All and any remedies for restless legs/cramp please!

[ShimmeringIce]

I need to sleep! Instead, I go to bed and twitch for four hours, sleep for a couple of hours then wake up with cramp 😰 (32 weeks, btw)

I've tried:
Going to bed (really) early
Going to bed late (ish)
Having a hot bath
Exercising as much as I can (not much)
Leg cooling gel (worked for 2 nights)
Dressing warmly
Staying cool
Taking codeine (works, but I don't want to continue 😳)

Hot water bottles help with the twitching while they're really hot, but cool down before I drop off.
What have I missed?? I'll try anything! Did I read about putting a bar of soap under the bottom sheet on here??

Please help meeee...

Magnesium oil spray:
www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_2_15?url=search-alias%3Ddrugstore&field-keywords=magnesium+spray&sprefix=magnesium+spray%2Caps%2C1261&crid=16JU7DQGZC6C3&rh=n%3A65801031%2Ck%3Amagnesium+spray&tag=mumsnetforum-21

Tonic water.

If you lay on your side and swing your legs back and forward in a kind of scissor action you should get instant relief.
Hope I have explained that ok

I was awake for ages with it last night so I sympathise. In the end DH got fed up with the fidgeting and got me 2 paracetamol and a bowl of cereal. After that I went to sleep quite quickly. I suspect it was the milk on the cereal that might help rather than the cereal itself although it is fortified with various vitamins.

leg massage before bed with upwards strokes from feet to the knee and an electric blanket

for restless legs I drink oodles of bitter lemon purely for the quinine, however I definitely wouldn't drink it whilst pregnant without consulting a doctor/midwife first (the same goes for Tonic Water)

I suffered badly with cramps when I was pregnant, it was purely down to a calcium deficiency, my doctor gave me calcium tablets

now many many years later I still sometimes get cramps so I up my calcium intake for a week or 2, a couple of extra yoghurts and a glass of milk a day and I'm good to go again

Sorry you're suffering, OP, I do sympathise - I could have cried with lack of sleep due to restless legs as my pregnancy was drawing to an end. All I found that helped in some way was to commandeer the spare bed for the final couple of weeks so I could flail my legs about as necessary!

Thanks for the continued answers

No luck last night, but I guess the dietary issues might take a few days to fix? Tonight I have lots of (salted) nuts, magnesium tablets and Epsom salts to put in the bath, though the instructions are to drink them Also some strange vibrating footplate borrowed from MIL, not sure what it is exactly so will have to check it's safe in pregnancy.

Thanks Ashes for the link, I've ordered some magnesium oil!
Benby - do you think it needs to be imperial leather soap?
Not quite following you Lighthearted, but it doesn't sound compatible with SPD anyway?

Hi I tried dove the first night and it didn't work and the thread I read it on said imperial leather so I gave it a go and it has worked.

I had this right at the beginning and then started taking osteocare (have put pic below) and it eased it so much instantly and after a few days it went altogether. I had never had it before pregnancy so don't know if mine was much milder than yours but it drove me absolutely insane!!! Can sympathise so much it is a horrible feeling! Hope it goes soon! X

Sorry but about the codeine would you say you took it often? This is what withdrawal from codeine can do (make you restless) and so the cycle begins. It takes months to come out your system if you've used it lots?

Thanks Benby I'll get some at the weekend
KISS it's good to know it takes a few days, I'll persevere with the Mg supplements, and I've got oil and 5kg Epsom salts (gotta love Amazon 😁)
mowgeli no, I only started using it in the past week or so, 15mg just before bed but not every night. Am I going to get withdrawal symptoms from that??

There is nothing good about being pregnant 😡

Lloyds pharmacy onli e has a deal on 500g bab of epsom salts, well worth it £1

Another thread had lots of people advocating soap or a potato under the sheet by the feet.

Ooh thanks Ceasar, I've been looking out for them...

No I don't think so. I'm not medical. But codeine makes you drowsy so it will help. Just don't get in the habit because it will be double bad when you do try to sleep without it. I also take a magnesium supplement called Calma C and it's vit c and magnesium in water at night to help keep calm.
Distraction helps me sometimes. I'm currently in bed waiting for this bad feeling to go in my arms. It's so crap.

I went to pre-natal yoga last night for the first time in ages and I also slept really well, all night for the first time in ages!
The teacher showed an exercise to do before bed to help with restless legs: Place your hands shoulder width apart on the wall and lean forwards then kick out behind with alternate legs, repeat several times.
It certainly did the job last night!

I had one night with the worst left cramp, thought my muscles were going to snap, awful. Since then I have a bar of soap under the sheets and i've not had any cramp. But then I didn't before that night, with no soap. I'm a sceptic, but I keep the soap there!!! Anything better then cramps!

What does it feel like? DH thrashes around in his sleep, and I'm wondering if he has it. He tended to get cramp in the past. He's the most unselfaware bloke on the planet, so can be in a lot of discomfort without noticing...

It feels like I want to move my leg and toes constantly, I sometimes get painful cramp with it too.
Hope your DH isn't pregnant though?

Gosh, so do I...