Leg cramps OUCH!!

[beekybuzzard]

Country remedy for leg cramps is to take a bar of ivory soap and place it between the sheets near the lower part of your legs and after a night or three the cramps are gone. Sounds like a load of bull but my granddad did it for years and it worked for him and my aunt does it now and she says she has not had a leg cramp in over a year. I know a lot of people will say bunk to it but give it a try even some health sites are now recommending people try it because even though there have been no scientific tests to back it up no one has disproved it either. So whether it is psychosomatic or what it worked for my granddad and aunt and have heard a lot of others say it also. Good luck and Have a blessed day.

 

[bantymum]

Quote:
Oh goody id love to try this, what is Ivory soap???

 

[MissPrissy]

http://www.ivory.com/

 

[bantymum]

Thank Miss Prissy, well thats why I havent heard of Ivory soap, ill have to read a label and see wether we have anything similar here on our white sandy shores!!

 

[bobbieguyette]

I have Fibro and have terrible leg cramps at night sometimes wakes me up from a dead sleep.low electrolites cause em too along with potassium bananas do help, drinking a big glass of gatoraid helps too.I cannot do the ivory soap as im wicked allergic to it.but if you cannot find any in australia ill gladly send you a bar!

 

[hoosierhen]

I'll try the Ivory. However, my little Toy Fox Terrier sleeps under the covers- she may not like it much!

 

[Betsy]

Years ago Mom told me that whenever I started to feel leg cramps coming on to immediately curl my toes & front part of my feet up. I've done it ever since when I feel cramps coming on and it either stops the cramp or gets rid of it quickly.

 

[hoosierhen]

Betsy, That works sometimes when it is in the calf muscle. It doesn't help when it runs up the thigh though.

 

[palabeco]

Quote:
Take extra vit C to boost immunity if your a smoker.My doc told me that. Plus I heard that extra C and D helps other vitamins absorb. Also cholesterol lowering drugs can cause leg cramps, which is a sign of a serious allergic reaction and needs to be reported to the doctor.

 

[patandchickens]

Ooh, I had KILLER leg cramps in my first pregnancy. Mostly at night, but even in labor - honestly what I remember as inconcievably painful from that birth was not actually *having* the baby, it was the cramps. It was like getting hit by a truck. Only thing I could do was keep waving my legs around in the air - midwives and husband got kicked in the head a lot but I did not care if it kept some of the cramps from taking hold. Oy!

If you are anemic it is almost guaranteed that is a big part of the problem, so when that improves the leg cramps may too.

Potassium did not seem to be an issue for me, nor magnesium, and boy did I get tired of the "oh just eat more bananas" brigade

The three things that DID help for me, somewhat during that pregnancy and I attribute my much reduced severity of leg cramps in my second full pregnancy, were:

1) never getting the least bit dehydrated. Drinking a couple big glasses of water between dinner and bed helped.

2) not overdoing calcium -- I *love* milk, would drink a gallon a day given the chance

, but had a lot more and worse cramps if I exceeded about 3-4 cups per day.

3) frequent exercise to get circulation going during the day and especially in the evening -- whicj really did help (on sedentary days, cramps were worse) BUT I will say that tiny bits of nighttime exercise, like walking to bathroom or bicycling legs in bed to ward off developing cramp - actually seemed to incerase cramping for the following hour or so, dunno why.

Good luck and complete sympathies,

Pat