Remedy for Nighttime Leg Cramps

[Rosie]

Lots of us have problems with nighttime leg and foot cramps. I periodically have them, and have tried all of the remedies posted here and elsewhere, including magnesium supplements, electrolytes like potassium, bananas, good hydration, stretching, quinine tonic water, no alcohol, and exercise. But I would still have problems many nights, especially toward morning. The body wants to stretch when waking up, and whenever I did that, a cramp would soon drive me out of bed.

Last month I had my annual checkup, this time with the Physician's Assistant instead of the doctor. When he asked if I had any issues, I jokingly said no, unless he had some sort of remedy that I hadn't tried yet for nighttime leg cramps. I was expecting him to talk about drugs, but instead he said "Have you tried a bar of soap between your sheets?" I laughed, but he told me that a number of his patients swear by it, and that I should google it and find out more.

I had never heard of this, so I checked it out online and sure enough, there is a fair amount of information available. I figured, "What the heck, can't hurt and might help", so I bought some Irish Spring soap because several people had said it worked for them, and put a bar in my bed. Well, I was astounded to discover that it worked like a charm from the very first night, and has continued to work for the past 3 weeks. The most surprising thing has been that in the morning I can stretch my legs as much as I want and absolutely no leg or foot cramps.

People use all sorts of perfumed soap, but not Dove of Dial, for some unknown reason. Some put it under the bottom sheet so it doesn't move around, others between the sheets. Some cut the soap into smaller pieces and put it in their socks at night. Some use two bars. It seems to lose effectiveness after about a month, so either replacing the bars or shaving off the surface of the old bar seems to work.

So the scientist in me of course wants to know why it works, and the short answer is that no one really knows. The working arm-waving theory is that blood vessels can constrict during the night causing poor circulation and associated leg cramps. The perfume in soap contains volatile organic chemicals called esters that can dilate blood vessels. These organic molecules can pass through the skin, and trapping and concentrating the molecules under the sheets and blankets creates a nice, continuous delivery system throughout the night. Here is more information:

http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/2012/07/ ... eg-cramps/

I have noticed one other more modest effect. Even though I have been pretty much symptom free for several years, I still am bothered a bit by a slightly active gut at night and usually have to hit the bathroom as soon as I get up. However, ever since I have been using the bar of soap, it seems to calm my gut and now I often wait until after breakfast to go. Maybe it’s just a side effect of sleeping better, but I’ll take it!

I hope that others can find some relief, as I know how unpleasant nighttime leg cramps can be.

Rosie

[jlbattin]

I also use Epsom Salt lotion (it has magnesium in it) and rub it into my legs before bed. Using the spray magnesium also helps with leg cramps and pain too.

[tex]

Rosie,

My guess is it's the glycerin. Glycerin is a skin conditioner.

Tex

[jlbattin]

I'm surprised that you can stand the smell. Irish Spring is what they recommend to hang outside to keep the deer from eating flowers and stuff in your yard and it smells awful! It is so strong. Doesn't the smell bother you?

[Rosie]

Yes, jlbattin, the smell is pretty strong, but to me it smells like "relief"! I think that the reason it was recommended is that it smells so strong, and theoretically that means that the "mystery ingredient" should be strong too. Any perfumed soap seems to work, and now that I've established that it works for me with Irish Spring, I'll experiment around with other brands that have a more appealing smell. My DH has pretty much lost his sense of smell, so won't be bothered by the smell of whatever soap I use!

Tex, the glycerine component makes as much sense as anything, and has the theorized vasodilating effect.

I want to emphasize that the soap in the bed is in addition to all the other important components of hydration, magnesium, etc. I am very faithful with taking 600 mg of magnesium glycinate a day, split up with my 3 meals. I'm not going to test it, but I'll bet that if I quit taking magnesium, the leg cramps would come back. For me, the bar of soap seems like the missing piece. The vasodilating theory makes sense to me because I've found that if my feet get cold, I'm much more prone to leg cramps. In the winter I have been putting a hot water bottle at my feet, which seemed to help a bit. So my take home message is that if you have tried all these other remedies and are still having problems, give the soap in the bed a try. You will know right away if it works, and it's really cheap!

[Blueberry]

That's wild. If it works it works though. Glad you found an easy answer for your leg cramps. It was surprising to see many others mention finding leg cramp relief with soap between the sheets. There must be something to it.

As a side note, it likely applies to me, but I recently found relief from my leg cramps. I've been struggling with completely overcoming MC symptoms. The gut could be well some days, but never seemed to fully recover, nor my body overall. I thought I would try to see if a food(s) caused some other unpleasant symptoms I experience, and with that possibly help the gut. With other symptoms I could strangely experience odd bleeding, as sometimes I would see blood around finger nails, with out an explanation. At that same time the gums would often swell up and bleed also. And as a lovely addition to that would experience leg cramps.

Working on my diet I think I've found the food(s) that causes the odd bleeding and muscle cramps - pork/gelatin and possibly olive. What was odd about pork is that it doesn't show up in allergy testing, and I know from food journals that I can eat it for a good long while and not have trouble with the gut. Anyway, nice to not experience leg cramps for the last month plus with the new diet. The gut is acting better than ever. I'm chuckling mentioning this, but I feel absolutely terrible though! at least energy wise, and with concentration. I suspect my beat up gut isn't used to being this healthy. Hopefully, and imagine so, it will pass soon enough.

[tex]

I still think it's the glycerin. This quote explains why:

I was troubled with severe leg cramps an hour or two after going to bed on the days when I’d exercised on the rowing machine. Then I read that people get relief by placing a bar of soap under the under the bed sheet near the legs. It worked, but the effectiveness of the soap seemed to diminish over time.

I wondered what might disappear from an ordinary soap bar. The one ingredient I could think of was glycerin. So I bought a bottle of it at the drugstore and tried rubbing some on the skin over my leg muscles, much like applying a moisturizing lotion. I found this eliminated cramping.

Glycerin Gives Leg Cramps the Slip

Here's another way to utilize glycerin to prevent leg and foot cramps:

Have chamomile tea. It contains glycerin which is nothing but amino acids which help the muscles relax and reduce the pain.

Prevent Leg Cramps in Bed with Home Remedies

Tex

[Hopeful]

I have had leg cramps since I was a kid. For 40 years now, I have trained myself to NEVER sleep on my back. The blankets, especially tucked in, keep your feet in a less flexed position than normal when sleeping on your back. For me, this always guarantees leg cramps. I can sleep on my stomach but must "skootch" myself down so that my feet hang off the end of the bed in a more flexed position.

Not sleeping on your back also seems to pretty much eliminate snoring. I wish I could get my husband "trained"!
Chris

[Rosie]

Tex, glycerine seems like a good candidate, but I think that more might be involved. Glycerine isn't volatile, and you get relief by rubbing it on the skin. However, many people using the bar of soap in the bed report that it doesn't need to touch the skin in order to be effective. This suggests a volatile component.

I will give the glycerine a test and report back if it is as effective as the bar of soap. If it works, it certainly would be more convenient, and I would have softer skin in addition!

Chris, I've tried every sleeping position, and it doesn't seem to make much difference with my leg cramps. But obviously it works for some people such as yourself. I suspect that leg cramps have a multitude of causes and we have to figure out what works for each of us....... kind of like our MC diets..........

Rosie

[tex]

Tex, glycerine seems like a good candidate, but I think that more might be involved. Glycerine isn't volatile, and you get relief by rubbing it on the skin. However, many people using the bar of soap in the bed report that it doesn't need to touch the skin in order to be effective. This suggests a volatile component.

Yes, but volatility is unnecessary, because glycerin is a liquid, and it's in a "plastic" state within the compound (soap). Therefore it can leach out of the soap and into the sheets, and of course the sheets are in integral contact with both the soap and the feet. IOW, the sheets make effective "wicks" to transfer the glycerin to the feet.

HYGROSCOPICITY, the ability to attract moisture from the air and hold it, is one of the most valuable properties of glycerine. It is the basis for its use as a humectant and as a conditioning agent in many applications where both the glycerine and the water it holds act as plasticizers. The net effect is to give products the desired softness, flexibility, creaminess, and shelf life. On exposure to air, glycerine at a given concentration gains or loses moisture until it reaches another concentration that is in equilibrium with the moisture (relative humidity) in the surrounding atmosphere. The equilibrium concentration is relatively independent of temperature change within normal atmospheric limits provided that a constant relative humidity is maintained.

Glycerine: an overview

I think we are probably in agreement that the area around the body when in a confined space, is maintained at a relatively high humidity level, and this relatively high humidity zone will certainly permeate something as porous as sheets. That would tend to facilitate plasticizing (softening) of the soap to allow some of the glycerin to leach out and permeate the sheets around it, thus allowing transfer to the skin.

Or, I could be all wet.

I'll be looking forward to seeing your test results. I wonder if Glycerin Magnesia might be a supercharged leg/foot cramps prevention treatment.

Tex

[Area51Flyer]

For my Leg Cramps that works for me is a 90mg Potassium caplet.