Looking for any ideas to reduce leg cramps when reducing medication is not an option

Hi, Sylv. Welcome.

Well, the first thing to do is to figure out why you are having leg cramps! Since you're posting here, I assume you have MG. If it's from the MG, massaging the leg muscles does help.

There are a lot of things that can cause leg cramps, including thyroid imbalance, electrolyte imbalance, peripheral artery disease, etc. It's best to go see your primary doctor and see if it's something other than MG causing it.

Heat is not usually good for MG but if you put some warm compresses on the legs, that will help - in addition to the massages.

Seriously, it's always best to figure out the "why" of a new symptom before fixing it. I hope you can figure it out because leg cramps are just awful!

Annie

I usually do a 1/4 teason of sea salt in water plus one tab of slow release potassium from Whole foods. really been working for me lately.

Others swear by putting a bat of soap at the foot of the bed when sleeping

Shelley, That would be good but if someone with MG already has too much potassium causing leg cramps, it will make MG worse. Too much or too little of electrolytes can make MG worse. Sorry, but I had to add that. I didn't know how much you knew about MG.

Annie

Thanks for the heads up Annie! Good call I did not know

sylv,
I have severe leg cramps and I have found that drinking pickle juice takes the craps away. This is the only thing I have found that helps me. I also eat pickles and that helps also, but drinking the juice works immediately! Try it and let me know if it works with you.
Simon

simon
I love pickles I'm gonna try it !

You won't regret it..trust me! It works for me! This is a tried and true method for Texas High School Football teams dealing with leg cramps with their players!

Do you want to know why pickles work with athletes? Athletes sweat a lot. Then they drink a lot. The problem is that drinking too much water dilutes sodium. Hyponatremia (too little sodium) can kill you. Sodium helps you retain water. Pickles and their juice are usually very high in sodium.

If you're on Pred, don't have too much sodium!! You'll blow up like a balloon.

I've had hyponatremia. It is horrid. But so is hypernatremia. You get agitated, dizzy, can't focus eyes, tremors, bradycardia, etc. Hyponatremia can kill. Any electrolyte disturbance can affect the heart and brain (CNS).

Binge drinkers can get hyponatremia and very quickly. Too much water for runners does the same thing. That's why drinks with electrolytes in them is important. Though, some of them don't contain sodium.

Fluid and electrolyte imbalances are no picnic, with or without a pickle. And, I'm sorry to be contradictory, are best managed BY A DOCTOR. I've had one too many of them and they are damn dangerous.

So please proceed carefully. Yes, the body is supposed to be able to balance water (making you pee when you have too much and making you retain it when you don't have enough). But there are so many other variables, like when people have kidney problems.

And there are conditions, like Addison's Disease, that can cause an electrolyte imbalance. It's important for a doctor to know how someone is doing off of supplements just in case something else is going on!

I'm only being a downer because I've been there, done that. After my water deprivation test for diabetes insipidus, where they give you a drug to retain fluids, I felt horrid. I went to the ER. Instead of waiting for the labs to come back, they stuck an IV in me and pumped in two bags of fluids. I was really out of it and not thinking clearly. Once I finally realized what was going on, I almost ripped the IV out of my arm. They did not wait to give me those fluids, which I didn't need, until they got the lab results. So my already bad hypontremia got worse. What they should've done is give me a dose of a diuretic!!!! Did I mention I LOVE ER doctors?

Sorry if I'm upsetting anyone. Sylv, this is sort of on topic but if there are any other questions or concerns you have, please tell us!

Annie

This is an okay article on it.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153188.php

Plus these.

http://health.howstuffworks.com/question565.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water-e...lyte_imbalance

Hi Sylv and welcome to the BEST site on the web for MG'ers!

Have you had labs drawn lately? I know when I had really bad cramps b/4 it was because I was very anemic - in fact my Ferritin level was 10 - waaaaay low!

I noticed that baby bananas and OJ really helped me out! You may want to try that but you do need to find out why you are hurting!

Again, welcome! You are going to LOVE it here! It is a great site to vent and meet others who know exactly what you are going through, so feel free to ask any question!

Take care!
Erin