Thank you Jim and Sandie for saying you would have hit the guy who said they were "just" Leg Cramps. My feelings exactly, but at the time I was curled up on the floor unable to move.
Al's description of my situation as being like "having a whole herd of alligators attacking my legs all at once". Yup. They just didn't want to let go.
Potassium, magnesium, water, quinine, stretching, water exercise, Epsom salt soaks, Hyland's Leg Cramp PM, bananas, dates, potatoes, and pickle juice. I'm willing to consider them all, but I've tried the Leg Cramp PM in the past and it didn't do much for me. It is a homeopathic remedy.
I used to eat a banana a day, but it never helped when I had moderate cramping. I stopped eating bananas and potatoes when I started my weight loss plan last year. They do have a high glycemic index without the benefits of high fiber. Especially if they are ripe, which is the way I like them. On Wednesday I did some reading about foods with higher potassium levels, and find that avocados have more potassium than bananas and have more fiber. I've been eating an avocado several times a week for the last couple of months just because I like them and they have been reasonably priced. But I will still start including bananas into my eating plan again.
It's the butter and gravy that make potatoes fattening, so I guess I'll include some plain steamed new potatoes. I had some last night and they were fine without any butter. My overall diet has been very high in vegetables and fruits so I don't know how adding these back in will help all that much.
I have found that sometimes tonic water helps, and sometimes it doesn't. It seems to help most when I've been hiking, so I will continue to drink it nightly when on an RV trip.
My regular doctor is on vacation and the soonest appointment I could get is next Friday. She asked me to bring in the lab results from that night, which I have gotten a copy of. As I look at them, it looks like all my results were pretty near normal. The potassium was on the low side of the normal range, and I couldn't find anything that looked like a magnesium test. The only really high number was my blood glucose level. We'll see what she says.
What I have found to try for the week is a product called "Magnesium Oil". (If you read all of the claims about this stuff it is a miracle product. I am as skeptical about it as I can be in regard to all the claims, but if it helps at all I let you all know.)
You spray it onto your skin (in my case onto my legs and feet) and the magnesium is absorbed thru the skin. I bought it at a Whole Foods. The clerk gave me a sample of it to try the first night. Actually the sample would have lasted several days, but I think it did some good relieving some small cramps I was getting in my toes, so I went and bought the product. It is rather expensive, but if it helps it will be worth it. She also told me to look up how to make it myself, which I did, and if it works I will give that a try.
So there it is. I've been OK, except for a few little twinges.
I will post about what I learn after I see the doctor next week.
