Leg Cramps...

[babybump08]

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to prevent leg cramps?

I have permanemt sciatic nerve damage in my left leg and have a feeling these cramps are related to that. I only get them in my left leg & have been getting them since I hurt my back in 2006.

Before getting pregnant I'd get them maybe once or twice a week. And they were so severe I'd wake up screaming. It would only happen once during the night but the following day I wouldn't be able to walk properly (my calf would be rock hard).

For the past 3 weeks they have been increasing in frequency & severity :banghead:. I'm now getting them 4 - 5 nights a week and a lot more throughout the night (last night I had 13). Tonight, so far, I've had 4 which is why I am up right now I'm trying to let DH get some sleep as he has to work tomorrow... or should I say today.

Everyday I do stretches, light walking & strengthening exercises but they don't seem to be helping. Has anyone got any other suggestions on what else I could do to prevent them?

TIA :xmas:

[chookat]

have you thought of elevating your leg,s i used to put a couple of pillows under my feet at night which at the time did help.

[brooke88(mum2b09)]

Sounds alot like me!
I have nerve damage to my T3 and T4 disc from an accident a few years ago, except I get sciatica in my right leg.
I'm now 18 weeks pregnant and for the last 5 weeks the cramps have increased and are alot more painful. My back hurts the worst though.
My GP suggested heading to the heated pool atleast 3 times a week and just walking the length of the pool for an hour.
I always feel buggered and by the end of it my belly hurts and I feel really heavy, no idea why.... But that being said I have the best sleep and don't wake up to any cramps whatsoever.

[splish n splash]

tonic water in the late arvo.

[Melbaby07]

Potassium and magnesium are meant to help leg cramps.
They recommend eating bananas and taking Vit supplements.

If you have nerve damage I would talk to a physio for professional help. I went to the chiro for bad SPD in prgenancy and it really helped.

My leg cramps during pregnancy were excruciating and nothing really helped much. My cramps were so bad my legs hurt the next day! If it helps, I had a natural labour and it hurt about as bad as my leg cramps - giving birth will be a breeze now, lol :)

Edited to add: Be careful about drinking tonic water in pregnancy (http://www.bfr.bund.de/cd/6393). Large amounts (1 ltr) a day causes tremors in newborn babies and they're not sure what amount is safe on their developing nervous systems. It contains quinine - which has been linked to some issues for pregnant women.

[wocket]

have a teaspoon of powdered staminade mixed in with your last glass of water for the night before bed. i was suffering from these as well, until i tried this one.

[NonnyMouse]

You could try the old trick of putting cork under your legs while you sleep... many people swear by it! Or, give your calves a long massage right before bed. I've heard salt intake can be relatd to leg cramps, but I'm not sure if that was for too much, or too little.

Might be worth a trip to your GP or naturopath and don't leave there until you have a plan of attack.

[becalotsaeggs]

ewe! I remember them. Every pregnancy jumping up in the middle of the night. The next day your calf muscle is so pulled and sore. I still get foot cramps nearly every night. some people say its a lack of salt. I do believe that health food stores can help out. There are tissue salts and things you can take.

[babybump08]

Elevating my left leg hurts like hell, it stretches the sciatic nerve out. If I sleep with my knee bent with a pillow under my calf it doesn't stop the cramps.

Can I take more magnesium & potassium safely during pregnancy? I'm currently taking Elevit which has it in it.

My nerve damage stems from an injury to my L5/S1 disc (which also has severe degeneration). I have limited sensation in my lower left leg & foot (If I stand on a piece of glass I don't realise until I see the blood), reduced movement, constant pain in the back of my leg between my calve & achilles region & heel pain that shoots up my leg. My back hurts alot from the injury, as well as the degeneration. It's still healing from the 2 bouts of surgery I've had to get the disc off the nerve so I'm sure the scar tissue isn't helping either. I can handle the back pain it's the leg pain that causes me the most grief.

Annonymouse do you mean a cork from a wine bottle?

As for tonic water.... that will be a last resort, I can't stand the stuff.

What's staminade?

GP has no idea what to do as I can't take any medication for it as there are none that are category A. She's recommended talking to my Orthopedic surgeon so I am going to try to get an appointment tomorrow, I don't like my chances as I know he's going away shortly.

Do I need a referal to a physio or can I just make an appointment?

[tales]

Generally I think you need referrals if you want to claim them on medicare. If you're desperate or don't care about rebates, you can probably make an appointment any time. Perhaps, if you're booked into a hospital for the birth, see if you can make an appointment with one of the hospital physios. I know at mine there are a lot who are trained in pregnancy related diagnosis and treatment and run classes.

[NonnyMouse]

E
Annonymouse do you mean a cork from a wine bottle?



From what I've read, wine bottle corks are most common, but you could also get a small pack of the cork floor tiles and lay a few under the sheets at the foot of your bed. Let me know if you try this, because I've told a few people about it and I'm really keen to see if it actually works :)

[Tey]

One of the Feb mums said that leg cramps are caused by lack of pottassium and magnesium. She suggested to me when I got them, to have a glass of milk and a banana before bed. That's for leg cramps though, not sciatic pain.

[babybump08]

The banana & milk before bed doesn't work, I've been doing this for a few months now but not for the cramping. The banana stops me from waking up hungry in the middle of the night & raiding the fridge :laughing:. And the milk stops the reflux I keep getting at night.

These are definately leg cramps not sciatic pain (I have that to but that's a different type of pain).

If it was a lack of potassium & magnesium causing the leg cramps wouldn't I have it in both legs?

I saw my ob today & she's worried about the cramps as they're keeping me up all night (I look like I have 2 black eyes from lack of sleep). So she's sending me off to the orthopedic surgeon to see what he can do, I'm seeing him on Friday morning. I'm counting my lucky stars I was able to get an appointment that quickly.

Think I might go see if I can get one of those cork tile thingees tomorrow. No point opening a bottle of wine I can't drink!

[babybump08]

I just got back from my orthopedic surgeon's and it is definately my back injury causing the cramping. He's told me not to take extra potassium & magnesium as that is definately not the cause. He's prescribed Vallium :eek: & told me to take it until a week before the birth as this should prevent bub's having withdrawl symptoms. I've just rang my OB to get her opinion on taking the Vallium before I get the script filled, she's with a patient so I'm just waiting for her to call me back.

He's (the os) has taken out all gentle excercises + reduced the amount of walking I'm allowed to do in a day to see if this helps. I'm going to go crazy if I'm house bound for the next 3 + weeks. I have so much to do and DH can't do it for me.

[CheekyChicken]

I'd be really, really cautious about taking the valium, it is not good for the baby (can cause floppy baby), it is never a long term solution to anything- pregnant or not you should never take it long term as it can be habit forming and you can have withdrawals. Once or twice months before the bubs is born won't hurt according to my middy but that wouldn't solve your cramping problems.

I came on this thread as I was going to ask for solutions to the same issue. NO WAY, no matter how bad it got would I take valium every day for weeks/months! Is there no other muscle relaxant, anti inflammatory anything that might be safer than valium? Maybe you could try hotpacks or ice packs or deep heat or something else first. I'm glad you're waiting for your OB's opinion on the Valium.

[maybe1more]

Potassium and magnesium are meant to help leg cramps.
.
:iagree:i had shocking leg cramp thru my pregancy, (one ones that bolt you out of bed and your screaming in pain)

Once i discoved these tablets ohhhh i was such a relive :cloud9: but it i missed taking them for two nights in a row i knew about it :eek:

[AM]

wow VALIUM!!! Pretty full on.

Magnesium works by aiding as a muscle relaxant, so it isn't the cause, (deficiency i mean) it simply works on the symptoms when you get them. I swear by it myself...

I find it definitely works best if you only use it when you actually get the pain.

All the best :)

[Nan]

I agree with AM in that it only treated the pain, not the cause.

Magnesium deficiency doesn't give you cramps. The root cause is a calcium deficiency. Not enough calcium causes the cramps. Get yourself a good calcium & magnesium tablet because they work in tandem with each other. One to treat the cause and the other the symptom.

You may be taking vitamins but the fact you are getting the leg cramps means you are not absorbing enough of them. Just because we take lots doesn't mean our bodies use them. To be absorbed, calcium needs the right acidic environment in your stomach amongst other things. It has to be dissolved in the stomach acid before it can be absorbed and used. Also, you need adequate vitamin D levels to absorb your optimum intake which is 2,000mg per day for pg women!! Just taking a supplement with for example, 1000mg in it doesn't mean your body will absorb all 1000mg.

Good luck! :fingerscrossed: They suck don't they? :hugs: Oh, also try pilates to strengthen your back. I had the most debilitating sciatic pain (I couldn't even drive some days coz putting my foot down on the accelerator was pure agony) with my DD. I took up pilates and had no pain whatsoever with DS.

[babybump08]

NO WAY, no matter how bad it got would I take valium every day for weeks/months! Is there no other muscle relaxant, anti inflammatory anything that might be safer than valium? Maybe you could try hotpacks or ice packs or deep heat or something else first. I'm glad you're waiting for your OB's opinion on the Valium.

I already use hotpacks and I'm allergic to non-steriodal anti-inflammatories which rules out neurofen, deep heat, voltaron (sp?) etc. I'm not keen on taking valium at all (pregnant or not) so I wouldn't be taking it daily for the next 3 weeks no matter what the OB says.

AM - Is it safe to take magnesium tablets aswell as Elevit? Elevit contains 100mg per tablet.

Maybe1more - "ones that bolt you out of bed and your screaming in pain" - Yep that's them but they are only ever in my left leg. I had 24 of them last night from 10.15pm till 6.30am.

Nan - My orthopedic surgeon confirmed this morning that the cramps are being caused by my back injury and not any form of mineral deficency. Pilates is what I was doing up until this morning, as well as walking. The same doctor has just told me to stop all exercises except my transverse abdominal & pelvic floor exercises as he believes these may be making the cramping worse.

I think I will exhaust all other options before touching the Valium. I've just told DH I'm not doing anything this weekend and I'll see if by not walking, exercising & shopping if the cramps reduce.

Annonymouse - The cork tiles don't work but seeing as my cramps aren't the normal run of the mill leg cramps it's not a surprise.

[AM]

RDI for magnesium seems to vary from source to source, but is around 300mg or so, if you are getting 100mg/day from your Elevit, I couldn't see that popping an extra mg tab when your legs actually do play up (as opposed to taking more EVERY day) could do you any harm...

I just read somewhere that you should never take more than 350mg magnesium as a supplement per day, so you are well within that.

But of course it would be a great idea to run it past a naturopath or someone if possible, you can sometimes talk to them in a health shop.

Yep - Nan...the ones I take are Cal/Mag (Calverv)

[maybe1more]

Maybe1more - "ones that bolt you out of bed and your screaming in pain" - Yep that's them but they are only ever in my left leg. I had 24 of them last night from 10.15pm till 6.30am.

.
OMG 24 of them:eek: that is full on!!! the most i ever had was 7 in one night!!! I can see why your doctor wanted to give you vailum then. Just thinking about it reminds me how shocking they were. You poor chicken, werid how its only in your left leg. I have siatica pain on my right hand side yet i still got the cramps in both legs, and sometimes at the same time :crying:.
I truley hope this gets better for you. :hugs:

[babybump08]

Well I've heard back from my OB and she has said absolutely no way am I to take Valium. She has rung my Orthopedic Surgeon and he's told her that there is nothing else I can take and he is recommending that my c-section be brought forward if the pain increases anymore.

They are both worried about my pain levels & the fact that I'm not sleeping. So my OB wants to discuss the possibility of bringing my c-section forward. I have to say the thought of bringing it forward scares me.

Thank you all for your advice I do appreciate it, I will definately know what to do if the cramps ever start in the other leg.