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I used to get them for years. Finally I began taking Calcium / Magnesium supplements, 350 mg calcium / 175 mg magnesium daily. Your body cannot utilize calcium without magnesium. It worked for me, as I haven't had a leg cramp for years. Keeping hydrated is also very important. Your body does not always tell you when you need water.
As many people have stated here, a good Calcium/Magnesium may help. But be careful as some sources of magnesium (oxide) can promote bowel problems and some sources of Calcium (carbonate) neutralizes stomach enzymes. I would suggest sticking with chelates or citrates.
I would also suggest stretching your calf muscles before bed.
Intermittent Claudication, a circulation issue, may also be a cause. But this is less likely as condition creates cramping during exercise. You can try using the herb Ginkgo Biloba to help with this condition.
(by the way, this is my first post here. Go easy on me if I make a mistake. )
I am currently battling claudication with exercise, but no supplements other than 150 mg of COQ 10 per day...I have Ginko Biloba in the house but wasn't aware of it's use for my circulation problem....I must google!
I am 47, and in pretty good shape. I work out, walk, do cardio work, etc.
Recently (maybe in the past year) I have had bouts of leg cramps at night. They are in my lower leg - calf and/or muscle that runs down the outside of the calf. I cannot shake them. If I flex one way, the main calf muscle hurts. If I flex back the other way, the side muscle locks up.
The only way I have been able to get rid of them is to stand up and bear weight on my leg. Most of the cramps are in the leg that I had ACL surgery on in 2001. I have had no residual issue with my knee since the surgery, and I never had these cramps before they began off and on this year.
Any insight? All I have ever heard is "Eat bananas!" (for potassium)
Help!
My instincts tell me that post-surgery you may have a medical issue which up till now wasn't bad enough to notice. Something to do with the nerves or lymph system. I'd visit some alternative medicine doctors (I'd go to both a chiropractor and an acupuncturist). I'd want to see if any short-term therapies they provide could solve the problem completely. Their advice for ongoing supplements/exercises may be invaluable. Standard doctors might be able to figure out the problem but I have seen on many occasions how their narrow view of physiology might not be able to solve such relatively minor aches and pains.
This will sound strange but in our local paper, The Press Telegram in Long Beach CA, they have a column that is called the People's Pharmacy. I have ready over and over this strange solution for leg cramps. You take one of your socks and put a bar of soap in the foot of it. Then you sleep with it by your leg. Not sure what to say about this other than that people write in and say how unbelievable it is that it works....Just putting it out there...couldn't hurt, right?
Possible sciatic if its down your right leg. Compressed disc L4-L5 which might be pressing on a nerve. That is what I have and at night my toes want to do a back flip to my knee with the muscle in the calf and thigh tightening up to boot. Other possibility is an ADHESION in the knee surgery area pressing on the nerve. Just a thought. Understand what your going thru. Good luck, Stefhen
I used to get them on a nightly basis. I increased my water intake and also take 2 calcium tablets a day and they have since stopped.
I am not a doctor, it is what worked for me. Also ice helps in the middle of a cramp.
This will sound strange but in our local paper, The Press Telegram in Long Beach CA, they have a column that is called the People's Pharmacy. I have ready over and over this strange solution for leg cramps. You take one of your socks and put a bar of soap in the foot of it. Then you sleep with it by your leg. Not sure what to say about this other than that people write in and say how unbelievable it is that it works....Just putting it out there...couldn't hurt, right?
I thought that what you described was complete bunk, until my wife cut up pieces of bar soap & put them between the fitted sheet & the mattress. It actually does work & it works very well indeed. I no longer wake up screaming from the pain of the cramping & I no longer have to take Tramadol.
This will sound strange but in our local paper, The Press Telegram in Long Beach CA, they have a column that is called the People's Pharmacy. I have ready over and over this strange solution for leg cramps. You take one of your socks and put a bar of soap in the foot of it. Then you sleep with it by your leg. Not sure what to say about this other than that people write in and say how unbelievable it is that it works....Just putting it out there...couldn't hurt, right?
I am not doubting that this would work, but it makes me smile because HOW DO PEOPLE FIGURE THAT COMBINATION OUT???? You know?
At some point, someone with cramps must have said: "Hmmm, maybe I'll try a bar of soap in a sock..."
It is AMAZING how things come around and about. Thanks for the info.
CRAMP UPDATE: 6/08. I never did try the soap trick, but the calcium / magnesium supplements did the trick. I started taking c / m and the cramps went away that very night. Thank you all so much for the help on this.
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