Cramps - not like ordinary cramps

[Carol]

Does anyone else get cramps - they are not really painful just a drawing up of the muscles which I then have to stretch out. Somewhere I read that magnesium was needed to counter the drop in Potassium. I remember the first time I had IV cyclophosamide they tested my potassium and said it needed a potassium drink but this hasn't been tested on subsequest occasions. Can anyone give me advice?
Regards Carol

[Sangye]

I've gotten them quite severely and no one's given me a good answer. I got them a lot of pred. Sometimes they were just awful muscle cramps, sometimes many muscles at once, and sometimes a kind of contracture. Like a cramp in a tendon. I have to actually pull the area straight to undo it. Very painful and the whole tendon becomes hardened while it's happening. They're happening again lately and I'm not on pred.

[crackers]

i've suffered badly at times with cramp.i've had it everywhere neck,chest, legs,feet. i seem to have periods when it is every day then it just stops.i am on pred but the attacks don't seem related to any change in meds.never taken any meds for it just suffer in silence.
john.

[Sangye]

Sometimes I just step back from all our lists and think, "Aren't we just so strange?" No one seems to know what the heck is going on with us half the time!

[andrew]

Sometimes I just step back from all our lists and think, "Aren't we just so strange?" No one seems to know what the heck is going on with us half the time!

That's what makes us so darned interesting

I get horrible muscle pain in my shoulders sometimes. It's a similar pain to dislocating the socket. Sometimes it can make me almost pass out. Some foot cramps as well but they are easy to deal with. I think the issues with the shoulders come from the Pred but I can't remember where I read that (if I'm not dreaming it).

[Awells]

Cramps....I'm glad I saw this....I thought it was just me. This is one of my indicators to go home on the 2 days a week I go into the office. Mine usually starts with my pointer toe...well the toe next to my big toe...you know what I mean...it cramps right up tight....once it starts others follow suit....so when that one starts I start packing up my laptop.

-Adam.

[hotnorm]

leg cramps arm cramps i've had them while on the first 2 months of meds but they subsided slowly after that , i did plenty of walking every day i started with baby steps and walked further the next day and so on, i think a little bit of exercise is a good way of getting back on track , but don't overdo it just follow your common sense

[Carol]

I decided to try magnesium supplements for my cramps and I'm sure they've helped. Last visit to rheumy he told me that as well as Fosamax(AA) he wanted me to take a calcium tablet each day.The Caltrate I chose has magnesium added to it so I don't take the specific magnesium supplement anymore. He thought the magnesium is OK for Weggies.
regards
Carol

[Sangye]

I'm sure you already know all this, but just in case : Don't take magnesium near your other oral meds-- either blocks them or absorbs them. Magnesium is a natural relaxant, so it's great to take at bedtime. Too much can cause diarrhea.

[Doug]

I decided to try magnesium supplements for my cramps and I'm sure they've helped. Last visit to rheumy he told me that as well as Fosamax(AA) he wanted me to take a calcium tablet each day.The Caltrate I chose has magnesium added to it so I don't take the specific magnesium supplement anymore. He thought the magnesium is OK for Weggies.
regards
Carol

I'll pass that by my doctor. Even though I'm off most medications now, certainly those most implicated ones in this cramp business, I still get miserable, long lasting ones. Mostly they are in my feet and calves, now. I can stand (slowly!) on the afflicted side and work it out, but I used to have deep muscle ones in my thighs that almost made me pass out! I used to have hand cramps that were nearly that intense, but I could work them out with the opposite hand. I always forgot to bring these up with my doctor, though I did hit the Internet. Carol's doctor pretty much follows what I understood to help them.