Why do leg cramps always come in the night and wake me up?
Hyland makes a little pill called Leg Cramps. I take a couple of
them at bedtime and they generally get me through the night.

Night before last, however, I got hit first with a cramp in my foot,
I swung out of bed and had two awful cramps, one inside each thigh.
I didn't think I would be able to walk they were so bad.

I made it to my pills and took 2 more of the Leg Cramp pills.
Then I rubbed some Blue Emu on the inside of my thighs. After
about 20 minutes the pain eased up.

I read it could be a shortage of Magnesium, and some of the best
sources of natural Magnesium is dark chocolate and almonds.
Sounds good to me. I think I will try it.

Have any of you all found the way to prevent muscle cramps
in the night. If so, please tell....

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In Omnia Paratus

I do not know about dark chocolate, but I can vouch for the almonds.

Dehydration or lack of potassium.

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Life Is A Gift. Defend it!

Lack of sex.

It's as simple as that.

And old age.

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Ubi Est Mea

Stay hydrated. My doctor tells me to drink 3 litres of water per day. It's tough to do, especially when taking water pills.

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"I also cook."

My doctor told me to drink a glass of tonic water each night before I went to bed. Since quinine went off the market it is the best thing for leg cramps. It is better if you keep it cold.

From the Mayo Clinic -

The risk of having night leg cramps increases with age. Pregnant women also have a higher likelihood of having night leg cramps.

Which aplies?

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Could be potassium deficiency, dehydration, or both.
My doctor suggested a couple bananas a day and lots of pure water. Cramps are now a thing rarely encountered.

Kanewpaddle I doubt I lack potassium. I take multiple vitamin and eat a
banana every day. Dehydration could be my problem.
UncleEd I'm guilty on both counts. The latter causes the former.

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In Omnia Paratus

Last time I looked, some soda water still has quinine in it. I
tried it a while back. Think I will try it again.

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In Omnia Paratus

I'm an 85 year old male, so pregnant I am not. Probably
the other choice.

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In Omnia Paratus

We use Emergen-C, works quickly.

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Made it, Ma! Top of the world!

I eat a banana every day, but I like them, so I will start eating
2 a day. I'm beginning to think I don't drink enough water. I'm
going to work on that.

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In Omnia Paratus

Thanks for all of the good advice. I think you all have helped me zero
in on what I should be doing.

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In Omnia Paratus

About 20 yrs ago I had very low potassium, I was in the hospital for 4 days to bring it up to normal, they told me to eat one small banana a day, havent had a problem since.

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Don

Drink a glass of Gatorade in the evening. It replaces lost electrolytes. Stopped my father's night-time leg cramps.

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That's gonna leave a mark.

Part of my degenerative peripheral motor nerve condition is bad leg cramps.
Tonic water with quinine helped me.

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Keep on Chooglin'

tonic water worked for me plus drinking enough water every day. I even add a little gin to my tonic water sometimes. Walmart store brand tonic water costs around .89 for a liter bottle.

I use low sodium V-8, lots of potassium in that and magnesium supplements.

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I am a sheep dog!
1601 (ret)

+1 on the Tonic Water. I keep at least a dozen small bottles in the extra refrigerator. If I've been working out or working in the yard I push fluids and include at least 1 bottle of Tonic Water. It helps me tremendously. My one poor cat used to sleep next to my feet at night, I think he got tired of being launched across the room when I got a cramp in the middle of the night.

Quinine is back on the market. I have a standing prescription for Quinine Sulfate 324mg. I take 2 every day. I have a heck of a time with cramps especially in the summer. I drink water, Gatorade and if I'm going to work outside for a decent amount of time I drink Pedeolyte.

FWIW, most people are potassium-deficient. Sometimes multivitamins don't have much potassium. I recently had some blood work done and it seems I'm just under the normal range for potassium, despite eating a banana every day and taking a multivitamin. I get occasional leg cramps, but it's usually in my feet or calves, and usually all I have to do is just put my feet on the floor and put some weight on them to relieve the cramps. The problem, though, is that I'm never sure if they're actual cramps or my neuropathy deciding I didn't need to sleep afterall.

You may want to try eating a banana before bed. Well, not right before bed. Maybe as a dessert after dinner?

Fun fact: Potatoes have more potassium per serving than bananas.

Hydration is probably a good first step. See if that works. You could also try potassium and/or magnesium supplements, assuming it's ok with your doctor.

I used to get cramps occasionally in my legs.
I do not like bananas even a little bit. Tried Potassium with some improvement.
Now I make sure I am hydrated very well and when when they start acting up I take a mineral supplement and that seems to take care of them pretty good.
Lots of good advice here. Think people get cramps for different reasons and that is why there are so many different effective remedies?

This works..

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“Look life in its iron face”

I put a couple of spoons of vinegar in 1/2 glass of water and drink it or sometimes eat a couple of spoons of yellow mustard. I don't know if it really stops the cramp or taste so bad I forget about the cramp. Larry

You need more salt in your diet.

great tips.
i've been having leg cramps the last few months.
pretty sure it's all the drugs i'm supposed to take.

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susie

I've tried almost everything listed, deficiency this, deficiency that. Nothing stopped me from waking up in the middle of the night doing a war dance until I tried vinegar.
I read an article about some study at a University trying to help athletes with sports induced cramps. The best thing they found was pickle juice from an old wive's remedy. With further study, they found it was the vinegar that made it work.
I now take 2 tablespoons of vinegar (5% apple cider) in a glass of water or in some V8 juice before bedtime and I don't wake up with leg cramps anymore.
I also noticed during some of last season's college football playoffs that some of the trainers were giving the players prepackaged "pickle juice" on the sidelines. Check out Stop Muscle Cramps - Pickle Juice*® Sport. I haven't tried their product but I know 5% apple cider vinegar has worked for me for the last 5 years or so. If I remember correctly, it only took a couple of days using it before I was free of night time leg cramps.

Bananas and water fixed my leg issues.

One thing I've learned after 23 years in Vegas is that most people don't drink enough water. Visitors from England are the worst. Offer them a choice between water and strychnine with a dash of lime, and they'll be hitting the floor in short order.

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Release the Kraken

I take 1200 mg of magnesium and 198 mg (two 99 mg tablets) of potassium before bedtime. I also eat a banana.

I used to have really bad cramps, or as we called them, charlie horses. I would get up and drink dill pickle juice. The cramps went away in minutes.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

Back pain pills will do it for me but only the right leg about 4am when I am sleeping.

I will second the THERAWORX topical spray...
I am on potassium supplements and various meds for neuropathy..
will look into the pickle fix later...

Drink water more often and eat a Banana a day.

For me staying hydrated with water while sweating has not worked for two reasons: I’m full of water so I don’t eat much, and water alone does not replace the minerals I’m losing.

The key is to recognize what you are doing that causes the cramps before they occur. You will have had some stress on those muscles and they will not be getting the correct nutrients to recover. Find the correct combination of what you need for muscle recovery and get it in you before bed.

I am often on the edge of dehydration. Salt helps, as does Gatorade, but if you drink a lot of it during the day you can get diarrhea. Bananas and nuts help me. I take a multi vitamin daily with extra magnesium in the morning.

On a day when I am heading for dehydration, I drink a 50% water/sports drink mix. I eat a couple of bananas. I already take a magnesium supplement to reduce the likelihood of kidney stones, but I take an extra one in the evening. Before bed I take a muscle relaxer (Tizanidine). This has reduced the frequency of cramps from 6-8 sets a year to almost nothing. I also do some slow leg and back stretches to loosen up the muscles. Upper leg cramps often result from lower back muscle stress transferred down the legs.

I believe the pickle juice/vinegar/quinine suggestions could help, especially with delivery of nutrients. I’ve not tried them.

When I get them, I drink straight Gatorade or even Pedialite, eat a banana and mentally calm myself down and do slow stretches. I’m 70 and still very active. They go away in <20 minutes and don’t come back.

Another vote for dill pickle juice. One good sip and cramps will fade away in a couple of minutes.

Had severe leg cramps at night, and it turned out the anti cholesterol med reacted with grapefruit juice. Now they have warnings on the pill bottles.

Drinking enough water can also stave off gout and vertigo attacks.

I have leg craps early in the morning if I have not taken my magnesium (500mg) supplement as part of my vitamins for the past couple of days. They were coming every night before I started the magnesium every morning with the other vitamins and I try to drink plenty of water, especially late afternoon, early evening so I am not dehydrated at night.

Dill pickle juice.

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Death? Smile back...

Hydration and electrolytes. It is possible to become over-hydrated, which can flush the electrolytes and dilute them to the point of uselessness. There is an episode of that show with the lady medical examiner where a diabetic died of heart failure. She concluded that he had pushed so much water to stay hydrated that he didn’t have enough electrolytes in him to fire the neurons that triggered the heart muscle.

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Not in jail.

Hyponatremia. Insufficient sodium. A runner at the Boston Marathon died of it several years ago because she drank too much water.

I drink a glass of tonic water (w/ quinine) each day. It has help to pretty much eliminate them for me.

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I know the pickle juice works well for leg cramps. The other day I aggravated my lower back. On a whim, I drank some pickle juice and the pain left immediately. Must have been a strained muscle.

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Death? Smile back...

I have successfully used dill pickle juice to relieve nighttime cramps. The challenge is getting from the bedroom to the kitchen.

I have had problems with restless leg syndrome. 500 mg of magnesium at bedtime helps.

Not to take anything away from the above experiences, but I have not had a leg cramp since I had a stent put in after a heart attack. Just sayin it might be something to think about if the home remedies are not working.

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Richard Gillespie
FBINA 102

I drink 1 OZ of tonic water with 6 OZ of a good Bourbon every evening. Don’t know if it cures the leg cramps but I it doesn’t hurt.

With the work I do, leg cramps from work or dehydration is fairly common. What I have found that works for me is a teaspoon of mustard before heading to bed. Works every time!

I've had problems with night time leg cramps for years. Some so bad I have to go for a walk in the middle of the night to ease them. I've been taking 99mg of potassium and 400mg of magnesium daily for several years and it's helped a lot but hasn't totally eliminated them. My brother swears by the pickle juice.

(The cramps on the inner thighs are the worst. Hard to stretch them out)

I agree. Those cramps I had on both inner thighs took the prize
for the worst ever.

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In Omnia Paratus

I had to start taking potassium pills for leg cramps about 15 years ago, I've worked my way up from one a day to four a day now.
It's a real pain to get cramps in both legs at the same time in the middle of the night.

Hylans PM- @ Walmart. works. only use when needed. when i cut the grass/ weed wack, i drink gator aid/ alot of water. put a cane by the recliner, and the Hylans PM in my pocket before i sit down for the evening. , ^^^^ inner thigh the hurtingworsecraps. usually when my fingers cramp 1st. i take the D PM right away. thinking the group have many special fixes. have a good night.