I would really appreciate it if you guys could help with this. I have been having the worse cramping in my left foot just about everytime I get on my treadmill in the evening. If I'm just walking I rarely have it but if I get on the treadmill and walk at anything over a slow pace any distane over 1 or 2 tenths of a mile, my foot just cramps and is a real killer. I have not given up but it is pretty discouraging. I can get off sometimes and start again and get in a little more time till it starts again. Does this mean I need more sinemet? I am currently taking 400 mg total, but try to take it earlier in the day to get through my job as normally as possible. Anyway, Have you experienced this, and what have you done, if anything, to help? Thanks much! FG

Yes, I get it too.
I've had DBS so I only get a fraction of the dystonia in one foot in particular when I'm working out at the gym still but it can be painful enough to stop.
I find now if I pause for a minute or two and massage my foot it helps whereas before I had surgery it got to the stage where it meant I was well and truly off and in need of a Sinemet.
Perhaps try stopping and massaging it till the dystonia subsides and if that doesn't work upping the Sinemet by say half a tablet before you work out?
Cheers,
Lee

Dystonia
Dystonia is an involuntary contraction of muscles in one or more parts of the body. The disorder is classified based on the group of affected muscles, like neck (spasmodic torticollis), eyelids (blepharospasm), voice (spasmodic dysphonia), jaw (Meige syndrome), or generalized dystonia. The latter is usually hereditary.

Tremor in a body part affected by dystonia is a well-known phenomena. However, the mechanism of it is unknown. The pattern of tremor differs from ET. Dystonic Tremor is localized to the dystonic body part, has an irregular pattern with variable frequency, and usually resolves with complete rest. Gestes antagonistes, a sensory trick used by a lot of patients to overcome dystonic movement by touching the involved body part (like placing the hand on the cheek in cases of cervical dystonia), frequently reduces tremor. Dystonic Tremor usually responds to botulinum toxin injections. Sometimes patients with dystonia (e.g. cervical dystonia and upper-limbs postural tremor) may have ET type tremor in the body part not affected by dystonia: i.e. ET/dystonia overlap syndrome.

The Dystonia clinic offers comprehensive management for patients with dystonia and other hyperkinetic movement disorders. We offer complex medical management and botulinum toxin injections when appropriate.

there is dopa responsive dystonia - I have - very painful

http://www.wemove.org/dys/dys_ddrd.html

Floridagal, you can get foot cramps from lack of levadopa (especially when you wake up in the morning) or too much levadopa. Most of us have foot dystonia in the morning, but there's also a peak-dose dystonia, which comes from too much levadopa tightening all muscles all at once. That's when we seem to walk like robots, have a hard time releasing hold of things (i.e. put down a coffee cup and let go), unbending a bent arm, etc.

Have you noticed if you get cramps about 1-2 hours from taking your meds?

And could you possibly have that lack of potassium in your diet? I'm not too familiar with foot cramps (don't get em' too often); but when i do it's usually because i was in some position that "pulled" my calf muscle beyond it's limits. What I do is immediately find a comfortable position and give it all my will to attempt relaxing the muscles in my leg (WILL is the important word here, almost like holding your breath for as long as you can to terminate a bout of hiccups). If you don't relax; the pain reaches an excruciating maximum and holds itself untill something naturally gives; but NOT hitting that maxima CAN BE ACHIEVED, if you give it all you've got to concentrate on relaxing the muscles in your foot. Prophylactically would be to pre-dose with a muscle relaxant, since when you get a bout of the foot cramps, nothing you can take orally will work in time, but there is no reason in being doped up on these drugs that also make you tired and "bleary". Relaxing naturally is the way to go. You might need to "practice" this, but i'm sure that once you get the hang of it,it will work for you. And if it's dystonia related, try uppping your anti-PD meds to see if the frequency of your cramping is reduced.

You describe the agony of dystonia so well .Thank you. And your suggestions for remedy are extremely helpful.I can only add that my dystonia has been relieved by taking the dextromethorphan mentioned in another thread.

I used to get these awful symptoms every morning without fail,within 10 minutes of waking and again last thing at night.Each bout would last about half an hour and I would be dripping in sweat from coping with the pain.A dose of cough medicine containing the "said" ingredient has reduced my symptoms greatly. Massage helps but that isn`t always possible.A friend lent me an electric foot massager but by the time I had hobbled about fixing it up the dystonia had gone anyway,but if you can keep something similar in a place where you can access it immediately,then I am sure this might help.

Good luck...great suggestions already offered with the above posts.
Steff

Don't we have some interesting words for our symptoms.
"Dystonia" sounds like a Soviet Republic!

Sorry do not mean to trivialise our problems, as I sit here typing this the toes in my left foot are rigid and the whole of my left foot is racked with pins and needles.

I'll put some nice music on and try your idea ol'cs.

Chris

Hey Thanks So Much You All. Don"t Know If It's Too Much Sinemet Or Too Little But I'll Experiement A Little. I Have Used Some Dextromathoraphan After Reading The Posts About It's Usefulness, I'll Keep Trying Different Things. This Is The Strangest Disease, Huh? I Think If I Wasn't So Stubborn I Would Just Give Up Some Days But I Can't Let It Get Me! Fg

All I can add is maybe take some extra measures to stretch the particular muscles that are bothering you throughout the day when you're not having an attack. Doing what you can to loosen, stretch, and strengthen the muscles when they're in a more pliable state should help you some.

And glad to hear that you keep hanging in there. Really, what more can you do sometimes? I'm pulling for ya!

In my case, i have left foot cramp whilst PD mostly (and firstly) affected my right foot. After 6 years of dx, I never have right foot cramp! I realized that my body has become a bit asymmetrical with atrophy or weakened muscle on the right side which leads to over-stretching of my left side. Recently, I have received acupressure therapy which stretches and relieves the stiffness of my right foot. On last Sunday, I was able to walk one and a half miles free of foot cramp from home to city mall and went on shopping in a crowded supermarket (all were done without any medications).

Having said that, I understand that PD affects each of us differently and there are also ups and downs.