Charley horses? (cramps in legs)
Moms View Message Board: General Discussion Archive: Archive November 2005:
Charley horses? (cramps in legs)
Last night I hardly slept at all because of charley horses in my legs. NOTHING I could do made it feel better and I was in tears several times because of them. I could feel the knot in my leg it was so bad, I must have had 8-10 of them at least.
I've heard potassium helps with these but don't like bananas so what other types of foods have potassium in it naturally. Should take a supplement? I haven't had these this bad since I was pregnant and last night was horrible.
Anyone have any experience with these or know what I can do to make them go away? TIA
I've had them, and find that stretching helps a lot - and heat. But I do know that a potassium deficiency can be a factor.
Here's a web site listing potassium & sodium levels in food. Turns out avocados are very high in potassium (I love avocados - and there's always guacamole); iceberg lettuce, lima beans, and tomatoes (tomato juice should be good).
http://www.radiantrecovery.com/Potassium.htm
(The web site is part of a site called Radiant Recovery - I don't know anything about this organization or program, didn't read anything further, and make no recommendations other than that the list they posted looks fairly accurate from what I remember reading in other places.)
Dietician.com says:
"Foods high in potassium are: one-half cup of orange juice, one large banana, one baked potato, one-half winter squash, one cup tomato juice, one cup vegetable juice cocktail, one-half cup avocado, one-half cup cooked dried beans and one tablespoon black strap molasses.
Additional foods that are moderately high in potassium are: 100% bran cereals, dried fruit (apricots, dates, peaches, figs, prunes, raisins), meat (beef, chicken, halibut, pork, salmon, veal), cantaloupe, milk, grapefruit juice, lima beans, mushrooms (canned), parsnips, peanut butter, pineapple juice, plums, spinach, watermelon, yams and yogurt. A wide variety of foods have potassium in them. If you eat a balanced diet with a variety of foods, you would normally eat enough foods high in potassium."
Here is that site:
http://www.dietitian.com/potassiu.html (again, I didn't read any further and make no recommendations.)
But, how about going to your doctor and getting a blood test to see where your body chemistry is at in general, and talk to your doctor about the charlie horses. I certainly would not take a dietary supplement without checking with my doctor first, as you run the risk of imbalances by getting too much of something that knocks out or interferes with the metabolism of something else that might be important.
The stretches my doctor showed me - stand about a comfortable arms length from a wall or door frame, put the palms of your hands on the wall/door frame, move one leg a good step back, bend the knee of the front leg (the one closest to the wall/door frame), going down as far as you can comfortably while trying to keep the heel of the back leg from rising up from the floor. You will feel the pull in the calf muscles of the back leg - and when it starts to hurt or feel like too much, ease up just a little so that you still feel the pull and hold for a count of 10. Do this 5 or 10 times with each leg.
Another but - this is an exercise my doctor showed me after a checkup which included a blood test and other stuff, so he was sure there weren't other factors involved.
When I get a charlie horse (usually in the middle of the night) I grab a hot pad and start that, and stretch the hurting leg out straight while I am in bed, pushing my heel down to stretch the calf muscle, and keeping the heat on it. Usually that takes the pain away so I can go back to sleep, and I make sure to do my stretching exercises 3-4 times a day for the next week or two to keep that devil away.
Thanks Ginny, turns out I eat alot of those foods almost daily (I LOVE avacados and always have a few here and eat them all the time) as well as others. I think if it continues into tonight I'll definitly call my doctor about it. Thanks for doing some research for me and I'll check out those links as well. THANKS!
Try taking some calcium supplements before bed. They really help cramps.
I did a quick google and found tons of articles, including these...
http://alternative-medicine-and-health.com/conditions/legcramp.htm
http://www.bodyandfitness.com/Information/Health/legcramp.htm
Ditto the Calcium supplements before bed--that helps!!
Ditto the calcim and potassium supplements.
***IF*** you are taking fluid pills, such as Lasix, you should take potassium with them. You can actually become dehydrated when taking them, and the leg cramps are symptomatic of that.
Talk about timing - I woke up at 6:00 a.m. with a strong charlie horse. I followed my own advice, and also did the stretching exercise while I was in a hot shower getting ready for work. Still a bit of residual ache, but pretty much OK.
I'm sorry Ginny, they are no fun for sure. I didn't have any last night but my leg still aches a bit from the other night. Hope yours goes away soon!
my mom read somewhere to put a bar of soap between your sheet and matress, she swears it stopped her leg cramps.
When my kids suffered a lot of cramping during sports, we had them start taking FosFree (phosphorous-free iron, calcium, and multivitamin supplement) and it helped a lot.
My MIL was the one who tried them first and found it worked for her.
My 14 year old dd complains of these during the night. I'll have her try a calcium supp before bed. Thanks. 
|
Members
