<p>I read somewhere that eating cheese at bedtime would help with foot/leg cramps. It might be worth a try to eat a slice or packet of string cheese. Couldn’t hurt.</p>
<p>I got a horrible foot cramp while I was at the gym on Friday - it’s been a while. I suspect I was under-hydrated since I’d left my water bottle in the car. I get plenty of vitamins and eat a lot of potassium rich foods.</p>
<p>Dh’s leg cramps nearly disappeared after he began using Morton Lite Salt (for the potassium) as well as eating more almonds and bananas. I found that doing stretches (just pointing & flexing my feet to the fullest 10X) each morning & night made a difference for both leg cramps and plantar fasciitis. Mine weren’t as bad as his, apparently, but I still used them as an excuse (like I needed one) to indulge in dark chocolate covered almonds.</p>
<p>I’ve found that I’m much more likely to get leg cramps when my legs start getting tight because I’m not stretching regularly. For me, a yoga class twice a week improves my flexibility, and makes me less likely to get cramps. </p>
<p>Yoga has a lot of other benefits for me as well. When a friend urged me to try yoga, I pooh-poohed her-- that New Agey claptrap, what nonsense, I thought. But then when I tried it, I realized it makes me feel good. YMMV.</p>
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<p>Try the Powerade Zero or the G2 from Gatorade. It’s got much less sugar but still has the electrolytes. Also, you may try Pedialyte… we used that at the college level with our athletes…</p>
<p>RE soap, my mother swears by it.</p>
<p>I am on potassium supplements because my chemo + BP meds are potassium-depleting. However, we also found out after a particularly bad round pf muscle spasms that my magnesium is also low, so now I take supplements for that, too. I have to be really careful about not getting dehydrated, too.</p>
<p>If it’s a chronic problem, talk to your dr. Too much potassium can be dangerous.</p>
<p>a number of women on my cancer board swear by the soap too. many find relief although not all do. I get them rarely, but got them all the time when I was pregnant.</p>
<p>That bar of soap thing is rather odd…read up on it just now. Some people put it under the mattress; some on the bedside table. It has to be unwrapped. Seems like there’s a big divide whether it should be Irish Spring or Dove, with a minority in favor of Yardley Lavender. No one has yet done an official study on whether or why it works. Placebo effect? Something about the scent? Or does it absorb excess CO2 emitted by the body just before a cramp? </p>
<p>Making a wild guess, I would think it might be the scent – maybe smelling something like this works the part of the brain that sends the ‘cramp’ message. Diverting it with a fragrance might keep the cramp from occurring. I wonder if dabbing perfume on a hanky would work as well? </p>
<p>Anybody got a kid who needs a neuroscience project?</p>
<p>The reason tonic water helps is because it has quinine in it . That drug not only treats malaria but also my Mom’s doc who is from India gave it to her for leg cramps. I have never heard about this salt thing and seriously the amount of salt in the U.S. diet there is not a way someone could be low in salt unless they were not eating period. The banana thing is real however and does work and I got really bad cramps in my entire hamstring top to bottom today because I thought I would edit bananas out of my diet cause they were making me fat ( thanks fad diets) </p>
<p>I’ve heard good reports on the bar of soap. On rare occasion, when I run out of calcium pills, I will get nighttime leg cramps. But it can be mg, K+, or calcium in any individual. Yes, quinine works, and is the active ingredient in tonic water. However, we stopped using it in the hospital as quinine at least in tablet form, was found to delay cardiac repolarization, which can cause as well as treat heart rhythm issues. If you have heart issues, be sure to discuss with your doctor. I am unsure of the mg difference. Yes, Emergen-C is a good electrolyte replacement. </p>
<p>Tonic water, with quinine or (yes, I know this sounds weird but it works) a spoonful of yellow mustard when a cramp hits. I heard about it on People’s Pharmacy and tried it and it seems to work. </p>
<p>Another possibility is that you need new or different shoes. My H has noticed a correlation between his nighttime charley horses and the condition/fit of his daytime shoes. </p>
<p>This is a really old thread, but muscle cramps are usually dehydration- lacking calcium/magnesium.
Soak in epsom salts.</p>
<p>This may sound odd, but one of the best cures for muscle cramps is pickle juice. I keep a jar of dill pickles in the fridge and rarely eat the pickles but want to have the juice on hand when the leg cramps hit. You can actually buy pickle juice online or at GNC specifically for this use. It really works…must be the quick hit of sodium!</p>
<p>The immediate thing to do when experiencing a muscle cramp is to do the opposing motion to the movement which started it. Calf muscles often cramp when you point your toes in a stretch, so pointing the toes in the opposite direction (towards the head instead of away from it) will make it very difficult for the muscle to maintain the spasm.</p>
<p>For me, many of the solutions already recommended work: make sure to exercise regularly, keep very well hydrated, stand on the leg (ouch!), potassium, my doctor recommended magnesium which also helps.</p>
<p>Can’t wait to try the pinching the bridge of the nose thing…if I can remember to do it at 3AM!</p>
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<p>One of my kids (trustingly) drank some pickle juice on my suggestion when she had a leg cramp. Several years ago, and she has not forgiven me yet…</p>
<p>I get horrendous muscle cramps on and off and haven’t figured out the magic thing to prevent them yet. While some are saying exercise- that’s what seems to make mine happen. Flexaril every night didn’t stop them. My vitamin and mineral levels are checked regularly because of my Crohn’s disease and I am on a bazillion supplements which change constantly based on the latest blood test results. I get them primarily in my feet but also sometimes my calves, back, and hands. The hands happen when I’ve done a lot of work with them. I can massage them, use a heating pad, etc. once they start, but that still seriously interrupts sleep. I would love to find a permanent solution but nobody seems to have any more ideas for me either. I get them when I’m awake as well as when I’m sleeping. </p>
<p>I think proper hydration is the key to preventing muscle cramps for me. I get them in my calves, feet and hands during the day (usually around dinner time) or night. Flexing in the opposite direction or standing when in my calf or foot as mentioned by others usually takes care of the cramp. The worst ones are when I flex my toe to my knee to relieve a calf cramp in the middle of the night, but then my shin muscle (is there such a thing?) along the front of my lower leg cramps. Standing, relaxing and massaging both muscles is the only way I know to get rid of those.
Most of the time I can attribute the muscle cramps to not consuming enough liquids during the day.</p>