I was diagnosed 10 days ago with polymyalgia and wondered if leg cramps during the night Is linked to the condition? I waken most nights in excruciating pain and terrified that my leg may have s blood clot that is going to explode. It frightens me when I feel it approaching. Any advice will be helpful x
before I had pmr I never had leg cramps. Now, I get them occasionally in bed. I believe that this is one of many side effects of either the pmr or pred. From all I have read on this site at least we find out what is part of these two things and we are not alone. Good luck
yup, me too,
just calf muscles. I hop (more a sort of rolling, stumbling, falling motion) out of bed to stand, also lean forward a bit, which is also painful but keeps the muscles stretched and eventually subsides. Then back to bed.
I got leg cramps quite often and my GP gave me quinine sulphate tablets, which work incredibly well for me. Now I have cut down a bit I don't seem to get the cramp so often.
Hi Hazel,
I get cramps in my calves and also my feet. When I do, I take magnesium but I hear Quinine also works. I chose the magnesium because it also helps with Vit D absorption.
Hope you find the right solution soon😊.
Diana🌸
Yes quinine helps and even soda water with quinine. However you can not take either one if you are on blood thinner!!!
Fortunately my super severe leg cramps have not come back since I was on prednisone. One thing that helps is making sure there is no pressure on your feet. You should stuff a pillow or two under the covers.
I think it is tonic water that has quinine in it.
I take, and have taken, 100 mg of magnesium daily to avoid foot and leg cramps pre and post receiving the diagnosis of PMR a year ago. My magnesium levels are checked regularly are always in the normal range. Bottom line...added magnesium has not affected my magnesium levels and definitely stops the cramping. I believe the body expels what magnesium it doesn't need.
The impact of magnesium was proven when I stopped taking it when first put on prednisone. Within a month the occasional cramps in my feet and calves were back, and I started getting crippling hand cramps. I went back on the magnesium and the cramping disappeared within a week
Extra magnesium....500 mg a day helps me.
I suffered under leg cramps, too
Since I have had two blood clots in my legs, and severe morning cramps, I can say the morning cramps are much much worse. The first time I had a blood clot in my legs, it felt like intermittent bee stings. Odd. My leg was slightly red just on the shins. Went in and it was a gigantic clot from the top of my leg to my ankle. 2nd time it hardly hurt at all, but just enough to make me suspicious. Both occurred after surgery, but they have put me on warfarin for life anyway. In contrast the morning leg cramps are excruciating for at least 15 minutes. The hardest part is that I wake up needing a trip to the potty and find I don't dare move an inch. But have had no morning cramps since pred.
Yes it was tonic water I was thinking of. It has very little quinine in it compared to the tablets, but enough to really mess up the monitoring test for blood thinner called the INR. I like tonic water too- reminds me of taking malaria pills in the South Pacific where we lived long ago. My sister can't stand the stuff.
Since developing PMR about a year ago, I've been suffering from nasty foot and lower leg cramps, mainly at night and when I'm swimming. I don't know if it's to do with the PMR or the medication, but it seems to be worse when I've walked or exercised more during the day. I'll give the magnesium a try, to see if it helps.
Taking pred increases the amount of magnesium your body excretes. In some people that is enough to cause the cramps. In most of mainland Europe if you go to your GP complaining of leg cramps the first thing they ask is "Have you tried magnesium?" - and you can buy them in every supermarket. Only if that doesn't work do they look for other causes.
If your calcium level is low that can also cause similar problems so if the magnesium tablets don't help ask your GP to do a set of bloods which they should be doing every couple of months anyway. And by the way, your blood magnesium level may be OK, just the muscles are in short supply.
I hink it's fairly common. I wake up every morning and when I move my
feet just a little they cramp up. Fortunately I can get them out by just
standing and sort of forcing my feet into normal position. I don't know
any solutions except to stand and try to walk them out......
I get masses of feet cramps now, always whipping off my shoes and stretching me feet on a cold floor!!!! Eileen, must increase the G&T's for the quinnine in the tonic! Maybe I would be better takingmagnesium LOL
Wouldn't that make them T&Gs?
My husband uses soluble tablets - maybe that is the new drink of the month: G&M ;-)