Leg Cramps

[charlie]

omg the last few mornings when i wake up i am having cramps in my calves. this morning it was brutal. i am getting plenty of potassium in my diet i think. also taking magnesium. any other suggestions as to what it could be?

 

[cliff]

More salt or calcium could help. eating as soon as you wake up could help as well.

 

[charlie]

Cliff, thank you. My salt is pretty high. I am in the process of upping my calcium though. Hopefully that will work. And I do pretty much eat as soon as I get up.

The cramp happens when I tighten my legs in the morning, like stretching out. To try and get around this, I am not stretching out my legs in the morning now and it's been working. But I can feel that if I do stretch out my legs that it's going to cramp up. I know, weird.

 

[pete]

Maybe a lot of calcium from milk and not enough magnesium.

 

[charlie]

These have passed, thank goodness.

 

[Mito]

omg the last few mornings when i wake up i am having cramps in my calves. this morning it was brutal.

These have passed, thank goodness.

This thread is a number of years old, but did your calf cramps ever reoccur after this?

 

[charlie]

This thread is a number of years old, but did your calf cramps ever reoccur after this?

No, thank God. Leg cramps are awful.

 

[LucH]

i am getting plenty of potassium in my diet i think

My salt is pretty high. I am in the process of upping my calcium though

No, thank God. Leg cramps are awful.

Magnesium acts in a hurry to relieve tension.
But when I took 150 or 300 mg glycerophosphate Mg, it only masked the problem.
So you have to balance between Na / k and Ca / mg.
Ca chases Mg, in case of stress. So, it's no use anticipating.
I practice as follows:
150 mg Mg at the morning meal. Sometimes at noon. Not later, except when " I'm going crazy".
Potassium is the key element in prevention. Not Magnesium. : So a vegetable or avocado intake on the menu will help.
If I do not have Mg on hand: a mountain orange, or even a banana.
Sodium should not exceed potassium (4 gr). Ideally 50% but it is not realistic.
4 gr Na = 10 gr Sea salt.
A calcium-rich food at the evening meal will help (PTH) to relax, if there is no milk on the menu. If it is a hard cheese, it will be necessary to compensate the imbalance (excess of P) with vegetables (K and Ca). For example broccoli (Ca) or a banana (K and Mg).
To help destress, 2 tsp hydrolysed collagen will help. L-theanine too, 100 mg, twice a day.
And of course relaxation exercises will help (to relieve the calf scramps).

 

[JamesGatz]

Magnesium acts in a hurry to relieve tension.
But when I took 150 or 300 mg glycerophosphate Mg, it only masked the problem.
So you have to balance between Na / k and Ca / mg.
Ca chases Mg, in case of stress. So, it's no use anticipating.
I practice as follows:
150 mg Mg at the morning meal. Sometimes at noon. Not later, except when " I'm going crazy".
Potassium is the key element in prevention. Not Magnesium. : So a vegetable or avocado intake on the menu will help.
If I do not have Mg on hand: a mountain orange, or even a banana.
Sodium should not exceed potassium (4 gr). Ideally 50% but it is not realistic.
4 gr Na = 10 gr Sea salt.
A calcium-rich food at the evening meal will help (PTH) to relax, if there is no milk on the menu. If it is a hard cheese, it will be necessary to compensate the imbalance (excess of P) with vegetables (K and Ca). For example broccoli (Ca) or a banana (K and Mg).
To help destress, 2 tsp hydrolysed collagen will help. L-theanine too, 100 mg, twice a day.
And of course relaxation exercises will help (to relieve the calf scramps).

This makes a lot of sense. My leg cramps started appearing soon after I started eating a lot more salt, but I'm not sure if my magnesium may be too low as well - I will try to experiment with more potassium and more magnesium on separate days to see what may be the cause (I have a feeling a little bit of both)

 

[yerrag]

Has to do with balance, when that balance is lost, things such as cramps happen.

In the case of cramps, it's about the muscle contraction not being followed by relaxation. It's stuck being contracted. It could be a matter of calcium, or of potassium, or both. Calcium is an mainly an extracellular electrolyte. The extra/intracellular ratio of calcium is very high at optimal levels. It should be 12000:1. How is this achieved? By potassium regulating the influx of calcium into cells and by CO2 carrying calcium out of the cells. Potassium resides at the cell membrane area and should be of a concentration such that intra/extracellular ratio is 35:1. If this ratio gets lowered, the cell membrane would lose its ability to keep calcium out effectively. And if too much calcium gets inside the cell, and there is no CO2, as carbonic acid, is, not being made by the mitochondria from oxidative metabolism, the calcium that gets in would accumulate and cause calcification. At any rate, because of these conditions, there won't be enough of an ionic gradient in calcium ions between the internal calcium and external calcium concentration, to effectively carry out the regular contraction and relaxation of muscles.

Even if one were to take plenty of potassium, cramps may still occur if the excretion of potassium is more than the intake of potassium. A lot of potassium can be excreted with frequent urination, or when diarrhea is occurring. And even without frequent urination and diarrhea, the body still has to retain the potassium taken in to increase its potassium stores. But if one is low on magnesium stores, one would also be hard put to retain and increase potasssium stores. And if one were hypothyroid, one would be hard put to increase retain and increase magnesium stores because as Ray said, magnesium is retaned with adequate ATP, and adequate ATP doesn't happen when one is hypothyroid.

 

[Grapelander]

Magnesium Glycinate works for me. Progest-E rubbed on muscle if I wake up with strong cramp.