Crazy calf cramps. Anyone know any solutions?

So my calves are often a little crampy even when I'm healthy. Staying active and doing yoga seems to help. I am prone to those cramps that wake you up in the middle of the night.

Since I got sick at the end of June, my calves have been crampy and twitchy ALL DAY, and at night I'm paranoid that I'll wake up with a doozy. I roll them with a muscle roller in the evening to stretch out the fibers, and at night I slather them with liniment, sometimes twice, to warm them enough to stay stretched. Seems like I can feel them shortening when I go to bed!

I have three theories about why this is happening:
Referred pain from the abdomen down into the legs
Lack of electrolytes from not eating enough
Lack of magnesium or some other nutrient. I use a magnesium spray, but I guess not often enough to be effective

I am hoping that after my scope on Saturday I'll be put on something to clear everything up, but does anyone have any ideas in the meantime? Last night I couldn't fall asleep from the cramping, and I finally drank some Gatorade in the hope that the electrolyes would take care of it.

Eating bananas helps me. I've always read that low potassium levels can cause muscle cramps and I get them in my calves as well.  1 banana a day seems to help me, especially after a workout.

I thought it was low potassium,  not magnesium, that was a common reason people get charley horses.  Here's a link to foods that are high in potassium:

http://shine.yahoo.com/work-money/10-common-foods-with-more-potassium-than-bananas-554715.html

 

Dehydration too I think.

Sorry about your muscles cramps.

How many sprays of magnesium oil are you doing daily?

I used to get the calf muscle cramps pretty badly too.

But since using magnesium oil sprays regularly, I have had no issues at all.

I spray about 12 sprays on my belly every night.

Bananas help, and my grandma always sleeps with a bar of ivory soap in the bed at her feet and she swears that gets rid of them.

Could be a combo of low: vitamin D, Calcium, potassium, multi B, some hormones...etc.

My mother-in-law took tonic water with low dose quinine in it.

If you have back problems, that could be in part nerve stimulation or impingement.

q

Thanks, everyone! I've been on Pred for almost a month and I definitely feel that it's dehydrating me. I guess I need to be better about drinking water. I just ate a banana tonight and I'll see how it sits with me.

I take iron, D and calcium supplements daily. I have a history of anemia and D deficiency. In fact, I just got my thyroid and vitamin levels checked today!

InSoFla, my magnesium spray bottle says that 8 sprays delivers 100mg, so when I did it on Sunday, I tried to get up to 300 or 400mg. I know I need to do it every day. I put it on my limbs, belly and back.

LOL, soystud! :)

Fruitgirl, thanks for the list! I eat no-fat yogurt every morning, and I've been eating potatoes for a few days.

My sister in law gets major calf cramps. She sometimes is walking down the street and just collapses with a charley horse. Ouch! She carries apple cider vinegar in her purse and takes a sip if this happens.

Cures it in seconds.

Worth a try?

It could also be that your calcium is too high.  Even in the "high normal" range, calcium can cause twitching and cramping.  Once I cut back on the supplements, a lot of those problems went away.

I just finished a course of prednisone and dealing with something similar in my upper left side/shoulder area. Horrible pains right after i finished prednisone. A lot of muscle spasms. Prednipoison :(