foot, leg cramps

[peggy]

I have this problem and wondered if anyone else has it or heard of it.

I get terrible foot cramps at night. I got them when I was pregnant some 25 years ago, but in the last couple of years or so they have returned.

They are in the muscle/tendon, whatever, that runs down the outside of the leg, through and around the little bone that sticks out on the outside of your ankle, under the foot and involves the muscle/tendon that is in the ball of the foot. The ball kind of 'folds' and i can't straighten it until the 'seizure' stops.
This is primarily in one leg. Normally I don't have problems with this leg. It isn't weaker, or shorter, or anything different than the other leg. And the pain, 'seizure' sort of travels in waves down my leg into my foot. It generally wakes me up and I get up and put weight on the foot to keep it from twisting under. When I think it has subsided, I try to move my foot and it starts again. This is really becoming an issue cause I'm not getting the sleep I need as I'm up with this foot thing.
Has anyone heard, or experienced this? I've looked at the WEB MD site and it says potassium or calcium so i try to get plenty of these, but it still seem arbitrary.

[JaneV2.0]

Yeah, the stock answer to leg cramps is electrolytes--potassium foremost, but I would add plenty of magnesium--but with only one leg affected, you may have some nerve impingement going on. Some potassium chloride/"lite salt" and a handful of 99mg tablets along with other minerals might do the trick. I haven't experienced leg cramps, but if I develop a muscle twitch somewhere, I head for potassium every time.

[puglogic]

I notice -- astonishing to me -- that if I don't eat enough potassium in the form of bananas or potatoes, it only takes a day or two for my leg cramps to come back. And they are full-on, excruciating, wake-you-up-at-midnight charley horses. The next morning I'm off the the grocery store for bananas..... I also take a calcium supplement that has magnesium in it. No leg cramps unless I slack off. Do you get enough of these nutrients?

[danna]

peggy
I thought I was having cramps too until one night as I was walking the floor trying to get the cramp out and even applying an ice pack (anything for relief). I felt same aching in my back
and applied the ice to my back and the leg pain stopped. As it turns out I have a couple of degenative (lol.. sp? it is late) disks and they are some time pinching a nerve.
The confusing part is that it skips the thigh and goes straight down the calf to the foot.
If this is what you have the difference between it and the normal pain of legs cramps (I found usually more in the back of the calf) this is more along the side as you describe and around the ankle and
across the top of the foot.
It is important not to ignore this because I have been tested and have it has done some damage to muslce in that leg. But, I was I having the problem for a long time before understanding what was wrong.
If you think this is what it is let me know and I can tell you of a very easy exercise I was just told about recently that is giving me a lot of relief.

[CathyA]

You need calcium and magnesium. I take Caltrate plus (600mg) and magnesium 250 both bid. Also, a sublingual B12 (in the methylcobalamine form) wouldn't hurt.

[peggy]

danna, funny you should mention the back thing. About 20 years ago I was in a car accident (a cement truck ran a red light and smashed into me...I really WAS hit by a cement truck!) and I broke my left collar bone, as well as hitting that whole side against the door/window. I did suffer some nerve damage to the nerve that runs down my neck, across my shoulder and into my arm that flares up every now and then. First time I thought I was having a heart attack! Do you think it could be this? I've often wondered that this isn't like your standard charlie horse as the pain is in the side of the leg and when it's over, my muscles aren't sore like with a charlie horse. When it's over it's over, no residual pain or weakness or anything. Maybe it is nerve damage. Can you describe that exercise? I might give it a try. And thanks.
Thanks everyone. I will up the calcium and magnesium for the occasional standard foot cramps I get in both feet.

[Sad Eyed Lady]

In women leg cramps can be hormonal. I was having leg cramps almost every night, tried the traditional magnesium, potassium, etc with no improvement. I then read in a natural health book that I reference often, that in women hormones can play a big role in this and to take Vitamin E. I started on Vitamin E and they did go away. When I am not taking the supplements for awhile, and feel leg cramps coming back at night, I start back on Vitamin E and they always go away. I hope this helps - can't hurt!

[rodeosweetheart]

Ditto the magnesium and the calcium. Also, take epsom salt baths at night. Cannot stress this enough; worked for me when had nerve damage after paralysis. My son gets cramps and the mag/calc works for him. If this does not abate, though, and you are not a youngster, remember that this can also be a sign of PAD, which also runs in my family, and this was the first sign for my dad.

[IshbelRobertson]

I have a friend who is middle-aged and was diagnosed here in the UK with Restless Leg Syndrome. I don't know if it has the same name in other parts of the world.

Here's an NHS webpage on the problem
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Restless-leg-syndrome/Pages/Introduction.aspx

[danna]

Peggy
Sorry to take so long to get back to you. I would think if this is the same thing and of course only a doctor could tell you that for sure. I have been tested and had an MRI on the back
and it is disks right above and below the waist that are degenerated. So it would be different then from your accident.... ouch a Cement truck!! When I asked the doctor what could have caused this he said
just life/lifting/long periods at a desk/long periods of standing whatever else....
For the exercise that has helped me a lot and can't hurt. My Dd just happen on a wellness type show one day and stopped because a therapist was talking about her
patients with exactly the list of symptoms she had heard me describe so many times. She heard her show this so simple exercise.

Laying on your back on the floor (I started doing it in bed at first) with your knees bent and feet and calves on the couch, have a towel behind you neck and one in the small of your back,
(making sure you feel comfortable with the thickness of how you roll them). Lay for 15-20 min with your arms out staight from the shoulders and your hands facing up.
It sounds like mine may be much more advanced then yours as it has done damage to the muscles above my knee and I now have a slight turn in of that ankle so the sooner looked after the better.
Again of course this is my diagnosies, I would suggest you ask your doctor but, be really detailed because mine missed it for a long time I am sure partly because when I would see him I would not have had the pain for
awhile and to me once it was gone it was hard to explain just how really bad it was.
Good luck........

[danna]

redeosweetheart
Could you explain the term PAD I have just never heard it....thank you

[loosechickens]

I'm pretty sure this is what she means, danna: PAD is.......


http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/peripheral-arterial-disease/DS00537

[peggy]

OH, good link. I didn't know what PAD was either. I don't think it's that. I never have pain walking and I can do most anything anyone else can. I'm up and down the stairs every day. It's just at night. I seem to go in spurts. I guess I should try to figure out how I keep it under control. I do try to take a vitamin/mineral pill every day, but it's more like every couple of days. I"m just terrible about taking pills. ( made for some interesting moments when I was on the pill!) Thank goodness I don't have to take anything regularly. I will try to be more consistent and will add vitamin e to the mix. I'll also try that exercise. I don't seem to have any damage from it. The only damage I had was I twisted my knee jumping out of bed last summer to get my heel down on the floor. That took months to heal!
I suppose I should break down and go to the dr as my daughter keeps saying. I just hate going to the dr. I've always been disgustingly healthy all my life so I could probably count on one hand the times I've been to see a dr, excluding pregnancies.
These are all good suggestions and I will try them all, including the bath one. Very interesting. Thanks everyone.

[danna]

peggy
That was the strange thing with my issue is I did not have back pain that sounded like what other people describe. I did have a lot of stiffness at the waist getting up from cleaning/gardening.
I have realized that because I have always had a problem with my knees that I did bend a lot from the waist when doing these chores. I now understand that is a really bad pracitce.
Thanks for the site loosechickens.....

[rodeosweetheart]

Thanks, Loosechickens, for the PAD site, sorry to be obscure!