Leg cramps with Prednisone 5mg- what’s best to relieve them?

Welcome @melissa24, I never experienced leg cramps with my PMR when I was on prednisone but @terryartist, @lsjaustin, @dadcue, @hopeinal and others have mentioned having leg cramps while on prednisone and may have some suggestions to share with you.

My wife gets leg cramps frequently when she doesn't drink enough water during the day in case you haven't already tried that. Have you discussed the cramps with your doctor or rheumatologist?

Thank you for feedback. Yes pushing more fluids have to write it down to make sure getting those min 8 glasses daily.

@melissa24
I’ve found that 2 bananas per day, 450 mg of Magnesium Glycinate, and an additional 99 mg of Potassium, along with stretching during the day helped. I had severe cramps and they’ve diminished to almost non-existent.

I do drink a lot of water every day.
Water can flush out nutrients and electrolytes so I’ve found that taking the supplements works for me.

I had to research when to take them and space them between other meds and supplements I must take for everything to work as intended. You may as well.

I read and heard about Prednisone depleting minerals and indirectly causing unwanted side-effects.

Talk with your doctor(s) before adding any supplements. I did.

Best wishes.

Electrolyte drinks can help. Quinine is out of favor
so I like pickle juice for cramps. It is all about hydration.

@melissa24
My daughter suggested I get the WaterLlama app (free) to remind me to drink water! Taking prednisone& especially methotrexate I need to help my kidneys out. Sometimes it’s annoying to hear those “dings” on my phone but otherwise I do forget to drink & it’s hot here in the Midwest right now. Gotta flush out the bad stuff!

@stonewheel very helpful information. Thank you for all the details!

Very helpful information!

Being on Prednisone for GCA/PMR since April has caused not only leg cramps in my calves but severe foot & toe cramps as well Hand cramps were bad too. After talking to Dr & doing my own research, too found that drinking more water & adding a product called Nectar for electrolytes has helped a bit. They are more infrequent. Prednisone can mess up your electrolyte balance. I have also been doing stretches & gentle chair yoga. And I have to remind myself to not sit or stand too long. Magnesium glycinate at night is good. Hope this helps!

I experience terrible leg cramps, even finger cramps. I use Sifrol 1.5 which is a "restless legs" medicine usually for night time use, but this got me through the most painful & sudden thigh cramps I've ever had, (78 years old F). After 10 minutes, I knew it was working; and after 20 minutes, the cramps were gone. Lucky I was not driving a car! But the necessary precaution with Sifrol, regardless of the dose, is it will make you allergic to Penicillin in that it will collapse your kidneys! Only 4 Penicillin pills will do this. Sometimes in the box of Sifrol there will be a leaflet telling the user about this in very scientific language...that is, not simple English at all. I had to look up the language used and with the uni chemistry I picked up why it was so dangerous. But, that is really too complex for anyone to understand chemistry at that level. It involved a K and a 2? When your very life depends on knowing not to take Sifrol with Penicillin the words should be clear! Anyway, that is the facts of life. So Sifrol 1.5 will take care of those cramps! It might be wise to keep a check on your kidneys anyway, as PMR is not innocent here.
I am rather disgusted with the medical help from many sources, with exceptions of course, at my local town's hospital is where I would select to die, as it has been that troublesome at other bigger hospitals. I've had my personal baggage invaded and a doctor's pills confiscated. When I had cramps at the biggest hospital, I only got cream to put on my skin. When I needed more pillows, I got none and after 3 days, I had a sore back, and was out of there too. I found a specialist in a big citiy charging $400 just to tell you to go swimming...like back in USA, we don't tell people to piss off, we tell them to go jump in a lake! It took me 3 hours in travelling time to hear that!
So I can easily see that many PMR patients have many diverse issues getting help. Some times I wish they would just tell us how limited our options are. When hospitals are not going to effect a surgery on your heart valve for your infected blood with PMR, then seeing as many people have this genetic mRNA exposure to PMR, it would be enlightened of leadership positions to let the public know the limitations of the hospital procedures for them.