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Morning Leg Cramps


pattyangel
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@Learning....you have to be careful with pickle juice if you have any problems with your sugar level, diabetes or such.....it will bottom it out if you're not careful......but if your sugar is okay any pickle juice will work...

Pickle juice is good....the actual pickle juice itself is brine....or salt water. If you have a sodium problem, this will definitely help.

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Patty, you seem to be getting lots of advice on the leg cramps problem. Want some more?

Ready or not, here it comes!

First of all Bananas. Forget the nonsense we have been taught about an apple a day ... make that a banana a day. It is full of potassium and will help a lot of things. But leg cramps are not going to respond to potassium, at least not according to my specialist and my own experience. The banana a day is good ... really good ... and should become a habit if you just want to be healthier.

Now, to the cramping issue. I used to get the calf cramps so bad I would wake up screaming my head off and my mom would come running into the bedroom and sit and rub the muscle. It was so knotted you could see it knot and reknot like a living thing under the skin and in the muscle. If I had known then what I know now I could have avoided a lot of pain and my siblings would have gotten a lot more sleep.

Cramps are formed when you are running on oxygen debt. You are not getting enough oxygen. Most people who have sleep apnea (as I have had most of my life but didn't know what it was called) will also have leg cramps. They stop breathing when they sleep, or their breathing will become very shallow for several minutes before stopping for a few seconds. There are machines (C-PAP) Constant Positive Air Pressure, that can stop this from happening. But when you are in oxygen debt, there is not enough oxygen getting to the muscle tissue, and it cramps.

Ever get a cramp when you were a kid and you did a lot more running? Have you watched runners in the Olympics or regional running meets? When the race is over a team mate or coach may come over and start rubbing a runner's legs. That is to stimulate oxygen into the calf muscles. They have been overworked and can begin to cramp

So, why would anyone want to run like that if it is going to be painful? Because you can ease the situation, with CALCIUM. You can eat foods high in calcium, but to get enough calcium every day, to keep the cramps away, and maybe before bed, you can chew a "Tums" antacid. It is basically just calcium. In hospital last January that is what they gave me to keep my calcium level up so I wouldn't have leg cramps in their relatively uncomfortable hospital bed.

Horses in a race ... sometimes they run so hard they cramp. Sometimes their legs cramp so hard they can break the leg bone. What do the racecourse vets do? They administer a large syringe of liquid calcium right into the horse's jugular vein. It is carried to the heart, which oxygenates the blood going to the leg in seconds and the cramp stops, hopefully before any damage to the bone has happened.

I once asked a professional runner how he managed cramps. He said it was a matter of not getting them to start with. First a warm up. Last a cool down. Lots of leg rubs. Daily calcium supplement.

Let me tell you how this works. Your muscles need a certain amount of oxygen to work. If you are going to overwork the muscles, like in a foot race, you need more oxygen or you'll go into oxygen debt, and cramp. To keep this from happening, you need to open up the "fibres" of the muscle, to let the blood flow more smoothly through and around the muscle and joined tissues. Massage opens these areas up, Usually a movement that works across the muscle at right angles, opening the muscle fibres, then a long massage stroke from ankle to thigh to move the blood and fluids up the leg, towards the heart. What does the heart do? It exchanges carbon dioxide for fresh oxygen. It is this fresh oxygen that relieves the cramp, or keeps them from starting.

Your leg muscles may not be getting enough exercise throughout the day. You may find that by the time you go to bed you rest with barely any moving. One of the reasons we move in our sleep is to reposition and cause a momentary increase in blood flow, the blood being the agent that carries fresh oxygen to the muscles.

And, as I said, the easiest way to get enough calcium in through a calcium antacid. They even come in fruit flavours. Carry them around and chew a couple a couple of times a day. You'd be surprised at what a change there will be in your pain. Like it shouldn't happen at all but if it does it will be less often, less severe, and you can make it even better with a couple more antacids (calcium ones only)

During the leg cramp, stand up, place your weight on the leg that is cramping and stand on one foot, that foot, the one with the pain just above it. If you are so shocked by the pain, and being awakened that way can be shocking, if you have a footboard on your bed, push your foot against it, hard. The cramp will go away in a short while.

I seem to have rambled all over the map here today. It isn't very organized but it is the advice I can give you. Now, one last thing. If it turns out to be your feet that hurt, the bottoms of your feet especially, check with a doctor for kidney function.

:)

smee2

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I was on a low-carb diet and after a month or so, my calves started cramping....I didn't dare point my toes and stretch while lying in bed because they would instantly start to cramp. I Googled the subject and found that it had to do with my low carb intake. The solution that I found from this online search was potassium, magnesium and calcium. As long as I remembered to take them I was fine, though if I skipped one day I was still ok.

Just be careful with the potassium because too much can cause a heart attack. Also, the magnesium and calcium work best when taken together, not just magnesium alone.

So even though you may not be on a low carb diet, your meds may be causing you to be deficient in these minerals. If you look online you can find the recommended dosages; it's been awhile so I don't remember how much I was taking. Or just take as directed on the bottle.

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Have you ever been awaken from a dead sleep with a leg cramp or one of your toes. This has been happening to me quiet a lot, and it drives me crazy. The medicine that I take causes this to happen. So my oncologist recommended Magnesium, to help relieve these crazy cramps.

I feel like I'm doing the Elaine dance. Enjoy :D

PLEASE PLEASE DO THIS!

I suffered for years waking up in massive pain, then the spasms (cramps) were in my back traveling under my arrm to the under breast area. OMG! Couldn't breathe! Stopped me in my tracks! Went to emergency room! They did a cat scan, sonogram, you name....said that they saw NOTHING! Could be stress related...

My friend, who owns an herb shop, told me to try MAGNESIUM TAURATE (NOT PLAIN OL MAGNESIUM, BUT BE TAURATE). I got a bottle 180 caps, 125mg,2 caps a day, enough for 3 months, and it costs under $30.

CRAMPS SLOWED DOWN WITHIN 3 DAYS AND STOPPED AFTER A WEEK! These were so intense, I am still amazed.

The bottle says 2/day, I take the two in the am.

Please give this a try, I know what you are going thru! :)

Best wishes,

attackcat1

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