<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

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The muscles in my whole body were tense & stiff about a year ago.  I was
found to have folic acid deficiency anemia.  I got relief after the first
dose of folic acid.
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I take a Metagenics Calapetite for the calcium, Natural Calm for the
magnesium and a potassium supplement.  If I forget it just for a couple
of days I get my foot and leg cramps back, very annoying.  I read
somewhere just the other day that Celiacs need about 150% of the vitamins
that regular people do.
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Maybe not the answer you want to hear, but it took me about 4 to 6 months
with a GF diet and the leg cramps essentially went away.  I have only had
them a few times since and I suspect when I accidentally
ingest gluten.  [I wish it were that simple for me.  I've been GF for 2
1/2 years & the leg cramps one year ago were worse than they had ever
been.]
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I used to have leg cramps that would shoot me out of bed at night.They
have stopped since I have been taking calcium suplements.I wrote to the
list a while back and got 100 responses.Some said potassium was the
culprit some said magnesium was.Bananas are good sources of both and are
naturally wheat free.Some said electrolytes were to blame.Personally I
think it is probably due to all of those things being out of whack if you
are malabsorbing .You will need to take a good GF multi vitamin(THERAGRAM
is approved by our association in Balto)also gatorade is a good GF source
of electrolytes and KAL calcium is a GF source of that.Good luck I know
those cramps are killers.
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Sounds bizarre, but it works. Unwrap a new bar of soap and put it under
your bottom sheet and rest your leg on it during the night. It may take a
day or two to work. After you have it there for a while, if leg cramps
return, replace with a new bar of soap. I told my doctor about this
method and she said there must be some ingredient in the soap that pulls
out toxins from the leg. Works for restless leg syndrome too.
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I had a lot of leg aches and pains before my diagnosis. I have severe
shin pains. They checked and my calcium was low and the parathyroid
hormone (which regulates calcium) was sky high. As soon as I started gf
and taking
about 2,000 mg of Calcium carbonate with Vitamin D a day the problem went
away.
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Try taking a dose of potassium, calcium also helps!
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I tell people this occassionally because it was so weird.  Last year,  I
started taking a different b.c. pill - alesse.  and after about 2 months
i started having leg cramps and i went to my doc because i was worried
about the blood clot issue. she said,  for a week eat a banana everyday
(for potassium) and see if that helps.  and start taking calcium because
that can do it - she recommended Viactiv - which is gluten free. and i am
still taking it a year later (i actually remember them because they are
tasty caramels!)

BUT,  after a week of this the leg cramps didn't go away.  so she had me
start on the patch(ortho Evra birth control patch) because she said the
way the pill is ingested,  your liver metabolises the hormones
differently
than when it's through the skin.  and sometimes that can cause muscle
cramping. Totally helped.  SO if you're on some other medications or
something,  check with your doc to see if it could be something
associated with that if the vitamins and minerals don't help.  i would've
never guessed it was from the pill!  go figure.

[An OB nurse once told me that OB-GYN docs that really know their stuff
routinely recommend extra calcium for people taking bc pills.]
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My doctor prescribed supplemental calcium. It works for me.
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alot of stretching and for about one minute per stretch.  I also do yoga
twice weekly.  It has helped so much.



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