Help with getting started. Leg Cramps?

I have experienced direct correlation between red wine and leg cramps.
I am sitting here at 10:30 PM looking for confirmation of my observation.

I drunk 4 glasses of low cost red wine and have cramps in both legs.

I agree with related postings. For me the red wine is the cause, from number of incidents.

Andy.

Since I frequently enter the Matrix,perhaps I will choose a multi-legged avatar while there and then imbibe a larger than two-glass quantity of red wine-to see whether it will affect any extra limbs, of course.If so,I will report the symptoms to you all- it should be a novel evening anyway- That way, the rest of you multi-legged creatures- and I know you are out there!- will know what to expect. Since I do not snorkel while using my Quattro, I will take your sage advice on how your adventures in trying to breathe it via your humidifier work out- I wish you well!
~Trinity

I used to routinely get night-time hamstring cramps (and occasionally the arch of my foot), but haven't had any the last several weeks that I have been on CPAP. So I feel your pain, but it's gotten better for me - not worse.

Tonic water has quinine, which is good for cramping. So perhaps a gin and tonic should replace any red wine drinking.

I had my first leg cramp in years when I was doing the sleep study. I had cramps a few times after that after starting on the hose. Back before treatment, I would be awake so much that I could feel a cramp coming on and move to avoid it. I would also be getting up so often (every 90 minutes) that I never stayed in one place long enough for a cramp to get started. Once I started being busy sleeping at night, I found that I wasn't aware of when the cramps would get started, so I didn't notice them until they were really bad and woke me up. And due to being asleep, I wasn't getting up and moving around all the time, so the cramps had time to get started. This tailed off for me after about 3 weeks, and I haven't had a cramp again in a few months.

I also woke up a few times with one arm so deep in sleep from me laying my head on it that I thought my arm was dead. Each time, it took an hour or so for the feeling to come back. I have learned not to put my arm under my head before I fall asleep. Duh.

For me, treatment is learning how to go to bed and sleep all over again. This has been one problem after another, but with the help of the folks here, I have been able to find solutions for each of the problems so far.

-john-

Waaal, just peeped in here to sympathize & was tickled to see it was a thread we had going back in 2005.
After reading it I was so re-amused I nearly sprayed my glass of Margaret River Shiraz all over the keyboard.
Anyway - we are in 2009 - self spent last night with a particularly bad bout of cramps - but being 4 years later can add lots of additional research & comments on the matter.

1) After original advice I tried magnesium tablets & in general they really do work perhaps 98% of the time
2) Now attribute the onset of the cramps to all the exercise was doing back then & more recently having taken up cycling in a big way. Since cycling to work & back home each day, the cramps are expected, but I do take magnesium (when I remember). Have recently lost a ton of weight (due to walking & cycling) and perhaps need to introduce a regime of leg exercise once having cycled home (+ take a mandatory magnesium tablet).
3) Switched from Merlot to Shiraz as the preferred imbibe

DSM

DSM,
I for one, could not sleep this evening - or did I sleep, I recall thinking the night was so clear - I could see a very long distance away. I noticed a man in his home, he was seated near a window, he rubbed at his leg then placed the glass he was holding on the table. He absently rubbed at his leg again. His eyes closed & he appeared to relax. He had such a pleasant look on his face, I hoped he was enjoying a sweet dream . . . . . . . I wonder what he dreamt? . . .A dream takes only a moment - do he go far . . .

a friend who couldn't sleep and accidently stepped back into the year 2005.

Tart Cherries WILL solve the gout problem: http://altmedicine.about.com/od/complet ... cherry.htm Aside from the wine...look at the ALCOHOL intake late at night. Totally restricts the capillaries! Two suppliments you can take that will probably really help: http://www.wonderlabs.com/itemleft.php?itemnum=5781 and http://www.wonderlabs.com/itemleft.php?itemnum=6632 They have worked WONDERS for me!

this is my 3 rd week of using cpap and i have started having leg cramps, have never had leg cramps before so this is something new for me. naturally i have placed the blame on cpap since i never was bothered with this problem before the cpap.
did some research and found if i take magneisum it helps but what causes leg cramps when you first go on cpap ?
anyone got any ideas ?

Might be better to talk with your GP than to listen to me. I bet you already know this. If you have a leg cramp, stand up, nearly always stops. While I understand that the problem is a relationship between the minerals, calcium, potassium, magnesium, it might be better to try to ask your pharmacist about using calcium citrate maleate in place of just tums and why.

Giving up the red wine might not be a good idea. If you are not turning into a lush, (judgement is like you are willing to leave the last glass and a half in the bottle for the next night), then red wine has some good benefits for your heart and health, (as I am sure you know).

Someone said something about the arch, which sounds like Plantar Fasciitis, which can be awesomely painful. Some say to use orthotics which will narrow the heel of the foot and change how the person stands, and is probably a good start. The real problem is that there is a tear of the fascia in the arch. I have been told it can nearly heal up over night, then we stand up, we tear it open again. (When we sleep our toes tend to point away from our head, where the arch is contracted. Before one gets up, stretch the toe back towards your head and slowly stretch the area in the arch, then stand up on a thick piece of foam. One can brace up the arch, arch supports, which can help some with the daytime pain, but will not cure this issue. Once can help reduce the inflammation by rolling a cold can of coke with ones bare foot. I used to go out and stand in the snow. Let me tell you, when the arch area hurts that bad, the snow is not painful. Aspirin can be counter productive, in that sometimes the tear bleeds, and aspirin makes the bleeding easier. A lot of us take aspirin for potential heart issues, which is more important. Other NSAID's have heart issues. As I am a Vioxx survivor, I can not take those, and would not recommend them to anyone who is older, or diabetic. but of course use your own judgement.

Basketball players and runners can have Plantar Fasciitis which is like a plague. Some use braces which keep the toes pointed straight up at night when they sleep. Frank Layden, formerly head coach and later GM of Utah Jazz said that whatever one does, it seems to take a year to heal.

Talking to a GP is better than listening to me, they may have knowledge of a better solution.