leg cramp update

I am so frustrated...

I WAS having severe leg cramps a few weeks ago. Dr Maguire said consult the PCP.  My PCP is here in Alabama and of course Dr M is up in Ohio. We still had vacation after Dr M's visit... But I had read and chatted about this with others.

Had labs checked as well. In the meantime I upped my calcium, magnesium and potassium .

Leg cramps are almost gone. They are much milder now and much less often, not the wake me up at 4 a.m and SCREAM anymore. 

So I got into the PCP today and talked to her about it. She looked at the labs and said all looks good. I told her I had upped my calcium, magnesium and potassium and she just said okay. She did not examine the legs or anything. I felt like she was pushing thru her day today. This is unusual for her. She did say if they got bad again, to call and that she would repeat labs, but to increase all 3 again if they return with a vengence.

I do not feel she is very thorough. The left leg is always worse and that is the left the knee was replaced on. The knee feels well, the cramps are below the knee.  There are limited docs in this small town. I feel like I should change, BUT no one to change to without driving to a major city 1.2 to 2 hrs away. I can't drive that far everytime I need a PCP.  I guess I am just ticked off.. and needed to vent.

I hope the cramps do not return and that they are gone. I guess time will tell. If they come back I will call her right away. I just feel sort of like no definitive answers to this issue.

 Hi Ginger,
I'm glad what you are doing seems to help with your cramps.

I'm wondering, how much of each, mag. cal. and pot. are you taking?

I'm asking because for the longest time I was struggling also with the same problem. My cramps have subsided to just the occasional flutter of the calf muscle.

But I also take a lot of Mag, 3200 mg. Divided into 4 pills of 200 4x a day. 
                                       Pot. 20 meq 2x a day
                                       Cal. 630 mg 4x a day.

I'm just curious how much of it you are having to take. I know it takes a lot of Magnesium pills to keep going.

Inge,
I am taking 4000 mg of calcium, plus what is in the multi.. all in divided doses of course. 
                      2300 mg of mag dividied as well. 
                       20 meq of pot  2 x a day., plus OTC pot 3 x a day . 99 mg each

I also make sure I drink tons of water in this heat !  PCP, seemed to indicate the calcium and potassium were more important than the magnesium. I just felt she was wishy washy yesterday !

Wow, Inge, someone takes even more mag than me.  I thought I was on the high end.

I take 1600 to 2000 mag citrate a day, 1080 mg potassium Citrate and about the same calcium as you (some days I sneak in an extra calcium dose,) 

My mag level was 1.9 (1.8 -2.4) so I guess I should go a litlle higher on these horse pills. (I'm real good at breathing while the pills are stuck half way down my throat.  LOL.  Guess I should try to take them just one at a time.)

   Jenny

 Na, just do like I do and chug them all at once, 4 at the time. Otherwise I will have to take for ever to take my pills. I don't know what kind of potassium you take but mine is Rx and it is a "real" horse pill, even I have to break it in half or it starts to melt in my throat before I can swallow it. That one is nasty, but not as nasty as the liquid potassium.

I really "have to" take that much magnesium citrate, because if I don't, and I mean even if I'm short a pill or two I wake up with bad foot/ankle cramps.

If yours is still only 1.9 then yes I would increase it because that is the bottom of the barrel. 

Inge,

My last mag level was only 2.1.  I've only been taking 6x200 of magnesium citrate in 24 hours.  And I've been hurting for 2 days from the after-effects of bad cramps on Thursday night.  I drank caffeine on Thursday because I'm STUPID.

So I'm going to go to 6x400 of magnesium based on this conversation.  You can't take too much I guess.

I hope this helps.  But I also hope I learn to stop drinking caffeine.

~Becky

 Hi Becky
Well, mine so far have not gone any higher then 2.0, even with taking all the magnesium citrate. I suppose it would help the bad cramps. 

If I miss just even one in a day I can feel it during the night. Because at some point I will wake up with my foot twisted and contorted. 

But the same also goes for my legs, if I "forget" to take the Rx potassium pill in the am or pm the same happens with my calf's. 

I don't know if it is your legs that are the problem or your feet. For me......... I've found, it makes a big difference in what I need to take more of.

ps   I've never heard of caffeine doing that

I know.  I seem to be the only person that has noticed a connection between drinking caffeine and cramps.  I get foot contorting cramps that hurt my calves.  A minor cramp could just be my great toe contorting but Thusday night it was my entire feet and calves.  It is horrible as you know. 

I'm going to up my mag citrate and hope that helps. 

~Becky

 are you taking enough potassium, you think?

Probably not.

My level was 3.7 which is considered "normal" so I don't think I'm going to be able to get a script.  The amount of OTC you have to take to be the equiv. of prescription makes it seem pretty pointless to bother with the OTC stuff.

~Becky