I have been getting some bad muscle cramps lately, especially in my legs. I have tied it to doing a lot of ladder and scaffold work while building my shop. I have been taking potassium and now magnesium and making sure I am well hydrated, but wonder if there is anything else I should be doing. My wife says to go get a prescription for a muscle drug called quinine something, but I would rather take non chemical solutions if I can and the potassium/magnesium combo seems to be doing a fair job of managing it. Any other suggestions??
Bananas are a Monkey's Best Friend..... High in Potassium, and naturally occurring Electrolyte balancing Ions...... Then do some stretching exorcizing, before you head out to do any scaffolding climbing.... Limber up those calf Muscles....
Check your blood sugar. Diabetics have frequent leg cramps for some reason. (Tho' for them it is unrelated to exercise.)
Worst case> MRI and Nerve Conduction Velocity Test (NCV) http://www.medicinenet.com/nerve_conduction_velocity_test/article.htm, Electromyogram (EMG) and Nerve Conduction Studies http://www.webmd.com/brain/electromyogram-emg-and-nerve-conduction-studies. Damaged nerves can cause cramping, especially at night when the legs are not being used. Best case, fluids needed and you're just getting older. Two choices in life, get older or die. Mine was worst case with back surgery needed due to a misstep/fall.
I have suffered leg cramps (maybe related to RLS...?) for many years - hits me especially at night, and is much worse when camping. Feels like the muscles are trying to pull and shrink, and goes from feeling weird to outright agony. The only relief is to get up (very painful when it's really bad!), and 'walking it off'. I am now diagnosed as Type Two Diabetic. Been eating better, losing weight (forty pounds down since early April!), and eating more bananas and other potassium rich foods. Getting more exercise too. Also drinking a lot more water (very mportant as I now eat more whole grains). Haven't had it happen nearly as much or as bad as before.
Try some Pilates or 'hot yoga.' Seriously...go to a doc-in-the-box, tell him/her your issues and they will probably do a blood test to see if you have anything out of bounds. But, stretching does help keep your arteries pliable.
That ladder climbing is probably the villain when it is not your normal routine. Every time I over do running/straining I get leg cramps/shin cramps/or even foot cramps. A glass of salty water may help, bananas, or an extra Potassium tab to replace that lost in exercise/work. Hope this does the trick. That jumping up to walk off cramps is a pain.
try doing protien and creatine shakes along with tons of water throughout the day. When I was doing the insanity videos i could tell which days i was drinking shakes and what ones i didnt bother making them. I now do them if i work out.
I have been told a couple of times that Yoga will help....I will look into it a little more Thanks for all the responses, no doc-in the box close by. I am pretty rural and have a GP, but prefer not to go more often than I ought to. I will mention it next time I go in and mention the nerve conduction test as well. I'll ask him about the medical marijuana, that'll make his day.... in the meantime I will stay on the water, potassium and magnesium and do a little more stretching. Thaks Monkeys
Understood about the GP and not going. BUT should TSHTF and you are disabled at the wrong time it could cost all you've worked for. I gotta say I've had my share of med problems and each time I've been able to come back to a point I'm content with. Had I not gone as things "broke" then I'd have been in a lot worse shape now. Just consider it part of the PREPS, because in fact it is. HK
All the electrolytes can get deficient and result in cramps, not just potassium and magnesium. Calcium and sodium are important also. Blood levels of magnesium will still result as normal even if it is deficient in other tissues (blood is the last tissue to get low). If I was positively getting enough electrolytes and still having cramps, I would see my doctor. As always, do your own research and take your own doctor's advice.
I read an article this week that they did a study on people where they would make them work until they got muscle cramps. Half got water, the other half got pickle juice. The ones with pickle juice had relief in 60-80 seconds.
As 06 said probably the strain of the ladder and not being used to it so once you quite the ladder in a few days things should return to normal. As other have said about bananas, potassium, ect. Another home remedy that might help some, Dad has trouble with leg cramps and puts a couple of bars of Ivory soap still in the wrapper under the fitted sheet in the area of where his legs are when he is sleeping, and it has helped him..
Overlooked is the amino acid Taurine - will do wonders for preventing cramping loading dose of 10 grams daily 2 days before event then 5 grams daily during dates of exertion - works wonders
Ginger ail or tonic water mixed with whatever you want might help. Bananas do help. The key is if you feek a cramp coming even if you wake from a deep sleep streach that cramp immediately, dont go right back asleep strech it.