My husband has experienced some bad leg cramps at night during the past couple of months. Somewhere in the deep recesses of my senior brain I had "filed" this homegrown remedy. This cramp was so bad that he couldn't even walk to the kitchen.
I went to the refrigerator and got him a couple of kosher baby dill pickles. He ate them, and in just a few minutes the cramp completely subsided. Don't ask me how or why, but it has worked on the two different times I've given him the pickles.
Source: I'm not sure where I heard this, but I'm at least glad I remembered to try it.
By Sandy from Elon, NC
It sounds like a low potassium problem; pickles, bananas and potatoes are high in potassium. I know because I have had the same problem in the past. My legs would cramp so bad that they'd draw clear up to my chest. "IT WOULDN'T HURT TO GET HIS POTASSIUM CHECKED BY A DOCTOR." Hope he gets better. (05/13/2009)
Thanks for that tip. I also read that you can get leg cramps from not drinking enough fluids. (05/14/2009)
By Janet
It's the vinegar in the pickle juice that helped your husband. If he suffers from cramps regularly, it would pay him to go to a health food store and buy some Quinine tablets and take them on a regular basis for awhile. I, too, have a problem with cramps every now and then, so I keep a bottle on hand all the time. If I start having cramps in my legs or feet, I'll take a tablet a day for a few days and then stop. Once upon a time, you could buy them in drugstores but I guess the FDA stopped that - now, as far as I know, they are available only in health food stores. Hope this suggestion helps and God bless you. (05/14/2009)
By Pat Giles
I also get leg cramps and the banana works for me. (05/14/2009)
By Cindy
Would eating a pickle or two a day help prevent getting the cramps? My elderly mom has them pretty regularly, bad enough to wake her up from a sound sleep. (05/14/2009)
By Pam
Be smart, be prepared for those gut-wrenching leg cramps. Keep an attractive jar at the ready to grab of pickle juice next to place where you sleep/ so no need to get out of bed..close enough to grab and gulp 2 - 3 swigs.
A note about quinine. It can cause hearing problems, so it's best to either avoid it or use as a last resort. (05/14/2009)
Pickles provide vinegar and salt. The salt helps replace electrolytes lost through perspiration or other fluid loss. Does he take a diuretic? Be careful with quinine. I used it successfully when I was 20. When 63, I took it for four days and awoke partially deaf. It is a fairly common side effect. I DO take calcium with Vitamin D twice daily. I also got my thyroid regulated. Now leg cramps are minor, if not gone. Good luck! (05/14/2009)
By Coreen Hart
Your potassium is low. You need to start eating bananas or I think green peas also will to the trick. I make sure my family eats bananas at least every so often. I can keep track of that . (05/14/2009)
By Teresa Tart
Tonic water works for me!
(05/14/2009)
I asked a pharmacist about what to do about restless leg and leg cramps. He told me to take vitamin E. I have been taking it for 6 years and have never had to go on prescription medicine. I have also eaten bananas to help out. Just be careful if you try potassium vitamins. My brother took some and it literally tied him up in a knot, he was cramped up in all his extremities and couldn't straighten anything out straight. (05/14/2009)
By christi
One needs B-vitamin complex for this. Give it time, it will work! (05/17/2009)
By Betty
Be sure you are getting adequate calcium, magnesium and Vitamin D. It is not enough in a multiple vitamin tablet. These all need each other to work. At least 1000 mgs calcium a day. Make sure it is a good brand or it will pass through you. If a calcium tablet does not dissolve within one minute, in a glass of water, buy another brand and try it. (05/17/2009)
By Betty
This isn't a preventative, but if you should feel leg cramps coming on in the middle of the night, this simple method takes away the pain lickety-split.
While sitting up in bed, keep the offending leg as straight as possible and grasp your toes. Pull the toes back toward you. Note, if you don't feel the stretch down the back of your lower leg all the way to the knee, then you're not doing it right.
When done correctly, the calf muscles are forced to stretch, which means the charley horse can no longer contract, so it disappears like magic. (05/17/2009)
This may sound 'mad' However it has always helped me. When I have been suffering with cramp during the night I use a tip I read in a magazine. Take a pair of socks or pantyhose you have worn, put them on the floor at the side of your bed in the shape of a "X" and leave them there overnight. It has always worked for me, crazy or not. It is very comforting to know that I have some help I can put into practice very quickly. (05/18/2009)
By min crun
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