LEG CRAMPS
- Thread starter crazyphil
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ContinentalOp
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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.
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?
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?
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
Larry
Dougaz
Member
You need more salt in your diet.
susieqz
Absent Comrade
great tips.
i've been having leg cramps the last few months.
pretty sure it's all the drugs i'm supposed to take.
i've been having leg cramps the last few months.
pretty sure it's all the drugs i'm supposed to take.
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.
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.
LVSteve
Member
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.
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.
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.
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.
4barrel
Member
Back pain pills will do it for me but only the right leg about 4am when I am sleeping.
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I will second the THERAWORX topical spray...
I am on potassium supplements and various meds for neuropathy..
will look into the pickle fix later...
I am on potassium supplements and various meds for neuropathy..
will look into the pickle fix later...
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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.
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.
OFT II
US Veteran
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.
Drinking enough water can also stave off gout and vertigo attacks.
LittleCooner
Member
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.
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.
ContinentalOp
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Hyponatremia. Insufficient sodium. A runner at the Boston Marathon died of it several years ago because she drank too much water.
