Bad leg cramps

Hi all! Hope everyone's having a good Saturday. My question is does anyone get horrific leg cramps? I drink fluids, eat bananas... Everything. Makes no difference. Sometimes I even get a "stomach muscle" cramp which can be quite scary as it is NOT like abdominal cramping one gets with food problems. It is a tight cramping upper area of stomach. Some days are worse than others but there's often "the feeling" of potential cramping to come. Anyone else ever have such a thing? Thank you for any feedback! Moosiey

I also agree with Traveler on the Magnesium. I have leg cramps in spurts, may go for weeks without one then I have them day after day. Leg cramps, I call them charley horses, are usually either from low calcium, magnesium, potassium or dehydration. I get the kind that you jump out of bed and almost scream, need to walk to get them away. Then my muscles are tight and sore the next day from the extreme cramping.

My MD gave me potassium supplements, but I rarely need them, plus my labs have always been normal for potassium. No real help from potassium.

I do find that they improve with Magnesium, so I keep a bottle at the bedside and a container of Calm powder in the kitchen. Only need to take it maybe 3 times a week. Low mag is hard to test from bloodwork, it lives more in the cells. But it is dangerous to have a low magnesium level, for the heart especially.

I will occasionally take a calcium supplement just to cover the bases, but Magnesium seems to be the solution to mine.

"Natural Calm is the solution to both restoring a healthy magnesium level and balancing your calcium intake..."

naturalvitality.com/natural-calm/

Many health food stores will carry this and you can find it online as well.

Magnesium is an important mineral. It works together with calcium, so it is needed. I don't think many docs have their patients avoid it. Mine doesn't.

Some doc's believe we should avoid what the Lyme bacteria like to use - but the problem with that thinking is that it leaves the patient completely deficient in that mineral - and since almost everyone is deficient in magnesium anyways because the ground our food is grown in is deficient - then we are really in need of it!!

If anything, the person needs to have enough to feed the Lyme bacteria AND provide the body with what it needs for smooth and good operation - not leave it deficient while it's trying to fight one of the most complex infections known!!!

I swear, I'd like to actually give a class to doctors once in a while!! How can a body that's struggling with deficiencies fight such a complex infection?????

Many thanks to all who gave me suggestions to relieve these miserable cramps. I will start with the magnesium and see what that does and move on from there. Also glad to know about the various forms of mag that are out there. Now I'll know what to look for and what to avoid. Thank you all again. Appreciate the help!!!!

You're welcome Moosiey!

I was waiting in line at the pharmacist's last week, and standing next to a supplement display. It was taking forever and I thought I'd take a look at the magnesium supplements, and they were all oxide and glutamate. I couldn't believe it. And they were so expensive on top of that!

You could have a look at some of the good online shops, and choose a good brand, that's where I get mine.

I think you'll have a good chance at finding what you want in a health store. I don't have clue about the prices though. I'm in Belgium and ordering online is much cheaper, cause supplements are expensive here, their profit margin is huge.
I used to order via iherb too (I have no connection whatsoever with this webshop) but I found an online shop in the Netherlands and in Germany now. Sorry I can't be of more help.

I simply cannot live without my magnesium. It is truly a god send and will relieve your cramping.

Hi everyone! Was at my GMC and the only magnesium they carried had oxide and other unwanted ingredients. So I went to our Dietary Supplements and found what I wanted there. They had samples of natural calm as well so I had one of those as soon as i got home. Thanks for all the great tips on these terrible cramps!!!