Leg cramps 🙈

[JanieBaxter]

Does anyone else suffer from leg cramps ? Is this part and parcel of pmr and or Pred?? 😏

[piglette]

I believe it is a side effect of steroids. My doctor prescribed quinine sulfate which I think is brilliant.

[JanieBaxter in reply to piglette]

Great thank you for reply 😜

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Have you tried taking magnesium supplements? Pred makes you lose more magnesium than normal through the kidneys and low magnesium is one of the most common causes of cramp. That is the first thing GPs here in mainland Europe want you do before investigating further. That said - I had cramps in hands and feet due to PMR, long before pred!

Some people do well with quinine as piglette says - but since you won't get to a doctor until the middle of next week, in the meantime you could get some magnesium from the chemist and see if it helps.

[JanieBaxter]

Will definitely try that and the tonic water for quinine - learning so much from this forum and all the friendly helpful people 👍

[polymy in reply to JanieBaxter]

Hi there,

I had awful leg cramps waking me every night. I tried the tonic water but there isn’t nearly enough in it to make any difference. Gp gave me quinine and it worked like magic. I had tried the magnesium supplement too with no success. That was pre pmr. About a year ago I decided to try without the quinine and found that I didn’t need it anymore. So in spite of pred they haven’t come back. Sh.....!

[elbik]

Magnesium tablets can cause digestive upsets, I use spray magnesium (BetterYou), it cleared the cramps and pain within 2 nights. Available online of health shops.

[BonnyQuine in reply to elbik]

Magnesium tablets certainly added to my digestive problems, so I stopped them.

I did have bad leg cramps when on higher doses of prednisolone, but found they went away as the pred dose came down. Used to have occasional cramps before GCA, too, though not so bad. Have been much more conscious of what I eat, since being on pred, so could be that some dietary deficiency has now been addressed.

[Gosingen]

I don't get leg cramps, but do get bad cramps in my fingers... so reading the comments above has been useful... I will try magnesium tablets, not so keen on the taste of quinine though.

[nymima01]

I take magnesium malate. There are so many types of magnesium on the market, but the Malate form is supposed to be good for muscles. I had terrible muscle cramps for a while until I did some reading and I was steered in the direction of magnesium malate. I have to take a bit more than the suggested dosage per day for it to be effective. It doesn’t seem to hurt however.

[kathydd]

Hi! I'm new here but have read a few posts and it sure is reassuring to hear I am not the only one suffering strange symptoms from the Prednisone or the PMR. On dose 10 and above, I got awful chest cramps. I actually thought I was having a heart attack. I had just previously been sent to a heart specialist to find out why my heart stopped beating 54 times over a period of 24 hours. After a lot of tests, it was determined that I had Polymyalgia and the thyroid meds I was on were insufficient [ my GP thinks a reading of 5 is good ]. The heart specialist upped my thyroid and prescribed Prednisone. Soon after, I started getting the chest cramps but seeing as I was seeing the heart surgeon at the time and he had just done extensive tests on my heart, which had all came back excellent, the notion was dismissed by the doctor. I got them regularly, they were fierce and lasted up to a half hour. In fact, that tight feeling lasted a few days usually. I also got foot cramps. Since I have lowered my dosage, the cramps have gone. I am currently on 5 mg Prednisone and do have pain but not totally unbearable.

Happy Christmas!