Originally Posted by dllfo

I have fought severe muscle cramps for many years. Last night I was woke up at 1:30am with both calf muscles cramping. While hooked to my Ventilator (I will quit breathing at night and not start again - CCHS - so I have to sleep on a Ventilator with oxygen), I jumped up and the left calf muscle "turned loose", but the right side became a knot. I have to jump up in the air and come down on the ball of my foot to get the muscle to release. Repeatedly. Today, my right calf muscle feels like someone beat it with a ball bat. A few days ago it was the left calf muscle. Always calf muscles at night. Prednisone started my cramping, before it I had almost no cramping my whole life.

That is my background and why I am posting. I have been on Quinine for many years. I am down to only 324mg a night. I am not on Prednisone, except when I can't breathe. The current Quinine is called Qualaquin. When cramping like this I have to go up as high as 972mg a night. I know it is not good, but ripping a muscle off the bone won't be good either, and the Prednisone is hard on me, but the side effects of not breathing are severe as well.

My apologies for making this such a long post. I have been reading up on cramps, trying to see what I can do besides take Quinine. I eat at least one banana a day, take CitraCal tablets a day, I take two Slow-Mag tablets a day and whatever else mrsD recommended. I counted my daily "pill" intake. Vitamins, minerals, prescriptions = 31 a day. Over half are Vitamins, etc. I am trying to get away from the Quinine if I can.

What I did not know is there are 4 types of cramps. Mine are "True" cramps, as defined in the quote below. I also did not know nerves cause it.

"True" cramps ---- "True" cramps involve part or all of a single muscle or a group of muscles that generally act together, such as the muscles that flex several adjacent fingers. Most authorities agree that "true" cramps are caused by hyperexcitability of the nerves that stimulate the muscles. They are overwhelmingly the most common type of skeletal muscle cramps. The link to that article is:
http://www.medicinenet.com/muscle_cr...2.htm#2whatare

Any other suggestions or solutions to stop major muscle cramps? With PN, Trigeminal Neuralgia, RLS, etc. --- I wonder if Quinine is the wrong treatment?

Originally Posted by dllfo

An interesting "side effect" of the severe cramp I had in my right calf muscle a couple of nights ago .... I apparently broke a lot of capillaries, as my calf muscle has instant varicose veins. I noticed it last night. Even my foot, on the inside, has so many capillaries broken that it looks red, instead of the normal flesh color. I hope everything returns to normal in the next week or so.

BTW, I increased my dosage of Quinine to 972mg and I have not had a cramp. I also started eating several bananas a day, hopefully this will stop it and I can go back to 324mg of Quinine at bedtime.