Leg cramps and now arm cramps

I have been plagued with various muscle cramps over the past decade. Severity waxes and wanes. My electrolytes and hydration always check out to be good, as is my calcium, etc. I do have inflammatory arthritis with associated tendon/ligament inflammation, so that probably factors in too. But, bottom line, I am told that stretching is what is necessary to help with this, as it is related to muscle fatigue. So several times a day, I try to put my joints through full range of motion and stretch as fully as my tendons will allow.

 

I still get those cramps, but it hs lessened.

 

Jan

A few things come to my mind.  Leg cramps - restless leg syndrome, low potassium, or a back issue.  Hands, neck for sure.  I get numbness in my hands all the time and it's due to the arthritis in my neck.  Try and adjust your neck, it usually helps.  The legs!  I have restless leg.  But I also have several bulging disks in my lower back and 2 pinch nerves.  My hips, lower back, leggs and feet hurt all the time.  I broke my right foot, for the third time, last summer.  It then knocked my hip and back out.  I got my feet straightened out, seeing a sports medicine doc for the back.  Had nerve blocks and a bunch of other shots and physical Therpy all of which has helped to a certain point.  Also have arthritis in my lower back and hip.  Everything is connected.  I would suggest having your feet looked at and an MRI of your back and neck.  May get a few answers that way.

 

dianne

Hi Lew,

Nice to see you again, so sorry that it isn't just for a friendly visit.

Bananas, pickle juice, tomato juice, homemade lemonaide...

I would try to increase my intake of any of the above  especially at night before bed.

Up the water intake but mix some sort of berry juice (there used to be something called Ribena...not sure if it still exists but it was a rather sugary (unfortuately) natural berry syrup...a few drops in water a coupe times a day may help too.

If I remember baths with epsom salts helped as well.

Not other tricks in my bag...

Sharon

I was having cramping when my vitamin D level was very low. It took a while (and longer supplementation at high doses than is normally needed) to get the levels back up, but the cramping eventually subsided. I can't swear that they were connected, but they seemed like they might be. Vitamin D isn't routinely tested at doctor's visits.

 

Lew,

The pickle juice is taken a tsp or tbls at a time...no advers digestive side effects!

Yup, the fruit intake is important for us...if you are lazy then hit the natural juice counter in your local mall.

Take care

Sharon. I sent you a private note.  Your e-mail address didn't work for me.  Hope all is well,

dianne

Hi Lew, I was having severe leg cramps (calves and/or feet) and sometimes also lower arm muscle cramps and found out it was from taking calcium supplements that all my doctors insisted I take. I didn't have enough magnesium to support taking calcium. Currently I take as much magnesium glycinate as my pouch can tolerate, and NO calcium supplements, and I rarely have muscle cramps (unless I've eaten a lot of sugar). Debbie

Hi Lew...yes my vit d levels were tested and found out that I was depleted with this vit d.  Not only deficeint but depleted.  So that upped my vit d but I also was tested for diabetes because of the leg/foot pain.  Turned out that # was ok.  But my mineral levels are all off so I had to increase all of the vitamins and mineral supplements again.  Still wasnt getting much relief and so I got an MRI and sure enough all kinds of stuff.  Herniated discs, spinal stenosis, neck disc impairments.  ( 2 discs completely gone) and so on.  Pain is an awful thing.  It seems to attack those with autoimmunes all the time.  Take care.  Maybe an MRI would be wise and some blood work. Have a great day!

Out of the blue and sometimes for a week or two I get foot, leg and hand cramps.  I can't connect any particular event to their suddenly driving me "crazy".  It happens during the day as well as during the night.  A friend told me what works for her and it also works for me.  I keep a bottle of diet tonic water with quinine available next to my bed, in my car and in my kitchen.  It doesn't matter if the carbonation is gone!  When the cramps hit I take a couple....or three or four.....good sized sips of this tonic water.  Within a minute or two the cramping is gone!  The relief seems to last awhile but when my body goes through these cramping problems I am never far from my bottle of tonic water with quinine.  Whew!

I'm going to give the tonic water a try. It would be good to get off another prescription. I'm sorry you are having problems Lew.  I was diagnosed with restless legs syndrome during a sleep study.  I take medication before bed for it.  I also need to take it late afternoons around half of the time.  I have peripheral neuropathy in both feet and had to quit taking Flagyl as it was contributing to the problem.  I've also had several tests on my legs where they administer little shocks - using little patches like they do for EKG's.  Then a doctor inserts tiny needles to see how my nerves are connecting - I hope this makes sense. It is interesting as I see something like an EKG pattern on a monitor and and hear sounds. I don't understand how sounds are generated from the needles inserted testing the nerves in my legs.  The outcome of these tests show that I have some small nerve damage in my calves and legs.  They haven't tested my arms yet but I seldom have any symptoms in my hands. My former neurologist had me coming in every 6 months. He was checking to see if my neuropathy was in my hands yet and if it had gone further up from my feet.  There are over 1,000 reasons for neuropathy. I thought that he should have at least checked out 3-4 reasons each visit, ha ha. I've fired him and I doubt that he even notices or cares that I've found a new doctor. 

 

Hopefully you aren't headed in my direction but thought I'd put my 2 cents in.  The medication I take for RLS is for seizures. I've never had seizures but have taken different medications over the years for other problems that were mainly to control seizures. I'm sure the doses I take are smaller than those needed for seizure control.

 

It's nice to hear from you and I'm glad your j-pouch is working so well  I love success stories!!!

There are issues with using quinine for restless legs/cramping - see the Consumer Reports article at http://www.consumerreports.org...ecommended/index.htm

The amount of quinine in tonic water is quite low these days, so it's probably safe for most. On the other hand, the article listed a number of possible causes (of restless legs) that might interest us, including low iron levels or excessive niacin.

CeeeeCeeee. 

Think I got the tonic water idea from one of your earlier posts regarding restless legs.

It seemed to work great for that (but God it's awful stuff to drink LOL).

(Another trick my wife found for my restless legs was putting magnets under the bottom sheet of our bed). I normally don't buy into that stuff but I haven't had restless legs for some time!

I think I'll try some more tonic water to see if it helps with the cramps. (The ones in my legs and arm seem to be subsiding in frequency one only every few days  but my hands are still cramping whenever I try to use them to do much of anything, very frustrating and painful.

 

Lew

Sharon

i don't drink juice per se because of the sugar content but I am back eating bananas, oranges and apples. I've got the pickle juice and I'm working to get that tablespoon to my mouth LOL! (It seems to me I've heard of the pickle juice before).

 

Lew

All very Interesting! I've had terrible and frequent leg and hand cramps since January, when I went on 40 mg. prednisone. during the night they were almost hourly and lasted 15-20 minutes . They decreased as I tapered dwn on prednisone, now at 20mg. But last week I was diagnosed with very low Vit. D and prescribed big dose of Vit. D to be taken weekly, and also iron since my hemoglobin had dropped to 6.5 ( also had 2 uhits of blood for that). I have not had any leg or hand cramps now for 3 days!  Must be the Vit. D or iron! So nice not to be woken in the night with leg cramps! Check your Vit D levels if having leg cramps!

There is a old fashioned remedy for leg cramps that says if you put a bar of black soap (I think that it is carbolic soap but I am not completely sure) at the foot of your bed, under the sheets that it will stop leg cramps too. They swear by it here...I have never tried it but at worst...you have very clean sheets!

Sharon

Sharon

My sister-in-law had us using the soap bar in our bed but we haven't used it for a while maybe it's time to retry LOL.

 

Think I'll get some Vitamin D too!

 

Lew

Lew-

If the vitamin D works, make sure to give credit to the soap. 

Scott

If something works I probably won't be able to figure which it was and frankly  after the past few weeks of pain I really won't care LOL.

Fortunately the last couple of days have been a little better so something is helping!

 

Lew

I'm glad I like the taste of tonic water but if I didn't, I'd add a squirt of lime or lemon.  Best wishes!

CeeCee,

Does a squirt or gin or vodka work just as well?

I love tonic water or anything bitter...I used to keep a can in the fridge for midnight cramps...it works quite well but my favorite is still pickle juice...magic!

Sharon

I think I need to try the tonic and pickle juice!  I have terrible restless leg syndrome .  I'm up most of the night with my legs moving none stop.  I also heard about the soap thing, but I heard Ivory soap was the one.  I've got to remember to giv this all a try.  I just might get so sleep, haha!

 

Lew, what kind of magnets?

 

dianne

Dianne

 

I think we were using Ivory Soap too!

 

Regarding the magnets, my wife went to the Dollar store and bought them (a lot of good stuff ones out of that lowly Dollar store LOL).

 

I have to believe it was the magnets that stopped my restless legs. (Really not something I would normally put my faith in LOL).

 

Lew

Sharon......I like my gin "neat"!  Two large olives, ice and gin are my favorite.  Thank God my J-pouch agrees!  In fact, the biggest pluses for me in having my colon removed and a J-pouch created was regaining my ability to drink martinis and eat mega salads!  What more could a person (me) wish for?