Charlie horses?

[nikkiluvslowcarb]

The last couple of weeks I have had several nights where I have woke up in the middle of the night with a charlie horse. I'm wondering what causes it and if there is a vitamin that I could take that would help with this. Anyone else been through this?

[texastigerlily]

After having the same experience (7-8 charlie horses and foot cramps a night), I did some research and discovered they mainly occur due to lack of magnesium and dehydration. I immediately started taking Bluebonnet Chelate Minerals w/magnesium (3 a day), and drinking more water. They totally disappeared within a few days. I am now swearing by it.

[PMoon]

I went through that for several weeks. They started a couple of months into my new WOE. What worked for me was drinking a quarter cup of pickle juice every night before bed.

But I know there are some other deficiencies that will cause the leg cramps. Though, pickle juice should be a harmless and cheap experiment to try and see if it helps.

[Amber_Baby]

What on earth is a charlie horse?!

[OurLuvsFromAbove]

Magnesium helps them... I dont get them anymore

[chiody]

Originally Posted by Amber_Baby

What on earth is a charlie horse?!

From Wikipedia,

A charley horse is a popular North American colloquial term for a painful contusion of the quadriceps muscle of the anterior or lateral thigh that commonly results in a muscular hematoma and sometimes several weeks of pain and disability. Such an injury is known in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries (and also in the U.S.) as a dead leg, granddaddy, or chopper.[1][2] In Australia it is also known as a corked thigh or "corky."[3] It often occurs in sports when an athlete is struck by an opponent's knee, in a manner like the kick of a horse, perhaps the reason for its name.
The term "charley horse" is also used to describe simple painful muscle cramps in the leg or foot, especially those that follow strenuous exercise.[4][5][6] These muscle cramps can have many possible causes including hormonal imbalances, dehydration, low levels of potassium or calcium in the blood, side effects of medication, or more seriously, diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and neuropathy.[7] They are also a common complaint during pregnancy.

[Amber_Baby]

Thanks Chiody, it makes a lot more sense to me now! What a strange colloquialism!

[SkeeterN]

You need potassium. Without potassium I have horrible leg cramps when doing low carb

[ozdancer]

Potassium, old-wives remedy is eat a bananna but obviously this is not great for LCing. I've had a 2 in my calf this week so should take some extra multivitamins. Think mine are from sitting for hours at the sewing machine as it's in my peddle leg!! Plus I've not done my usual exercise & stretching the last 2 days.

[Looweewoo]

Potassium is the answer.

I use Lite salt which is about half potassium, and usually that's enough, but if I wake up with a cramp, a pinch dissolved in my mouth will settle it in just a few minutes. I recently started taking a potassium supplement, because I want to start using less salt.

[Steve Parker, M.D.]

Magnesium oxide 250 mg/day pretty much suppressed mine. Other people respond to potassium and calcium.

I grew up in the South (US). "Charley horse" is a common term there.

-Steve

[RobMan]

Originally Posted by nikkiluvslowcarb

The last couple of weeks I have had several nights where I have woke up in the middle of the night with a charlie horse. I'm wondering what causes it and if there is a vitamin that I could take that would help with this. Anyone else been through this?

Had the exact same thing happen to me. Very severe! For me it was two things...started taking a Calcium supplement and doubled my water to what I should have been drinking anyway. Try to drink 10 - 8oz a day. Thank you Lord, they are gone!

[2bflawless]

You need potassium and avocados are loaded with them and LC friendly! I eat one a day and the charlie horses dont bother me anymore! I use to get them all the time. My DH started getting them after he reached goal (I know weird) but he started eating an avocado a day and they are gone too. So it does work!

[dixiegal]

I was getting the every night in my upper calf for months taking supplements wasn't helping, started doing callanetics and it went away.

[nikkiluvslowcarb]

Thanks for all the great tips. I will up my water and start taking my vitamins again and see if that helps.

[binga]

magnesium GEL when a cramp wakes you ,
works right away.

[Looweewoo]

OK, I'm just weirded out by this. I know that magneisum doesn't work for my cramps, but potassium does. Clearly others find that mag. does and pot. doesn't.

To me this suggests that it's something else entirely. Something that both chemicals interfere with but don't really cure.

Now what I had been told, probably in an Atkins book, is that LC diets are notoriously low in Potassium. But why then would mag. (and for some folks, calcium) have any effect? I also seem to recall that having too much of one would cause an imbalance for the other.

I would like to know more facts to go with all this experience.

[sweetpoison]

I get them in my abdomen when I attempt to do crunchs.......... really, really, painful.... so I dont do crunchs anymore!!!

Vicki

[Looweewoo]

Ya... I get what I have been calling "Torso cramps" along the outside of my ribs and upper abs.. I hesitate to mention them because every time I do someone says "Heart Attack!" and wants to call 911.

I don't know what causes them either, but it's real problem, I can't even bend over sideways without having a serious case of them. I can feel them with my fingers so I know it's muscle cramps.

[JustKim]

without available free calcium, muscle fibres cannot return to a relaxed state and stay semi contracted. I would start with calcium.

since potassium is important in cardiac regulation, I would NOT just start supplementing with potassium

[MsWoods]

I'm going to go with potassium as well. I was getting them really bad when I first started this WOE, but it was the same time I was very dizzy and light headed all the time, and figured out by process of elimination I was drinking too much water and not eating enough. I was forcing myself to down water like crazy. I would wake up every night screaming and my only relief is for my bf to wake up and push my foot back towards my nose and stretch the muscle out.

Anyways, I stopped forcing water and ate more calories and I haven't had one since. That reminds me my cals have been low this week I better get on it so I don't get one. These are painful.

[Looweewoo]

Wikipedia article - Cramps are unpleasant, often painful sensations caused by contraction or over-shortening of muscles. Cramps can be caused by cold, overexertion or low calcium level in blood (especially for adolescents, who need calcium for both blood and bone maturing) though the most common reason is low sodium and potassium levels in blood accompanied by excessive dehydration.

[MsWoods]

Originally Posted by Looweewoo

Wikipedia article - Cramps are unpleasant, often painful sensations caused by contraction or over-shortening of muscles. Cramps can be caused by cold, overexertion or low calcium level in blood (especially for adolescents, who need calcium for both blood and bone maturing) though the most common reason is low sodium and potassium levels in blood accompanied by excessive dehydration.

That right there. I was eating very little sodium and drinking way too much water. Learned the hard way.

[maryvit]

I never get leg cramps any more since I started on my protein shakes in the morning. 325mg potassium in 1 scoop, then if i use my choc soy milk, there's another 400 mg or so.. before that I'd get horrible ones in the middle of the night !! I don't even have to take the 99mg potassium caplets anymore as long as I have my shake in the morning.

[Dreams]

Stretching before bed should help.

[12yrslater]

I've never had a horse named Charlie





















Ok, sorry, couldn't help it! It's Friday

I hope your charlie horses go away!!! Boy are they painful!!!

[Mommy2aCutie]

Has any women here every had them in your lower stomach....feels like your uterus is contracting? If I strech real hard or move a certain way then I will start cramping like that...I get lots and lots of leg cramps---almost every night---I even get them in the day....you can watch the muscles in my legs move...I get them in my feet, legs, and lower belly.....this is sad to say but I am so used to the ones in my legs I can almost tolerate them now until they just pass without waking hubby up to help me....wish I knew how to fix these....

[jillie]

Does anyone ever get cramps in their upper thigh? Oh my .....they are very painful. At least the ones in my calf as soon as I get up out of bed and stand up they tend to go away. But how do you get rid of the thigh cramps just ride it out?

[InspiredBlue]

Originally Posted by Looweewoo

OK, I'm just weirded out by this. I know that magneisum doesn't work for my cramps, but potassium does. Clearly others find that mag. does and pot. doesn't.

To me this suggests that it's something else entirely. Something that both chemicals interfere with but don't really cure.

Now what I had been told, probably in an Atkins book, is that LC diets are notoriously low in Potassium. But why then would mag. (and for some folks, calcium) have any effect? I also seem to recall that having too much of one would cause an imbalance for the other.

I would like to know more facts to go with all this experience.

I used to get these a few years ago, when I was exercising more and had never eaten low carb. I used magnesium and it worked.On Atkins boards however I always hear potassium mentioned.

My conclusion is that a lack of magnesium, as well as a lack of potassium can cause cramps and the different minerals can be low in the organism for different reasons.

Different deficiencies, same symptom.

[anelth921]

I take extra potassium, magnesium, vitamin D and calcium twice a day, and a multi-vitamin once a day, and I drink a ton of water, but I still get them almost every night.