Night time muscle cramps

[fivecupsoftea]

Has anyone got to the bottom of what causes this and how to prevent them? Presumably whatever it is that causes them maybe causing other problems in the body?

I went through a period of having these. When i mentioned it my doctor she said it was from the lack of salt in my diet. A small increase stopped them altogether but if you're worried i'd go get yourself checked out. Do you have any other symptoms?

I get them rarely, and they're excruciating. Noticed it was always after having red wine for me, not every time though.

Which muscles cramp up in the night? Most common are the calves and sometimes it is a lack of salt in your diet, and sometimes magnesium tablets help to relax your muscles.

V painful. I get them much less often since reading somewhere that I shouldn't go to sleep with my toes pointed.

Occasionally I get cramp in my feet and toes in bed but is weird as no pain. it is as if I am a puppet on a string and something is pulling them. I stretch them out but then I feel them pulling up again and is out of my control.

I had a run on these as a teenager but very rare now. Afraid I don't know how to prevent, but I did find that the quickest way to stop them once started was to stand up straight away (hold onto bed to prevent falling over!) to get the blood flowing.