How can I stop night leg cramps?
By sam from Spring Hill, FL
I picked up Hyland's Leg Cramp pills at Walmart and they really work. I think it's the quinine in them. It is homeopathic. If you don't want to take pills you can drink tonic water which also has quinine. (06/20/2010)
By AvaElizabeth
Before taking any over the counter stuff, if you are taking prescription meds, consult with your doctor. My internist has me on two fluid pills a day, and told me to take potassium, and magnesium supplements. They help quite a bit, but there are still times that I wake up with leg cramps. I have learned to live with it, and if I am able to get out of bed quick enough, I can walk the cramps off. (06/20/2010)
By Joan
Keep yourself hydrated with water more than other fluids with caffeine and sugar. My leg cramps always return when my body fluids are low. With the summer heat, it's important to drink more water than usual. (06/20/2010)
By Myrna
Eat a banana everyday. Bananas are full of potassium which helps to stop cramping. (06/21/2010)
I guess I went through about everything the doctors could think of plus everything all my friends and acquaintances had ever heard about and nothing ever worked until my good doctor asked me if I'd ever tried tonic water with quinine? I hadn't and he suggested I might try it.
That night I drank about 8 ounces of just plain tonic water with quinine, and I had no leg or foot cramps at all. The next night I drank just 4 ounces of the tonic water, and again, no cramps. That was about 6 or 7 years ago, and I've not suffered any cramps since I took that first 8 ounces. Now, I only take 4 ounces when I just feel a tiny twinge of a cramp and it never materializes.
I know now that it's the quinine that does the trick, but the tonic water just makes it so much easier to take and it's readily available at almost every grocery store, every 7-Eleven or fast food market around the country. It's certainly cheap enough and it took a really good doctor to let me in on the secret rather than writing another prescription for more medicine that wasn't going to work either.
It may not be for everybody, but it was most definitely for me and for at least another 50 or more people that I've shared the information with since. Just to think about how long I suffered with the excruciating pain of nightly Charley horses or leg and feet cramps almost makes me angry with the entire medical profession. It was just too simple, but it took one good old-fashioned doctor to set me straight. God bless him!
(06/22/2010)
By Julia
Besides remaining 'healthy hydrated' I found, for me anyway, that when the cramps start I rearrange my hips on the sleeping surface even just an inch or two makes a difference. I also found that any jammie bottoms that are too tight, waist band not right above the hip bones or that bunch up in the thigh area at all make a huge difference. Worse comes to worse I simply get out of bed and pace the floor slowly and quietly cursing for a minute or two and then crawl back in bed after they subside and fall right back to sleep. ;-)
Potassium does make a difference, but do not take a 'supplement' without a doctor's supervision because too much potassium is not a good thing if you have any sort of heart or lung issues. (06/22/2010)
By Deeli
I know this sounds a bit nuts, but It works for many of us. Unwrap a bar of soap, cut it into 4-6 pieces and place just 2 of them under the bottom sheet near your legs. One on each side of the bed. Wrap up the other pieces and in 3-4 months use to change the ones in your bed. It doesn't matter the cost or brand of soap. I usually buy the 3 packages of Ivory. Try it for a month. I think you will be surprised.
GG Vi (06/23/2010)
By Vi Johnson
Get to a Dr. and get checked for diabetes! Diabetes causes dehydration too. I found out I was diabetic and once my sugars were under control, my leg cramps disappeared. Please get checked out! (06/23/2010)
I had charlie horses almost every night from my thighs to my toes! I brought it up at my lupus support group and almost everyone responded at once with the same remedy, malic acid (from apples) and magnesium.
I found the supplements at a local store (some have them already mixed together and some brands are separate). I started taking them and by the 2nd night was over the problem!
If I start to get a cramp any where I immediately take them again for a week or so and they go away for months or years.
Good luck!
(06/25/2010)
By Virginia
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