Anyone have night time leg cramps (calves/ankles) please?

Good evening Jacqueline

I am no expert but sounds like PMR.   If yes your Mum needs 20 mg Prednisolone & usually this helps in a few hours.  I had all these symptoms & it was hell for 5 months. As soon as I started taking prednisone I felt better w/in 3 hours.   

The experts will come along and give best advice & info.  Best of luck to you & your Mum.  

This forum is PMR salvation. 

Whitefish.  

Lucky mum , to have you looking after her!!!

my advise would be to get her properly diagnosed, sounds like pmr, does not it!!, but magnesium tablets and plenty of fluids in the meantime, and do her calf stretches before going to bed!!!! Might do her some good... keep us posted..😉🌻succes

Yes, seems like prednisone will help her a lot - it took a few days for me rather than the hours other describe to get relief. Also recommend magnesium supplements. I get cramps in my calves and jaw when I miss taking those.

That so sounds like typical PMR symptoms. It would be worth mentioning it to your mother’s GP so that he can check her inflammation levels with a blood test. He may try to test her response to a short dose of steroids which seems the best test in the end. If the pains respond then it’s a question of how big a dosage she needs for how long. The good news is that if it’s PMR the steroid treatment works and will give her back some quality of life, however it is a long haul as the steroids help with symptoms but don’t deal with the cause - it’s an auto immune disease and the hope is that it ‘burns’ itself out over a period of years. There is loads of information and support on this site so once you have a diagnosis, and if it’s PMR, do come back. The very best of luck. Your mother sounds terrific!

She does sound like a textbook case and if her blood tests show raised inflammatory markers I'd be very surprised if your diagnosis is not correct. If so she should see a very marked improvement when she takes Prednisolone. Then it's a case of managing the reductions and there is plenty of advice and experience on here to help iron out the inevitable glitches.

I expect the pain is making er feel depressed. I remember that feeling very well and the euphoria when the steroids relieved the pain within hours. ( Not the same time scale fro everyone but certainly within a week. )

Hope there is someone nearby to keep an eye on her, however much she might protest; the diabetes and food is a worry.

Best wishes. Let us know how she gets on. Ask as many questions as you like on here. Someone(s) always answers and it's good not to feel alone.

i would try magnesium supplements for the night cramps - that is the usual first-line approach here in mainland Europe if you ask the doctor. They will do nothing until you have tried supplements - which are available in every supermarket!

The cramps MAY be part of the PMR, I used to get cramp in my feet, and in that case it may need the PMR treated to totlly get rid of the cramp. Certainly what you describe is very PMR-ish - and it isn't unlikely given the incidence rises with increasing age and by 80 many people will already have had or have PMR. 

Just in case - up to 20% of patients with PMR do NOT have raised blood markers so if that is the case, don't let the GP just write it of with "at your age what do you expect?". Mine tried that when I was 51! 

I have every sympathy with her lack of interest in cooking - I had PMR for 5 years without treatment and had I not had to feed a totally handless OH I wouldn't have bothered! As it is, I have totally got out of the way of making anything complicated - if it has more than 4 ingredients I'm not interested and forget anything needing things to be neatly chopped...

Hi Jaqueline, sorry to read about your Mum. Her symptoms are exactly what mine where a year ago, when diagnosed with PMR. The first Pred of 20mg was like a miracle pill!!!! Hopefully she will have the same experience. But that's not why I'm replying, I want to tell you and anyone else reading this how I have got rid of leg (or anywhere else) cramps. TONIC WATER! I know you said she doesn't like it, but if she knew it would relieve her from the dreaded cramping, maybe she would try again. I take everyday 10 oz. of it and it's kept me free from cramps. Before this, I had tried all the minerals, magnesium, zinc, potassium, even vinegar (with mothering) to no avail. But the tonic water is incredible. If I forget to take it I get the stirrings of cramp in the night to remind me and believe me I don't forget the next day. It is so awful the pain of cramps, before taking Tonic Water I would wake up in the night and walk around, wiggle, stretch, it distrurbed my sleep so much. I have been taking this for about four months now with great success. Hope his helps anyone suffering from cramps and that they get the relief I have enjoyed! 

I have bad night cramps, it does seem to be a family problem though. My GP has prescribed quinine sulfate which is absolutely brilliant although I know they are not so happy giving out quinine nowadays. Quinine is in tonic water which she could try, but of course a lot less than the quinine sulfate tablets and did not really help that well in my case.