do you take a calcium supplement?

W

wonderwoman

Guest
lately i have been getting very painful charley horses in my thighs and shins at night that wake me up from sleep. its very strange to me since i never had them there before, only in my calves and feet. i read that this could be from a calcium deficiency which would make sense because i have eliminated most of it without even realizing it i guess. so anyway i think maybe i should go buy something to take. any reccomendations?
 
It could also be low potassium too. My Mom's potassium is very low even with supplements and she experiences charley horses not to mention cramps on other places, like hands, toes etc. I would go see a doctor and have all your levels checked just to be on the safe side. Low potassium is very dangerous.

I take Viactiv Soft Calcium Chews. Each chew is 500 mg of calcium, 1000 mg being the recomended dose for my age and there are 60 chews in the container. Oh, and they also have vitamin D and K in them too. They are flavored - chocolate, chocolate mint, carmel, mocha, orange cream and strawberry cream. I have tried only the chocolate mint and the regular chocolate (reg choc being my favorite). Anyway, you can buy it at walmart and it is like $6 or $7 a container and it lasts a month if you take 2 chews a day.

Hope this helps!
 
Last edited:
I used to get those alot especially when I was pregnant with my first child. The doctor did tell me it was low potassium. He told me to eat bananas. :rolleyes: Taking a calcium supplement would be good for you too though.
 
Yeah def. low potassium can cause muscle cramping and spasms. So I would focus on adding more of that into your diet along with calcium. :) As us ladies age and lose weight, if we don't gain more muscle and have enough calcium, osteoperosis(sp) is a big risk for us .. .so calcium is a must too! :)
 
Ok, this advice is coming from my mom who has suffered from night time leg cramps for years. She tries something new every once in a while but has always gone back to the one supplement that her doctor put her on about 25 years ago. CALCET. It is a calcium supplement that is specifically designed to help leg cramps. Calcium supplements come from different things and must have the exact balance with other minerals. Most people know about the calcium/potassium combo but there's other stuff too! Don't ask me what, that's my mom's area of expertise! All I know is when she takes it she doesn't have them and when she tries something else they come back!
 
Calcium supplements, leg cramps, osteoporosis

My $0.02:

potassium for cramps (calcium can help as well)

weight bearing exercises and dietary calcium intake and calcium supplementation if you're still not getting enough

:)
 
oh god I used to have charley horses from potassium so bad.. bananas seem to help, like everyone else said.

I used to have osteoporosis like an 80 year-old woman (I was 26 years old when diagnosed!:mad: ) Thanks to Fosamax and people making me take calcium supplements up the whazoo (2 after each meal, 2 after each snack, so on..), my body was restored to only having Osteopenia, the beginning of osteoporosis. I've been slacking on the supplements since everyone told me I was "okay" now (well not okay, but better than I had been)

Now my back hurts from work from my Scoliosis that was never fixed when I was young. Anyone have anything I can do with that?

Bjork
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top