There’s a truism that “If there are many treatments, there is no cure.”
But I also know that there must be some treatments I haven’t tried yet.
What helps you?
I assume you’ve tried bananas and tonic water.
My leg cramps stopped when I stopped stretching my legs while I was in bed. That’s what always brought them on.
Try to get the weight off your heel.
It has the sciatic nerve and achilles tendon.
Put a small pillow or a loose hand towel under your ankle, and the weight will be distributed to the whole leg, removing the pressure point.
My husband has had leg cramps frequently over the years. One thing that worked surprisingly well for him was Pedialyte pops they are an electrolyte replacement for babies.
When he has one, dispite the preventive measures, I ger a towel wet with th hottest water he can stand, and wrap his leg in the hot towel. That stops them cold, but they often come back once towel cools off.
My massage therapist told me calcium is the often overlooked key to cramps, especially if you have soft water. If I chew up a Tums EX® before bed, I don’t wake up with cramps.
Calcium/magnesium supplements, and tonic water, every night.
I drink alcohol more than I should. I always thought that potassium was the key to my not getting cramps from this. That’s why I eat a banana every morning.
Is calcium also at play here? Specifically, in excessive alcohol consumption.
Alcohol is a diuretic, and so it causes a lot of water to pass through you. It takes minerals with it when it goes. So, yes, calcium is part of that process.
Nothing stops mine except quinine tablets. It is prescription, although you used to be able to get it over the counter. Quinine is the ingredient in tonic water that helps.
For calf cramps, try walking backwards, heel first, then toe. REALLY akward, but is one of the most effective ways for me to get rid of them.
-Tcat
I get them every now and again at night. My doctor recommended bananas and milk for the calcium and potassium.
I would also toss a Vitamin C tablet in there, too (it seems to help my restless legs). It won’t hurt, and I seem to recall reading somewhere that it operates in keeping your muscles healthy in the same system as the Ca and K.
I used to get horrible calf cramps. A few times I got them when I stretched while sleeping; more often, while swimming - especially with fins on. They were quite painful. I even bruised myself once. I tried all sorts of “cures”. I started with bananas, worked my way up to potassium pills, calcium pills and zinc pills. I drank great quantities of fluids, I drank next my normal amount. Nothing worked.
Just recently I read about a study on calf cramps. No one really knows what causes them. They examined blood samples of triathletes before and after a triathlon, and they measured dehydration levels. The cramping group and the group that didn’t cramp were identical in all regards - electrolyte levels, dehydration levels, etc. Nothing correlated with who cramped and who didn’t.
A friend at work got me to try a stretch that works for me. I stand on the balls of my feet on a stair, or similarly raised platform. I relax and let my body weight push my heels down, and stay that way for a while. Since I started stretching like this everyday (about a year ago), I haven’t had a calf cramp.
I pinch the upper lip just under the nose (filtrum?) - it’s like an accupressure thing. Works, too.
When I was getting them, it was due to lack of exercise. I found stretching my legs during the day stopped my cramps at night. While sitting at my desk at work, I would just stretch my legs out and tilt my feet until I could feel the muscles in the backs of my legs pulling and then I’d hold that for a few seconds. I didn’t keep count, I just did it repeatedly during the day and, hey presto, no more leg cramps at night.
Thanks for all the tips.
The reason I’m up at this ungodly hour is…leg cramps.
Has anyone heard of an old-wives tale of putting two bars of soap underneath the sheets? One under each foot?
What on earth would that do?
Vinnegar, mustard or pickle juice. No, really.
I had my mom try mustard after I read it in the People’s Pharmacy newspaper column. She won’t confirm if it helped or not, but we decided that the nastiness of eating a teaspoon of mustard straight up takes your mind off having a leg cramp and might make you relax.
heh. 
Thank you Zipper JJ
Licking salt sounds easy and not too disgusting, huh.
If it works, I’m guessing that it keeps you from stretching your legs and pointing your toes, which really brings them on.
Another bananas & water vote. Preventive, obviously. Once I’ve gotten one I’ve always just screamed like a girl until it went away and then remembered to overdose on bananas & water for the next week or so.