Leg tensing up only at night

[Diluted-biscuit]

Im getting a very weird and frustrating symptom over the last year and I wondered if anyone else had anything similar. I don’t know if it’s muscular or nervous system related.

I get periods of days or weeks where my right leg spasms at night when I’m trying to sleep but not at any other time. The rest of the time it has an achy feeling. At night I can feel that it’s about to tense, like a shuddering feeling and then it tenses up but not like a painful cramp. It does it continuously every few minutes until I manage to get to sleep and then doesn’t do it again until the next night.


It’s very odd, really hard to describe and it drives me insane. Has anyone else had anything like this?

 

[Wonko]

Perfectly 'normal' for me.

Only I can get it in both legs.

Sign that I should really have gone to bed several eons before, usually a sign that general activity has been overdone.

 

[rvallee]

I've had something like this positionally for years, mostly on one side. There's a position where it's almost guaranteed to cramp and I have to sort of tweak how I'm laying to avoid it, but of course it's the position I'm most comfortable. It's mostly in the feet and calfs, goes down to my big toe when it seizes. Maybe not the exact same, though, it hurts a lot when it cramps. It can also happen if I'm reclined, have to be careful how my feet are positioned, which isn't easy with restless leg.

Smashing the soft tissue into some compliance with kneading massages and a massage gun helps. Somewhat. But it's a daily thing for me, I need to stretch several times per day or it gets worse and the muscles become tight knots. Very annoying, but so far down the list I never mentioned it in a medical setting, I never saw the point. So I just manage, i.e. endure it. It sucks.

 

[Arnie Pye]

Has anyone else had anything like this?

Yes. In my case it tends to occur when my magnesium, potassium, sodium (rarely) or iron start to run low. I normally supplement whichever I think might help. Buying a multi-mineral supplement might help (but I really don't know. I've never bought one myself).

The supplements I use are magnesium citrate, potassium bicarbonate, salt, ferrous fumarate. I very rarely supplement iron nowadays, and generally tend to use the magnesium and potassium.

 

[MeSci]

I think that supplementing with quite a lot of calcium is what has helped me.

 

[Arnie Pye]

I think that supplementing with quite a lot of calcium is what has helped me.

It's something I wouldn't supplement with, personally, although I realise it might be very helpful to others. In my case testing shows that my calcium levels are verging on going over the range. I don't know why, but I suspect it isn't good news for me - but perhaps I'm just being paranoid.

 

[TiredSam]

I get restless legs at night sometimes, especially during hot weather. I've found a correlation with how much meat I eat before going to bed, so if I've just been to the Greek restaurant in my village and had a mixed grill I'll be in for a restless leg night. I've found that jam helps, just eating a spoonful of it or having a piece of bread with lots on (as opposed to smearing it on my legs, which I haven't tried yet), so occasionally I'll get up and do that and it seems to help.

 

[Kitty]

I've found a correlation with how much meat I eat before going to bed, so if I've just been to the Greek restaurant in my village and had a mixed grill I'll be in for a restless leg night. I've found that jam helps, just eating a spoonful of it or having a piece of bread with lots on (as opposed to smearing it on my legs, which I haven't tried yet), so occasionally I'll get up and do that and it seems to help.

I do the same with marmalade, and it seems to work well.

I've realised that in my case, high-salt food is often the cause of the pain. There's a possibility I have periodic paralysis, which would explain that link; since sugar always makes my muscles go floppy, it's feasible that it's relieving some kind of cramping.

I'm just not ever going to say any of that to a doctor, because it sounds as if I left the plot behind some time in the 1970s.

 

[Diluted-biscuit]

Sorry for the long delaying in replaying to this. I’m not even 100% sure how to describe it and there doesn’t seem to be a pattern I can pick up on.

Straight up leg pain is easier to deal with.