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

Magnesium Glycinate nightly. It stopped my calf and foot cramping. I have IBS and severe arthritis in my lumbar and hip areas.Yes make sure you’re drinking and moving during the day. You may need an electrolyte supplement. some prescription meds cause that and also if you have IBS or take meds for constipation. Have your Dr Check your electrolyte levels. Magnesium must be taken 4 hours from prescription meds to be safe. Also if you do a lot of sweating and are dehydrated. Electrolyte imbalances may be the issue it contributes to it. Magnesium can decrease effectiveness of your meds, look it up so space it out from your meds. It helps with sleep too. Look up it benefits.

I would get a second opinion from a nuerosurgeon too. I have had three back surgeries and the last two were really messed up from a bad surgeon. I now have tethered cord and arachnoiditis. it causes constipation and bladder retention along with the pain. and I have started having drawing up of my fingers, feet and legs and it makes me cry out during the night it's so painful. Night before last it kept me awake most of the night. it's called spacisisity and it's very painful. I really hope you don't have this from your previous back surgeries but you might want to get it checked out. I went to a nuerosurgeon a few weeks ago and he asked me if anyone had ever told me I had those things going on and no I hadn't and I'm 70 yrs old now. They can't do a release on my tethered cord because the scarring of the nerves is way to bad. So this may be my life from now on. He told me not to ever let anyone do another back surgery and if I even think about it to get a second opinion from him. I hope you get some answers soon. That's the hard part not knowing what's going on with your body.

Are you on Statins for high cholesterol? They can cause cramping and charley horses.

I get really bad cramps in my ankles at night. Magnesium and vitamin B12 seems to help me.

Hello, I also suffer from Charlie horses like you, but I have multiple spinal fractures. I know if my potassium and magnesium is low, I get them even worse. Praying for your healing.

Potassium / Magnesium. And vitamin C with vitamin D/K2.

Thank you everyone for your help. Most of it has been reassuring because you mention all the vitamins I'm taking. Some are for the neuropathy. Lots are due to
vertigo that I was getting fairly frequently. Others are for just other things. Vit D and C for bone health. I'm deficient in B12 so I just started taking that. I was taking Robaxin (muscle relaxant) but I realized that it's causing vertigo. So I'll need to call my pcp for a different one.
My second opinion for the L3-4 laminectomy is July 8 with an MGH spine neurosurgeon. It's a virtual appt.

I sometimes have muscle cramping in my calves and feet at night I also have spinal stenosis in my 3/4 lumbar vertebrae. I’m also awaiting spinal fusion surgery for the stenosis. I’m 53. I have had 4 discectomies for buldging discs in my 4/5 lumbar vertebrae spread out over many years. This is due to a congenital deformity in my 4-5 lumbar vertebrae and hips. It’s hard to know where the cramping comes from. For me I believe it happens after exercise and when I’m on my feet a lot. I think it is from not drinking enough water during the day and the medication I take disrupts balance of electrolytes. That’s just my opinion and what I’ve observed with me. I also take vitamins, I don’t take magnesium supplements because it does affect my medication. I take fish oil and calcium supplements. I also take just a normal vitamin. I try to space it out between medications so it doesn’t interfere.

I have Cervical Stenosis (C-5-6 primarily). And some less severe lower back issues. I always get charlie horses about every 3-4 months. But went through a period of every month to week. Then toe cramps almost daily. Watch out for consuming too much water, especially w/caffeine. It will flush electrolytes. Cutting AM coffee in half and keeping water consumption under 90/100 oz helped. And Gatorade on occasion. I still get them at times and poor circulation can contribute. I also have OSA and working thru some hi blood iron findings and liver enzyme. They are all inter related and can cause side effects like cramps. However, you will have to work through it yourself and make the connection as Mayo offers little to no interdisciplinary cognitive thinking to connect moving parts from multiple disciplinary lines (sleep, spine, blood, liver). It’s one of the saddest parts of modern medicine.