charlie horse cramps

I am almost to my one month pist surgery date and every night im having bad charlie horse cramps in my calves. I have one doc saying I need to increase my electrolytes and another that says I need more potassium and one that says I need more magnesium.  

HELP! Does anyone have any tios to make this better? Before surgery I would just eat a banana and increase my milk intake and it would be better. Ive been eating a 1/4 of a mashed banana with my breakfast but its not helping. I dont know what to do! Any tips or advice would be appreciated.

Lol I meant post surgery. 

And not tios ... tips! 

Sorry for the typos! Thanks in advance! 

I eat pickles, drink pickle juice, drink powerade zero drinks, eat bananas, and take potassium and magnesium supplements to help ward off muscle cramps and Charlie horses.

I also do the pickle juice and pickle, bananas and take the supplements.....they are horrible...be sure to stay well hydrated as well.  

This happened to me in the beginning as well and I was really dehydrated. Whatever you are drinking now… is probably not enough. Your body is telling you that it needs more so I would just keep drinking all day long. I now get in about 75oz of water a day on average but closer to 100 is where I should be. Since I upped my water intake, I have felt 100 times better and have not had any restless legs, cramping or charlie horses. It is WONDERFUL. Good luck!

Hi Leslie. Potassium and Magnesium are electrolytes as is sodium.  You may be dehydrated and you also may be in need of electrolyte replacement. I would ask your NUT for assistance. Perhaps you need to have your labs checked early to determine just exactly where you stand with potassium and magnesium. Potassium is tricky because overdoing it is just as bad as being potassium depleted so  I would check with your NUT for the best way to approach this. Hope you feel better soon!

Is this happening while you sleep? My first guess would be it sounds like your dehydrated. Also, if this is happening while you're asleep are you running a fan? When I sleep and the covers or sheet slip off and I sleep with a fan I get cramps in my legs. I simply cover my legs and no more cramps. Sounds weird but it works for me.

At the time of the cramps I would eat a small banana and take a calcium and magnesium pill and 20 minutes later it had cleared up.  Haven't had any problems with them in ages.

I used to get horrible cramps in my legs at night, and then I learned how to stretch.  Stretching has changed my life - as long as I don't forget, my legs are fine through the night now!

I know this will sound crazy, but the "old wives tale" of putting a bar of soap by your feet/legs in the bed WORKS.  I have had night time leg cramps most of my life and when I put the soap in the bed, they go away.  Google it ;)  It needs to be a true soap and not the bars that are mostly lotion.  Irish Spring works wonders!  Crazy, I know, but try it!