nightime muscle cramps

[jambo101]

Im getting severe muscle cramping almost every night,lab tests show no deficiencies,its getting so im not sleeping well at night and am up for hours every night when i should be sleeping, and to go along with the muscle cramps i get bouts of restless legs or diabetic nerve pain.
Any tried and true methods of alleviating this condition?
Thanks

[PrimeTimer]

My husband was in the same boat. Ask your doc if you can take any of these: Clonazepam, Benadryl and/or tonic water with quinine in it.

[cassandra]

You might also want to give Diazepam a go, and magnesium oil for your legs as soon as you feel a cramp coming on. Weren't you on hemo? If so you might want to increase your sodium/natrium on the machine. Made a big difference to me.


Good luck, love and strength, Cas

[rcjordan]

My comments from another thread:

Some of us seem to need to be on the high end of the electrolyte allowance.  I had frequent, violent nocturnal leg cramps decades before ESRD & HHD and took 200-400 mg potassium daily, along with the occasional calcium & magnesium supplements.  As you might guess, cramps hit me hard when I was put on dialysis.  I do much, much better when I keep my potassium in the upper range and try to take in around 2000 mg / day.  All supplements were initially banned by my neph, but he did approve an occasional emergency use of magnesium powder when the nocturnal cramps get bad.

The neph also increased me to the 2-K dialysate (304 Sak), that helped.  I also drink 36 oz of black coffee daily.

The cause of nocturnal leg cramps are still a medical mystery. One company, Flex Pharma, was working on a drug "FLX-787" that was showing (mostly over-hyped)  help for cramps. They just shut research down due to tolerability issues.

The best info I've been able to piece together over a decade of my layman's research is that cramps -nocturnal or otherwise- are caused by a mis-balance in one or more of the 4 'iums' --sodium, potassium, magnesium, & calcium. And the balancing point seems to be personal.  Personally, I need to be on the high renal diet allowance for potassium and sodium and only occasionally take a dose of magnesium. Before ESRD, I took a calcium supplement a couple of times a week but I get that now with binders.  It's trial-and-error and your results may vary.

You have to throw hydration in the mix, too!  Even slight dehydration can set off cramps.

[LorinnPKD]

This condition is so frustrating!

I was able to conquer most of the RLS with a low dose of ropinirole.  It's early days, but so far, so good.  I'm experiencing some fatigue but the 3-4 hours of REM sleep per night makes me feel very forgiving.

I was able to get rid of the muscle cramps within 1-2 days by completely eliminating dairy from my diet.

[GA_DAWG]

Night cramps are the worst, and I have found it possible to get cramps in places I did not know I could. For example, there is a spot about two inches above the ankle and on the side of the leg that is excruciating. Also, the one that is, I guess, my diaphragm, that circles the entire body just below the ribs. If you ever had a cracked or broken rib, it is a lot like that, like it takes your breath.

[rcjordan]

> get cramps in places I did not know I could.

When I'm having a really bad bout of cramps, I get them in my hands or under my tongue.  Both are sharper, more stabbing pain than the foot or leg cramps. I also get cramps pretty much 'round the clock.  At night, I would have about 8-12 cramps, almost all foot or calf..  Sleep deprivation is a real problem when I have a couple of nights like that.

[GA_DAWG]

Yep, got the T shirt from that ride rcjordan. I now sleep in another room so I will not wake my wife up when I jump up in pain.

[Alexysis]

....  I had frequent, violent nocturnal leg cramps decades before ESRD & HHD ........  I also drink 36 oz of black coffee daily.
.....

It might be worth considering that drinking an entire QUART of coffee a day is dehydrating you (caffeine does that), as well as causing other issues related to excessive caffeine intake. Drinking a quart of coffee a day is extreme.

[rcjordan]

>extreme

And that's a big cut-back from the old days *before* esrd, heh.  Dehydration hasn't been a problem except on very hot days while doing moderate-to-heavy chores.  Low K and/or low sodium, OTOH, wrack me with cramps. To counter possible dehydration, I've recently added about 8-12 oz of water just prior to a session.

I track the coffee numbers and work the diet around it.  My neph & dietitian were initially wary, but now approve since my numbers have been in-range for months now.  Last clinic, the neph commented on how well my K was doing after querying me about cramps.   On top of the coffee, he upped me to the 2k dialysate early on when I recounted my decade or more of fighting cramps before esrd.

[Charlie B53]

A couple of questions firsst.

Your Hemo treatments, are you IN_Clinic or daily at home?

Are your nightly cramps only nights AFTER treatments or even on None-treatment nights?

I ask because when we had my dry-weight set a little too low I had cramps after treatments, and again on those nights, from being too dry.   Once I sort of re-constituted that lieter within my blood stream I would have cramps until my next treatment pulled out that fluid again.

One Nurse in particular swears bby an 8 oz glass of pickle juice.  Clalims she has seen it cure cramps nearly immediately.

I suspect the pickle juice has a combination of salts and electrolytes that make it much more readily absorbed into the blood stream than a simple glass of water.

You have to be very careful when anyone recommends increasing potassium.  Granted, many cramps can be caused by low potassium and eating a banana can give a quick boost, HOWEVER, many of us on Hemo must be very careful dealing with potassium.  EITHER too high or too low can and will interfere with the electrical signals to our hearts..For this reason we must stay vigilant and watch our labs, to prevent a possibly fatal heart attack.

ALWAYS check with your Dr just to be sure your do not cause further problems.