Low Potassium and leg cramps!

[tonimacaroni]

Hey guys,

I've always been really sensitive to leg cramps. If I get too dehydrated or drink too much alcohol (dehydration side-effect I guess) I get charlie horses really bad in my legs and feet at night. So I'm really good about staying hydrated, I usually drink 64 oz of water on top of my other liquids in a day.

Now I'm just about done with my pred taper (I'm down to 5 mg every other day this week) and I just started Birth Control. Now I'm getting INSANE leg cramps at night that go on for hours. I only got 3 hours of sleep last night because they wouldn't stop.

I'm drinking tons of water, but I know low potassium can be a side effect of the pred and BC, so I'm asking for tips to get it up. Is a supplement best? Or should I try getting it from foods like bananas/dried apricots? Any experience with this?

Thanks guys!

 

[amrycrohns]

Electrolytes in general need to be consumed to avoid unnecessary cramping. 64 oz. of water is a decent amount, but far from a ton. You can try 1 of many things assuming you are sure it's electrolyte inbalance and not a medicine side effect. You can consume more food, you can drink premade sports drinks occassional maybe 1 a day, you could buy a electrolyte powder.

It very well could be the prednisone since I get horrible foot and calf cramps when I am on it and mostly at night. Check out if your birth control has cramps as a side effect.

Ask you doctor to check you potassium level, is there a reason why you think it is low?

 

[tonimacaroni]

Electrolytes in general need to be consumed to avoid unnecessary cramping. 64 oz. of water is a decent amount, but far from a ton. You can try 1 of many things assuming you are sure it's electrolyte inbalance and not a medicine side effect. You can consume more food, you can drink premade sports drinks occassional maybe 1 a day, you could buy a electrolyte powder.

It very well could be the prednisone since I get horrible foot and calf cramps when I am on it and mostly at night. Check out if your birth control has cramps as a side effect.

Ask you doctor to check you potassium level, is there a reason why you think it is low?

I am fairly sure it's potassium, as it's something I get fairly often when I'm dehydrated or pregnant (all my nutrient levels plumet when I'm pregnant due to morning sickness) and I had heart palpatations last week, which I've read can be due to low potassium.

Plus if this was just a side effect of the pred, wouldn't it have been worse when I was on a stronger dose? Where if it's just been lowering my levels over my taper, now would be worse...

 

[amrycrohns]

My cramps came after I was comming off of it, but that could be very individual effect.

I would just eat some high potassium food like banana's and take a electrolyte powder and see if it helps then.

 

[CrohnsChicago]

try foods like bananas, avocados and yogurt for potassium. dried apricots are risky as they can get stuck in your intestines and irritate them. Be careful with those if you have not used them before.

Here are the top 10 foods high in potassium:
http://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/food-sources-of-potassium.php

Gatorade for electrolytes is good too.

 

[Hope345]

Your doctor could give you a low dose amount of potassium to take otc. They are inexpensive and work well. If you can have gatoraid that might help for now.

 

[723crossroads]

I would try eating a banana everyday.

 

[staloffn]

I have been dealing with leg cramps as well on entocort. I had blood work done a couple of weeks ago w/ my remicade and showed low potassium level. I have been taking just a cheap supplement and it helped some but was still getting some pretty wicked cramping. talk to the doc and asked him if my magnesium level was messed up as well cause, if i remember correctly i had a few things going on the could indicate a deficiency in it, but they did not test for it. since then i started taking about 60%, 250mg daily dose of it and have not had a cramp yet. disclaimer.. it has only been 4 days. might check out the wiki entry on here and see if you have anything else going on that might correlate with that. i also have been taking calcium cause i have always had bad hamstring cramps for years. the worst is getting one while on top of a horse.. the calcium was all it seemed i needed cause they stopped for the most part until recently with the entocort.

 

[tonimacaroni]

Been taking calcium with D, 1000 extra of D, and potassium every day... way less cramping, and no heart palpatations anymore. yay.

Thanks for all the advice!

 

[723crossroads]

Been taking calcium with D, 1000 extra of D, and potassium every day... way less cramping, and no heart palpatations anymore. yay.

Thanks for all the advice!

I get heart palpitations a lot too. I guess maybe I need potassium too. Back to bananas today! yes ,we need some bananas, LOL....:lol2:

 

[Axelfl3333]

I take a quinine tab every for cramp it helps

 

[Axelfl3333]

Got a tip last night about cramp from a gymnastics instructor about cramp and how to alleviate it,eat an over-ripe banana for the potassium,when you think on it lots of sportsman scoff a banana,now I know why

 

[afidz]

Plus if this was just a side effect of the pred, wouldn't it have been worse when I was on a stronger dose? Where if it's just been lowering my levels over my taper, now would be worse...

Remember, you are essentially going through withdrawal when tapering off of prednisone or other steroids, you have to slowly get your body to start producing its own hormones again so you may have new or worsening symptoms as you did before you started to taper. Even if things are getting better, I would still talk to your doctor about the palpitations and leg cramps as it may be a dangerous side affect or a sign of something else. I would also have blood levels checked to make sure it is in fact a potassium deficiency, don't want to over do it on something that may not be the problem

 

[723crossroads]

Tonic water has quinine too I believe.

 

[Axelfl3333]

I,ve been banana,s for years