Kate,

Are you keeping well hydrated?   I'm wondering if maybe your potassium
level might be a little low.     May want to eat some potassium rich
foods such as bananas to see if that helps any and make sure you stay
well hydrated!

thanks, donnag.  i'm pretty sure it's not dehydration, cuz i drink fluids
all day long.  i do take a multi-vitamin that has potassium.  will try the
potassium rich foods, to see if that helps.  no cramp last night while i
slept, thank goodness!

kate

.
.
.
ANGELS EXIST, but some times, since they don't all have wings, we call
them FRIENDS......

I would tend to agree with Donna and up the potassium a bit and perhaps a
bit more salt if you dare. But if I did that, it would mean that I DO agree
with Donna! Lord, what's this world coming too now?!! :-)
GaryZ

LOL!  are you not supposed to agree with donnag?  what's with that?LOL  i'll
give it a try.  thanks, gary.

kate

One more idea:  My rheumy put me on quinnine for this many years ago.
It has help tremendously. And yes my potassium levels are checked
regularly.

Take care,

Vickie B.

When my haemoglobin was low, or I was chelating heavilly (metal removal
from the blood and tissues), I would get cramps like you described.
Magnesium supplementation helped a little, but you're already doing
that, and it wasn't really that much help. When was your last full blood
profile?

full bloodwork was done last time i saw my rd, a month or so ago.  she
didn't mention anything unusual.  thanks ari.

kate

Ari

Kate wrote:

I have them, though not as often as in the past.  I've spend the day
after a charley horse hobbling around on an extremely sore leg.  I've
had to lean on furniture, and resort to using a cane indoors, to keep
weight off the sore leg.

Besides magnesium, add postasium to your diet - bananas, supplements.

30-35 years ago I read an article on charley horses, and an exercise
to practice before curling up under the blanket.
   Stand facing a wall at arms' length.
   Bend the elbows outward and lean forward, 'til your nose is
touching the wall.
   Repeat half a dozen times.

This stretches/exercises the calfs and prevents them from tightening
up (cramping) during the night.

I also ocassionally use the vibrator/massager, that I bought for my
neck and shoulders, on the calfs.

Now sleep tight.   <g>

i'll try that stretching out before going to bed.  whoever thought that
sleeping was an exercise you have to stretch-out for?LOL  thanks, chief.

kate

... / lurk mode off
...
... Yes, looks good
...
... / lurk mode on

i'm beginning to suspect that this is the culprit!  at home, i usually have
places to put my feet up, while sitting anywhere, and can get up frequently.
but that week i know i was at a few places where that wasn't possible.  i
have short legs; many chairs don't even let my feet touch the floor.  i am
finding that stretching that leg periodically, this week, has seemed to
stave off these little monsters that come creeping beneathe my bed sheets to
torment that leg.  thanks for the missing clue, gloria.

kate

It happens to me way more often if I sit with my feet down, like sitting at
the computer, for long periods, especially at night before I go to bed.
HTH.....(hug).

Gloria

yep.  stretching does help.  thanks, deetee.

kate
I have to stretch my legs before going to bed. If I'm still awake, I can
feel the muscle starting to spasm and immediately stretch and rub it out. If
it hits unexpectedly and wakes me up I massage as hard as I can and then use
Biofreeze on it. As everyone else has said, it's usually low potassium or
low magnesium. I'd check with your PCP if they keep up even after you've
increased these.

Good luck, sweetie! DeeTee

Have you tried any of the new RLS meds or even the Parkinson's meds?  I've
read that they sometimes help.
But then again, I've read that muscle relaxers and pain meds are supposed to
work too.  LOL
Nicole

yeowwww!  yikes!  the calf stretching and not sitting too long with my feet
down has helped me the most.  butch used to get terrible leg cramps in bed,
that his dr. nor i couldn't seem to help him with, too.  i'm sorry to hear
that nothing's helped you, too, guy!

all i can suggest is to tell your significant other to learn how to dodge
while she's asleep or twin beds.;-)  i wound up with a doozie of a black-eye
on our honeymoon, from of one of butch's flailing arms during one of his leg
cramps, when i was sound asleep.  not a good way for me to begin my
marriage--butch making me wonder if i married a sneaky wife-batterer.LOL

it never happened again--maybe all my teasing him and being frank with
friends who asked about my huge and swollen black-eye had something to do
with that.  friend, in front of butch - "how'd you get the shiner, katie?"
me, in front of butch and to friend, "butch gave it to me when i was sound
asleep".  then i'd let butch explain that, and that explanation was always
quickly forthcoming.LOL  hey, i learned very young that the best defensive
move was being open to questions and telling the truth in response (no
matter how embarrassing to the offender).

awwww, don't tell me that was mean of me.  remember, we'd only been married
a week and i was still seriously wondering if he was a sneaky
wife-batterer.LOL  of course, he wasn't, but i couldn't know that for sure,
at that point, because we'd only known each other for a few months before we
married.

kate

hey kate -

i've had this for years - don't want to be negative or scare ya, but in
my case nothing seems to help

i've got the mag/potass/etc, etc that i take and sometimes [thankfully
not all the time] the feet and legs just go on a rampage. before i
started with the supplements it was much worse and much more freq - so
dr says looks like this is the best i get.

hope you find better

paul

d'huit wrote:

owwwww!  that's a lot of monster cramps!  bummer, kid.  calf and quad
stretches during the daytime as helped me a lot, too.  i've been flaring a
lot lately, too.  figured that was weather induced for me.  hmmmm. . . i
haven't had a massage in a long time.  i think i'm overdue.  thanks for the
reminder, nann.

w0w!  i have to say that i never realized how common this is on asa!

kate
Hey, Kate, I had horrendous leg cramps from about May through October.
Tried
everything in the book and the only thing that helped at all was learning to
do everything differently to avoid what triggered the cramps and stretching
gently thoughout the day - and I do mean almost constantly, every 30-60
minutes stretching some.  The most vicious of the cramps eased up towrds the
end of October as I came out of a month-long flare of everything else, but I
was still having milder cramps frequently.  I *finally* found time for an
hour massage - some back work, much leg work.  I must have been retaining
some fluid in those tissues 'cause I had to pee like crazy by the end!  That
got me past the hump though - I still have to be careful and stretch a lot,
but the cramping is infintiely better and I've been able to exercise some
again.  I think I just really needed to get those muscles fully released
again.