Charley horse cramps at night, early morning - from stenosis?

I also get cramping in the arches of both feet and I have moderate spinal stenosis in the L4-L5 area. I had a minor right side decompression surgery 10 months ago that fixed my right side pain. It worked so well that I screwed up and went to the gym after only 2 weeks and really injured the left side. I believe the cramping is absolutely related to my stenosis. I started cramping a couple of years before my diagnosis. What kind of surgeries were your 2 previous surgeries? Did you get any relief? What kind of surgery are you trying this time?

2023: hemi laminectomy right side L4-5. Worked great. I felt so much better for 5 months. Then the pain returned, slightly different. After months of complaining the surgeon told me he didn't think it was surgical but he'd order an mri anyway. The disc had collapsed. By the time I had surgery 2 months later I had herniated/ruptured tge disc. Had fusion L4-5. Now, 2 years later I'm having pain in my butt down my leg to my toes and feet. I also have peripheral neuropathy from the first surgery. The L3-4 spinal canal has closed up in a jagged fashion. Nerves are mostly trapped. Unusual presentation and the surgeon says he's seen it in only about a half a dozen times.

@lessie To figure out a spine issue, it helps to think about the mechanics of what happens within the spine when you change position from standing, seated, laying down, etc. If you bend in any direction, the spinal cord needs to shift inside the spinal canal where it floats in spinal fluid. Think of it like a rope inside a garden hose filled with water. If you bend that hose around a curve, the rope moves inside to accommodate that change. If it can't move, it gets compressed by whatever is binding it up.

Now picture how it may be different when there is stenosis, either from compression on the spinal cord from bone spur growth, enlarged ligaments or if the vertebrae are shifting because of a weakened disc. If the disc is not strong enough, the vertebrae can shift and offset like beads on a string. If your symptoms are aggravated only when laying horizontal, the effect of gravity may allow the vertebrae to offset and increase pressure on the spinal cord or the nerve roots. If your disc is collapsing, the space for nerve roots between the vertebrae gets compressed too and may impinge the nerve root as you move in different positions.

As a spine patient, you probably have a sense of how effective your surgeries have been. The surgeon can't say with absolute certainty, because he has to be careful not to over promise what he can do. I was in that position too when I had cervical surgery for spinal cord compression. It was causing pain all over my body and I knew surgery would fix it because for a while, when my physical therapist got my neck vertebrae aligned properly, it reduced my symptoms. Then a muscle spasm caused the vertebrae to shift and offset slightly which caused symptoms and difficulty walking with an uneven gait. It was back and forth with walking well or not and also pain in other parts of my body. Surgery decompressing the spinal cord resolved it all and I am pain free. I do get tightness from scar tissue that I stretch out, and as long as I maintain that, I function well. I can still get muscle spasms that can shift my neck vertebrae from bad positions like falling asleep sitting up, but stretching helps get it back where it belongs. I also use some things that I lay on to support my head that I got from my physical therapist. That helps too.

Good luck with your surgery and I hope your recovery goes well.

I've been taking 1 Nuun ( electrolyte tablet) in a water bottle daily, dinking 64 oz of water daily, progressing walking distances a little at a time, lying on my stomach and doing exercises and rising on my toes 20 times when the cramping occurs. It seems to help.

We find that tonic water with quinine helps. Just a few sips takes the cramps away. Sometimes I keep it on the bedside table so I can just take a few sips when needed.

Thank you. That was the first thing that the neurologist recommended and it worked for a few nights. Then it didn't.
I'm wondering if the cramps are related to the spinal stenosis. There was only mild stenosis on my MRI from 10/25. The cramps came sometime in the winter. The new MRI, 5/26, showed more significant stenosis, enough so that I'm facing yet another surgery.

I have the same leg and feet cramps. The latest was so painful full I held back screams. The next morning the calf of my right leg was extremely sore making walking hard. It has been over a week and it is beginning to ease up enough to make walking easier. I take magnesium. Will try potassium to see if it receives the nightly cramps.

The active ingredient in tonic water is quinine. I was drinking so much I had to potty several times. I take Hylands leg cramp pills that are just the quinine. Take 2 or 3 underTongue and by the time they dissolve, the cramp(s) will be gone. Get them on Amazon, cheap. Plus, no extra potty trips at night!

I, too, have had those paralyzing leg cramps. Not sure what causes them but I have a lot of lumbar spinal issues, including scoliosis. I have gotten good results from B12 (5000 mcg, the ones that dissolve under your tongue), potassium 99 mg, Magnesium 400 mg. That seems to have almost completely stopped them.

@bassetmom
Interesting. I take 200 mg. of potassium and 400 mg of magnesium. When they did my blood work my B12 was low. I'll add that to my many, many pills that I take twice a day.