Topics: Food and Drink, Celebrity, Liam Neeson, Health
Liam Neeson has revealed his struggles with a health condition that was exacerbated by a beverage he liked to enjoy.
The Northern Irish actor has been donning our screens for decades, and you’re probably going to see him this week while watching the Christmas classic, Love Actually.
But you could never have known that he was quietly struggling with something he called ‘agonizing’ and left him in tears.
Neeson opened up about his struggles after offering his own support to Eamonn Holmes, a UK GB News anchor who also shared his health journey.
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He told the TV presenter that ‘rest is rust and motion is lotion’ after an unlikely meeting on a flight.
Neeson was dealing with something that was made even worse by a favored drink that many of us love to gulp down every day.
However, for the star, this meant that he was left waking up in the middle of the night in agony.
Sharing his pain with Radio 5 Live in 2022, Neeson explained how it all began before his diagnosis and road to recovery: "I was getting shooting pains in my leg, cramps in the middle of the night. The pain made me cry it was agonizing."
After a friend of his recommended a massage therapist, he decided to take them up on the offer and, thankfully, was able to manage the pain through the expert’s recommendations.
Neeson revealed that he had ‘lactic acid crystals’ in his leg which the therapist was able to remove.
Now, if you’re not sure what these are, WebMD describes lactic acid as ‘a substance your body makes as your cells use glucose or other carbs for energy’.
However, if you ‘exercise, work in the yard, or otherwise exert yourself, it can make the amount of lactic acid go up’ and when the build-up becomes too high, ‘you can get lactic acidosis’.
The symptoms of this include ‘a burning feeling in your muscles, cramps, nausea, weakness, and exhaustion’.
While most sites note that it’s due to overexertion, Neeson said his issue was that he overindulged in a common beverage that most of us consume on a daily basis.
Neeson shared his conversation which led to him having to make lifestyle changes.
He said: "[The therapist] said 'do you drink a lot of caffeine? ' and I said yes, I do. He said 'I would maybe drop it if you can and switch to decaf' and I did. And the cramps disappeared by 90 percent."
After cutting out caffeine, he found a welcome relief from the ‘agonizing’ pain.
According to The Mayo Clinic, up to 400mg a day is safe for most adults to enjoy, which is around four cups of coffee, two ‘energy shot’ drinks or 10 cans of cola.
You can also make sure that you’re drinking water and stretching before exercising too.
