Night-time leg cramps, calcium, high blood pressure

I am thrilled that it worked - works for me and not my wife - go figure

I was woken up with a burgeoning calf cramp last night and the upper lip accu-pressure nipped it in the bud. This is a valuable lesson for me!

3 Likes

I’ll have to try that lip thing sometime! For about a decade I was plagued by toe cramps (they no longer happen, for whatever reason). I tried all kinds of remedies, mostly hocus-pocus, but a nurse friend suggested drinking a teaspoon or two of apple cider vinegar in water. It brought instant relief! YMMV

I’m seeing a naturopath now and she suggested I take a teaspoon of straight apple cider vinegar whenever I feel stomach heartburn. As counterintuitive as that may seem, it has worked well for me. The heartburn has markedly lessened and my GERD symptoms have stopped. I stopped taking Nexium two months ago.

When I first started using apple cider vinegar, I took it once or twice per day. Now I only need it once or twice per week. It seems I needed to increase the acidity of my stomach to calm it. This amazes me.

There is also some evidence that taking cider vinegar before a meal modulates the post-meal spike. Maybe it should form a regular part of my diet!

Terry, since you mention blood pressure medication, note that many blood pressure medications are diuretics and will tend to dehydrate you. HCTZ is an example but there are many others that have the same action. And the dehydration messes up your electrolytes and results in leg cramps.

Definitely report the cramp symptoms to your doctor and he may be able to give advice or tweak your blood pressure medications. For example instead of HCTZ you may be able to just take an ACE/ARB inhibitor and these do not tend to have this side effect.

I myself am taking Lisinopril/HCTZ which combines an ACE inhibitor and a diuretic. My doc’s advice is just to stay better hydrated! (My wife tells me that all the time too!)

I recently asked my doctor to change my high blood pressure med prescription from an ARB (Angiotension Receptor Blocker, Benecar) + diuretic to the ARB alone. I didn’t think the diuretic component was good for me.

It remains my goal to eliminate my blood pressure med and restore my blood pressure to normal healthy numbers. It’s a work in progress.

Out of the many lifestyle changes I’ve made in the last few months, drinking more water has been the most challenging to implement.

It’s like those “One crazy trick…” clickbait things. But hey, if it really works… maybe it’s time to revisit the cinnamon cure as well?

1 Like