• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Leg Cramps

Share this page

PAUL161

PAUL161

Great Pumpkin
Silver
Country flag
Online
Being pestered with leg cramps in the middle of the night! Never had this problem before but for some reason being woke up in the middle of the night with a leg, cramp is becoming the norm. Anybody else have this problem and if you got it to stop, how did you do it? PJ
 
Paul - I've had those darn things for several years. Peacefully sleeping, then a sudden violent spasm in the calf, thigh, foot, etc. So bad I can't stand or walk. Pain so bad I get nauseated and faint. Causes may be dehydration, low potassium and/or magnesium, overuse after not exercising, etc.

Solution: one slice of dill pickle before bed each night, and the cramps have vanished (hopefully) forever, at least for the last month. Other folks take a teaspoon of cider vinegar to the same effect. Tonic water will help, but didn't do much for me.

But have your doctor check your potassium and magnesium levels too.
Hope this helps!
Tom M.
 
Can't help with the leg cramps (except offer sympathy) but shouldn't this be in the 'Restoration and Tools' section? :devilgrin: (runs and hides)
 
Last edited:
I don't think I could go to sleep after having vinegar. I do some stretching before bed. Hands on the kitchen counter (a good height for me) I'll move one leg backwards, foot flat on the floor and lean forward. Stretching the hamstrings.
 
Greg - stretching used to work for me, but in the last five years or so, the cramps came on anyway. Had to use the stretching to ease the cramp - not fun. Doctor recommended tonic water, which worked for a year or so, but now a bite of pickle (or pickle juice) is all that helps me.

Whatever works!
 
Have been getting them for years. Worse when legs get cold in bed. Carried mail for years, never helped stop cramps. Everybody has a soution, but my Dr. said she doesn't know why.
 
Ever since I shattered my foot last year the weather will make my foot ache and with all of this rain we've been having I've been awakened at least once a night by my foot.
 
Tried the magnesium, doesn't work. Same with potasium.
 
Well, since I love pickles, I'm going to try that formula Tom! Thanks for the tip! (y) Hope it works. :thumbsup2: PJ
 
I have restless leg syndrome really bad. I got prescribed ropinorol and it helps a lot with it. Before that, massive amounts of alcohol was the only way for me to sleep. Not sure if the meds would help in your case though, not sure if it's all the same or not.
 
Dried apricots have a lot of potassium - I have had cramps since high school, and together with my biology teacher we figured out that dried apricots are the (readily available) food with the highest potassium / gram content.

Water helps. Stretching helps. For me, nothing "cures" it, but I have not tried pickles. Learning to relax my leg (once I realize what is happening) helps - "helps", not "fixes".

Is it OK to accompany my pickles with ground beef, a slice of cheese, some tomatoes, mustard, and surrounded by a bun? And perhaps a frothy mug of CAB? "with lettuce and tomato ... Heinz 57 and french fried potatoes ... Big kosher pickle and a cold draft beer"

Sorry - back on topic. Middle of the night leg cramps are horrible!
 
I sometimes get hit with these too - usuallly when I stretch my leg right after waking up and I can actually feel/see the muscle spasming around. It seems to happen more when sleeping on an air bed as opposed to on a normal mattress, but I have experienced it in both situations. Never really found a "solution".
 
I have, on more than one occasion, been awakened by incredibly painful cramp/ charlie horse in my calf muscle. This might sound silly, but what really help me was eating more bananas (potassium). One thing that helps (me) during an attack (if it's the calf muscle) is grab your toes and pull your foot backwards towards your shin, or stretch your leg as straight as possible and move your foot back towards the shin as much as possible, like your trying to touch your shin with your toes. I've found this helps the cramp subside more quickly.
 
Last edited:
Yea, Basil, gotta be able to reach the toes.
 
Popeye said:
Is it OK to accompany my pickles with ground beef, a slice of cheese, some tomatoes, mustard, and surrounded by a bun? And perhaps a frothy mug of CAB? "with lettuce and tomato ... Heinz 57 and french fried potatoes ... Big kosher pickle and a cold draft beer"
Click to expand...
(y) Good God Almighty which way do I steer...
 
I usually get them when I'm working on the GT,
while underneath it,on the back of mythigh/leg.
 
My wife and I donate platelets frequently. The techs at the blood place offer Tums - calcium - for relief. We took a short drive after donating and had an attack of cramps. My thinking - Calcium, dairy is a source - ice cream. worked for me.
 
Back
Top