of muscle cramps to their healthcare providers.”
Notably, irrespective of the disease’s severity, two-thirds of individuals with cirrhosis report experiencing some type of muscle cramp. “In our survey of hundreds of cirrhosis patients, we discovered that muscle cramps had the most substantial impact on their daily quality of life compared to other symptoms related to cirrhosis,” Tapper explained. “This is concerning, as cramps can lead to pain, disrupt sleep, and greatly restrict mobility.”
Due to the “extremely limited” treatment options available for cramps, Tapper and a team of physicians sought to explore the potential advantages of pickle juice consumption for alleviating cramps in cirrhosis patients. Their findings were recently published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.
“Previous research has indicated that just one tablespoon of pickle juice can effectively alleviate experimentally induced cramps,” Tapper noted. “The acidity in the brine stimulates nerves in the throat, which subsequently alleviates the cramp. Therefore, it was logical for us to investigate this novel approach to managing cramps in cirrhosis patients.” The study involved a total of 82 participants with cirrhosis, all of whom reported experiencing severe muscle cramps more than four times in the preceding month.
Participants were randomly divided into two groups: one receiving pickle juice and the other consuming tap water, throughout the 28-day duration of the study.
