instep cramps ruining sleep

@what did Dr say about cramps?Make sure your drinking enough water especially before bed Dill pickle juice is a good reliever of cramps.

Said they come and go and pretty much he does not know. Same advice you get here on this subject.

@jimk849 Sorry I know its painful and frustrating have you explored chiropractor, accupunture maybe a Tens unit this relaxes the muscles,nerves and gives me relieve just suggestion

jimk849,
I have sporadically gotten extreme cramps in my feet, ankles, calves, and lower thighs that would continue to hurt on thru the day. They had gotten worse in the last 6 months. (I've had total knee replacements on both knees about 1 year ago too and worried about getting them during recovery - but like you I was spared that during my recovery).
I've tried the banana thing, stopped caffeine for a year at a time, increased my fluid intake, tried various methods of stretching, etc. but never found any relief.

About 6 weeks ago they got worse - every night and in a different place each time, but they would recur after getting back to sleep and even when I tried to get out of bed.
I found that after the first episode at night I got some relief by sleeping with a hot water bag on it, but it worked inconsistently.
As someone above mentioned I finally picked up a potassium supplement and have not had ANY more since I started taking them daily.

If I missed you saying you have tried that already I apologize and pray that you can find some relief.
I will pray for you as I know how having them compounded my own already untreatable lack of sleep.

Carl

Thanks Carl, I take a multivitamin that has potassium. I have started about 6 weeks ago to be really serious about stretching and I am getting good results so far. I stretch my hamstrings quads calves and ankles on stairs everyday and I go to the gym 3 days a week where I do 40 mins cardio some strength training and before I leave I have discovered a little Precor stretching machine. It has 8 different stretches and I spend about twenty minutes slowly stretching top to bottom. It's like my reward for doing a hard workout. Good luck to you and thanks for your concern and prayers.

@jimk849 I never heard of this machine so I googled it to check it out and see if I recognized it as being something that my health club’s gym has, but I don’t recognize it unfortunately. It look like it might be a good thing for older people who are working out, and there are many of us at my gym. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. I will look for it specifically the next time I go to the gym.
JK

Hi @lionss, have you tried Acupuncture with a Tens unit? I'm going next week for low back pain and she is a Dr. that does Acupuncture and is going to use a Tens with the needles. I'm a little nervous but I need some relief it's so painful! I go to pain management I get Oxycodone and have been on a few different meds but they do not work. Thank you!

@ancopau1998
I have done both I did get relieve from acupuncture then used tens .You don't feel the needles they are so thin Good luck back pain is awful one other thing to do is lower back exercises when you can ,don't push it stoop and rest when it hurts. I also wear a lumbar brace which helps me but listen to your body glad you have a Dr to help you .Keep me posted .What your doing is 😃

Have you tried a warm water Epsom salt foot bath in the evening, applying a warming foot lotion to the instep and then wearing socks to sleep? With no obvious cause, try the most obvious and most benign treatment first. Also limit your dietary sugar, salt, caffeine, chocolate, alcohol intake. A balanced calcium, magnesium supplement (no mega doses) also helps ease muscular cramps body-wide.

Hi @lioness, thanks for your message! I sure hope this helps! What kind of back brace do you use? I was thinking of the kind that wraps around you and you Velcro it together?? Also where did you get the brace? Do you still go for Acupuncture? Well thanks for being so kind! I'll let you know how it goes first time next week.