Cramps (not the female kind). Please help.

[Shari]

I've always had leg cramps, especially at night or after long exercise. Hoovers, big time.

For the past couple months, tho, I have been having cramps all over. Like getting on my horse, my hip muscles will cramp, and I have to stand in my saddle or lean off one side so it will stop. A couple times while actually running a pattern, it happened. When I was sitting in the saddle putting on my gun belt, my back, just above the waist of my jeans, on the left cramped up. One side or the other will do it.

But the past week, its gotten awful. Spinning my bra around to put it on tonight, and my shoulders cramped. My neck muscles on one side or the other. The muscles across my ribs. I've upped my calcium/magnesium supplements, but its not helping at all. Last night, I barely slept for all of them.

Any idea what is causing this? Or what I can do to help? Do I need to go see the doctor?

 

[gcvmom]

What about postassium? I thought that was what helped prevent muscle cramps? Are you eating enough bananas? And yes, I'd go get it checked out.

 

[Shari]

I eat bananas all the time, for just this reason.

 

[mom_to_3]

Another possibility is thyroid. I know that when I am hypothyroid, I will have charlie horse cramps all over my body. It's very painful!

 

[Hound dog]

You need to be checked out by the doctor. Something is causing this muscle cramping and it may not be related to a deficit in vitamins or minerals, especially if they don't seem to be helping and they're getting worse. Be careful in increasing a dose of calcium/magnesium for any reason as too much can also cause severe muscle cramping. Same for potassium. Most people taking such supplements under a docs care have monthly blood tests to check blood levels for this sort of thing.

Hugs

 

[HaoZi]

Definitely get to the doctor. There are so many other reasons this can happen and you really need to know what's going on. Would be really bad if it happened while you're driving, and since it seems to be increasing fast see if you can get someone else to do the driving.

 

[susiestar]

Get to the doctor. It could be a sign of MANY things from a vitamin or mineral problem to nerves getting pinched to arthritis/fibromyalgia/a chronic pain symdrome/autoimmune disease/?????. It literally could be any of many, many, many things, depending on what other symptoms you also have (and may not even be thinking of as symptoms). Keep a diary of when this happens, where, what you are doing, what you have eaten, how much you slept the night before, daily activity level and the amt of stress you are in that day. The stress is a totally subjective thing, but be sure to include Wee's school issues, cgfg issues, husband issues, broom factory issues, etc... Maybe use one of those smiley face systems that they use for pain rating scales?

Keep this diary until you find a treatment that works. Don't stop when they give you a diagnosis or medication, keep it up until you are SURE they have all the causes and that it has stopped.