Leg Cramps at night...ouch

Hey All,  What am I missing and how do I get it....for the last 3 weeks I have been experiencing leg cramps in the wee hours of the morning.  They seem to be getting worse and worse.  Sometimes so bad I have to get out of bed to walk them off.  

So what am I not getting enough of???  Water...Potassium....what??? 

Any help would be greatly appreciated...

Gina is our Vit/min guru but I would say to be sure your calcium is up and add magn.  Extra water never hurts.

For everyone who gets leg cramps here are some suggestions and one or two seem to work for me. I hardly get leg cramps anymore. These are the things that I had been using in the past: magnesium glycinate 1200 mg a day due to my DS along with 2-3000 mg of calcium citrate (just depends if I remember to take the extra 2 not in my pill organizer). I also take a potassium supp daily. Vinegar seems to be quite helpful for cramps so, and I read this online, mustard, mayonnaise, pickle juice all are supposed to help for leg cramps. Unfortunately, I could never find out how much of any of these. I have used a couple of tablespoons of mustard or mayo for a late night snack on deli meat or a hot dog before bed to ward off cramps. Once in a while I will drink maybe 1//4 cup of pickle juice or better yet I will eat a couple of pickles. Warm baths are good too. My latest finding is Epsom salts. Someone from another group I belong to told us that Epsom salts have A LOT of magnesium so soak in 2 cups of that in warm bath water for at least 12 minutes I think is what I read online. Try one or two or more of these out and see what works for you.

I've heard that our potassium drops immediately post-op. You might try to switch to Morton's Lite Salt and drink a little low sodium V8 juice every day. I wouldn't eat a banana or drink orange juice as the medical community will tell you--too high in carbs. Do you have any labs that show your potassium level?  Give your doc's office a call and ask for a copy of your last labs if you don't have them.

Price is spot on, you can increase your magnesium citrate as well. You can take it with every calcium dose. Vitalady carries nice capsules of magnesium citrate. The tablets I've seen are huge! 

--gina

The calcuim I take is from CVS and it has D and Mag with it.  I also take another mag at night.  It help you stay regular along with the bone/muscle stuff 

I've had them for a while and they are really bad.  I've had leg twitches also.  Had test done and labs - everything is normal.

If you take Magnesium be sure to get Super Magnesium if you had RNY because my WL surgeon said that is one that is easier to absorb.  I take two a day morning and night.  I get them from GNC.  The cramps are worse when I stop taking them for a while.

If you find something that helps you, please share with me.

Linda

Hi there. I suffered from the same thing in addition to some leg relestness. Doc tested my iron and I was really low on the range. With a change in my iron, I don't have issues at all.

I'd call the doc and ask to have labs done asap!

It could be a number of things. Our doc puts everyone on potassium for the first few months after surgery because his research shows most drop those levels dramatically in the first 3 mo. They can def cause leg cramps. But other things can as well. We won't absorb the potassium pills either (RNY) so you can get a prescription for the powder if that is what it is.