Muscle Cramping/ Tightening

[leahb133]

Lately I have had a hard time witht he muscles in my hands/ feet and one of my legs tightening and cramping up. Kind of like involuntary muscle spasms. It is very painful when it happens in my foot or leg. Has anyone had this happen to them?

[Jmaca]

This is one of my worst complaints style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mad.gif It's not confined to my legs but occurs throughout most of my body. Sometimes when I unconsciously stretch my feet or fingers, one or some of them will get stuck in the stretched position. It could be the sole of my foot, or one or two toes, or the palm of my hand or a finger, or the calf muscles. It's extremely painful and requires my manually pulling it back to a normal position.

I'm as careful as I can be about drinking enough water. Dehydration can cause these symptoms. So can potassium or magnesium depletion. I take supplements and eat my banana every day style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif but so far, nothing seems to work. When I'm going through a bad time physically, the muscle cramping/spasming is very bad.

I used to get weekly massages; they helped the worst areas. But one hour is simply not long enough to get to all the muscles in my body that cramp up.

I try to do range-of-motion exercises daily. I like the book, "Arthritis Exercises: What Works". It has a set of exercises for all the joints. I find those exercises to help loosen my muscles a little. It's a daily battle though, and the cramping often wins out. style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sigh.gif

[leahb133]

Thank you for the responses/ advice. I know that I defintetly have to drink more water. I wonder about that potassium thing though. When i was in the hospital last month for my kidneys my potassium level was really high.. hmmmm

[lazylegs]

Hi Leah,
The same thing happened to me awhile back. The rheumy said I was probably low in calcium due to the meds. When I added more calcium the cramps subsided. Now he has me on a calcium blocker.

During the cramps I did stretches for the hamstrings then stood on my toes. It really helped. I never came up with a solution for my posterior though.

Hope you find relief soon,
Lazylegs

[stefanie]

Yup I'm with you there!!!! i've had that in my legs and hands but also in my neck and sholders can be very painful but unfourtunatly all part of the disease style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/afraid.gif



take care style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/flowers.gif

[mumsy613]

Yes, indeed. I had that for years....leg cramps that would launch me out of bed in the night...the funny finger thing as well, and toe cramps, and for a while my tongue cramped! We tried potassium and calcium to no avail. It all went away after the first Rituxan infusion and has not returned.

[Angelee]

This happens to me in my feet legs and lower back while I sleep usually. It is not a fun way to wake up and my husband has been awakened to me "ow..ow..ow..owing!!!!!!!" on more than a few occasions. Water and potassium is all my doc has been able to suggest, though appaerently muscle cramping of this sort can also be linked to thyroid problems, which as we all know can also be affected by Lupus, so that is one to check too.

Anyway, good luck, let us know if you find anything that really works.

-Angelee-