DH and I have never found a cure despite his decades of leg cramps. The only useful thing I can offer you is that warm, moist compresses will ease the cramp within minutes. I put a small, dampened towel in the microwave until it is very warm and place it on the leg. It relaxes the muscle within minutes.

Some people get these because of a mineral imbalance. Do not take an excess of potassium supplements.

Magnesium deficiencies are not uncommon. Sometimes oral magnesium supplements are not well absorbed, there are different kinds of magnesium supplements. But remember that no product will work unless it corresponds with the reason that you are having these cramps.

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/4359401/magnesium-supplements?n=36

In addition to what Lucille and Annie stated, I keep a bottle of Hyland Leg Cramp homeopathic pills around, quinine is an active ingredient, and they also make a cream. The sports people are using pickle juice, and it is even sold by the bottle (!), but I haven't tried it yet.

I have leg cramps from my toes to my thighs in spells -- sometimes several a day, sometimes go for weeks with none. Fairly recently I got some Theraworx. It's a foam. For me, it works. It's supposed to be available at CVS, but I had to get it from Amazon.

I suffered horrible foot and calf muscle cramps for years. I would go through bouts where I'd have to fly out of bed several times a night, every night, for days on end. It was a major quality of life issue for me. .

I finally decided to try OTC magnesium and potassium.

It's been basically a 99% cure for me. I still get an occasional cramp, but nothing like I used to endure.

Good luck and I hope you are able to figure it out. It's brutal.

I take Chelated Magnesium and a vitamin with a good amount of iron. Both of these if low can cause leg cramps. I always have the highland leg cramps pills available. Lots of water. I also have good results from wrapping a hot wet towel around the cramp area.

Like diane nj and Raven I use the Hyland's Leg Cramps, available at Walmart. Put two under your tongue and let them dissolve. They work great for me. When I was getting the horrible foot cramps from Lipitor, I was able to get quinine pills, but those are no longer available. Putting my foot on an ice pack would give me relief.

Tonic water, if you can tolerate the taste, helps me. I don't mind it.

I had slacked off on exercising, and started working out with a trainer 3X per week. No more leg cramps. None. Our doctor also offered that many patients find relief drinking pickle juice, though I haven't had to do that.

The quickest thing to do when that happens is to get some yellow mustard in you. My mother used this method whenever they hit and it worked like a charm; she kept mustard packets next to her bed with a spoon.

My late husband often suffered from severe leg cramps, usually during the daytime. His doctor recommended tonic water, and it worked like a charm for him. I had no idea there was an OTC product available that contains quinine, or we would have tried it. Would have been much easier than carrying a bottle of tonic water around!

Rusty

My mother drinks tonic water daily for her leg cramps.....not sure on the amount......think it's two small glasses during the day.

Try getting more exercise, that can help. Drink enough water and eat a banana every now and then.

Tonic water is very easy to drink and enjoy when ice cubes, some good gin and a squeeze of lemon or lime are added.

Especially if gin and fruit is added. Depending on the brand berries can go well with gin.

I had never heard of using quinine for leg cramps so will have to try it. I normally use magnesium tablets when my toes curl and my legs cramp. However nothing helps when the tendon on the outside of my left leg cramps other than just laying still and waiting for the cramping and pain to go away. It leaves the lower outside part of my leg sore for several days. Currently forth day.

maifleur, tendons don't cramp, muscles do. Try stretching the muscle (by moving the body part) that's cramping and that should end the cramp.

In December of 2006 the FDA warned "... people not to use the malaria drug quinine for leg cramps, citing potentially deadly side effects." Also some of the other active ingredients in the Hyland's product are Rhus Toxicodendron, AKA Poison Ivy, and Aconitum an extremely potent and lethal poison from the Monkshood plant. That may not matter since on their list of "active" ingredients they also then tell you that the pills contain virtually none of those active ingredients, which is why they tout no possibility of drug interactions.

Given that they recommend a dose of two tablets, and assuming each tablet weighs about a gram, the amount of quinine you'd ingest is 2 mg, at a cost of about 25 cents. (cost $12.47 / 100 tablets) To receive the same amount of quinine from tonic water you'd have to ingest 1 Tbsp + 2 tsp of tonic water, which at a cost of $1.59 /liter works out to about $0.014. More than a penny, but less than 2 pennies. You're paying 17 times as much and the only differences are the pills come in a box with reassuring medicine-y claims and statements, and the pills contain tiny, tiny amounts of poison too.

This in my opinion is the fundamental problem with homeopathic remedies. They tell you what the active ingredients are, tell you what those ingredients might possibly do, and then tell you "Oh by the way, the remedy doesn't actually contain any of those active ingredients." Any perceived effect from the remedy is due to the placebo effect, it only does something because you believe it will do something.

Elmer I just told that to the area that is right above my ankle where the leg dips in that is still sore. It did not agree.

I have them mostly when I forget to drink enough water.

I've had nighttime legs cramps for years. It's weird how they just come out of nowhere (though there's usually a traceable reason). Sometimes I get caught off guard with one and sometimes I can tell just before the leg seizes up by a tension in the toes. And then the toes on one foot will just lock up. Downhill from there usually. First, I'll lay there in agony but eventually have to stand up and put pressure on the leg..sometimes it works-sometimes not. If it's the middle of the night, I have to bite my tongue to keep from yelling in pain so I don't wake my husband. Once it calms down a little, I'll lay on my side and massage my leg. All of this can take 10 minutes or 2 hours depending on how bad it is. I always have a glass of water bedside. As far as I know, I'm not dehydrated. I'm a skinny person but my diet isn't always the best. I do try to up my intake of bananas when I'm having a week of on again off again cramps.

Ok, here's a weird one.....my mom swore by it. Put a bar of soap under your flat sheet. Doesn't matter what kind. She used the small travel sized ones.

Amiee gets severe leg cramps from blood flow issues. I hear her scream as she can't usually get out of bed without help..I grab the bag of frozen peas always in the front of the freezer and throw them on her floor..get her up and she stands on the frozen peas...cramp gone in seconds.

I have that little bar of soap under my bottom sheet can"t see how it could help, but then it won't hurt, either. I also have a bottle of tonic water by my bed, and that's a great help when I get the occasional cramp.

This is a weird thing, but it does work a lot of the time. If you grab your philtrum and pinch it as hard as you can and keep pinching, it will often stop a leg cramp, but you have to do it right away before the cramp really has a hold on you. Don't let go till the leg pain is just about gone.

This is usually a sign of low potassium. Adding a banana a day and a glass of orange juice, plus drinking plenty of water, will usually stop these awful cramps. It has worked for me since I was pregnant the first time 48 years ago and first got them.

I used to frequently get calf cramps. Ever since I began using a magnesium oil spray on my legs before bed I don’t get cramps as often - I’d say they’re reduced by 90-some percent. If I do get a cramp in my calf, I flex my foot as hard as I can to help resolve it quickly.

My rheumatologist, recommended Tonic water. I used to keep a bottle by the bed and take a swig when ever they started to cramp up. She also recommended to buy sugar free tonic water, regular has quite a few calories. I did get used to the taste and actually liked it. Oh it worked for me and my sister!

I get them almost always when I drink too much red wine! A bottle of mineral water by the bed helps almost immediately.

If the cramp is a Charlie horse (a cramp in the calf) STAND on that one leg. It really does help it to stop. I've had problems with cramps in my legs, feet, hands. I keep them to a minimum by having a banana every day and trying to drink plenty of water. I'm all for trying anything that works to keep them from happening, so will be picking up a bottle of sugar free tonic water.

"If the cramp is a Charlie horse (a cramp in the calf) "

I think Charlie Horse is a generic term for any leg muscle cramp, thigh or calf.

Thanks, I thought Charlie was just for the calf. Whatever, wherever, they hurt like the Dickens.

I was a kid when I got my first very first one and didn't know what it was. We were staying at my aunt's house and I was sleeping in her high bed. I woke up suddenly from a deep sleep with the pain and thought I had fallen out of bed and broken my leg and somehow managed to get back into the bed before fully waking up!

carabubble, that's an apt description! My doctor suggested the following cocktail for leg cramps (caveat, get medical clearance, if necessary, before trying at home!)

Sometimes this occurs due to electrolyte deficiency.

Try taking 2 Tums at night (for the calcium)

Also take magnesium 500mg BID (watch for loose stools) and Vitamin B12 Sublingual 1000mcg per day

I get them frequently. I find getting up and walking to the kitchen and drinking a cold glass of water helps. A LOT! Eat a banana every day, or an avocado. But keep hydrated.

I agree keep hydrated and eat a banana. If I eat the wrong food like something starchy I get terrible cramps and then migraines totally Associated for me with a magnesium deficiency. The last one I got 3 days ago was so bad that it looked like something had gouged part of my leg out of my side of my calf. It was completely caved in and hard as a rock. It took 20 minutes for that one to go away even though I applied what usually helps me which is a poultice of Epsom salts. :/ I had eaten yams instead of sweet potatoes the day before. Sweet potatoes help yams hurt. They are very filling though. I can eat it usually in small amounts.

I'll have to try pickle juice and the homeopathic cramp treatment. Avocados don't help me and I really get tired of bananas. Because of my kidney problems I can't take excess magnesium as it causes me to have a kidney reaction.

Others have said it, but magnesium

Here’s a YouTube suggestion.

https://youtu.be/Xenoxxxn3rM

My husband has a tendency to get cramps and with in seconds of drinking a little pickle juice or eatting some mustard they are gone. Sounds gross, I know but he loves pickles and it works every time. .

Maybe post hoc ergo propter hoc?

Are you cursing at us in pig latin? Well amesay otay ouyay, adylay.

:-)