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SALT, SALT, SALT!  At least that's the solution for me.  I used to get wicked foot & leg cramps at night that were so severe I couldn't walk and the cramps would sometimes cause me injury.  For years, I tried heat, massage, bed time protein snacks, calcium supplements, potassium, juice, magnesium, stretching, yoga, etc.  The cramps continued to get worse & worse.  I began to keep a log & noticed that contrary to what my doctor was telling me, high potassium foods & magnesium supplements made it worse.  Then, I don't remember what prompted me, but I tried salt as a last resort and found it works like a charm, EVERYTIME.  Now I take two salt tablets at bedtime & voila!  No more night time cramps.   There are lots of things that can cause charley-horse cramps -- dehydration; potassium deficiency/overload; calcium deficiency/overload; magnesium dificiency/overload; hypoglycemia; laxative use; extreme sports; weight training, drug interactions, parathyroid disease, Addison's disease, etc. -- salt (sodium) deficiency is only one of many causes.  If you have muscle cramps, you'll have to experiment to see what works for you. Salt (sodium) is necessary for normal muscle contraction & relaxation.  Most Americans get more salt than they actually need in the typical highly processed food diet, so sodium deficiency is rare.  The most common scene for sodium deficiency is in extreme athletics, heat exhaustion & heat stroke, or water intoxication from drinking excessive amounts of water (sometimes seen in mental patients).  But sodium deficiency can become a chronic problem when adrenal glands are damaged (as is more commonly seen in celiac patients).  (It's a good idea for anyone w/ a chronic cramping problem, to get a doctor to check them out for various disease conditions.) The reason I personally have this problem is three fold:  (1) I have adrenal insufficiency which causes my body to excrete more sodium than normal (2) I have colonic inertia so I need to take a laxative every day.  (Laxatives pull out salt & other electrolytes thru the bowel.  In fact, that's why potassium & magnesium make my cramps worse, they are both laxative & pull sodium out of my blood stream.)(3) I am a "from scratch" cook so my diet is naturally low in sodium.
Between these two incurable conditions & my cooking habits, I need what many would call an excessive amount of salt.  This may not be the case for you, but then... it might.  I find certain conditions will trigger cramps if I'm not careful -- too many fruits or sweets (which increase potassium in the blood & drive out sodium) and the heat of summer when I'm perspiring heavily. Before I found the convenience of salt tablets, I used to add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of salt to a glass of water & drink it down (YUK!).  It was worth the "yuk", because the relief was so blessed!  My muscles would relax w/i two minutes, then I could go back to sleep instead of spending the night waiting for the next painful cramp episode.  
 
(I buy 1 gram salt tablets at my local compounding pharmacy.  There are salt tablets available on line and I'm sure they are all GF, so please don't ask which brands are GF!  ha ha ha!)   Valerie in Tacoma, happily retired RN PS, I am well aware that some of you are salt sensitive & can't tolerate extra salt.  So please don't send me personal messages about your salt sensitivity.  That's a topic for discussion I don't care to address.
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