Excruciating leg and ankle cramps at 30 weeks

[Squiff70]

For a few weeks now I've been getting excruciating cramps in my legs at night. People speak most commonly of cramps in their calves but for me it's the sides of my calves and round my ankles, into my feet. It's usually just one leg but can affect both.

Is it just a pregnancy thing or do I need to speak to a doctor? If anyone has any experience of this please give me a shout!

PS. I'm nearly 31 weeks but this started about 5 or 6 weeks ago.

I had the same around the same time and I had low iron levels. Have you had yours checked recently?

Another thing to check is magnesium levels, often causes leg cramps

I had bloods done at 28 ish weeks and as far as I know they were all normal. I'm seeing my midwife tomorrow so I'll ask her to check.

Thank you for your replies!

On my last pregnancy my iron levels at 28 weeks were considered 'normal' (just 1 above low) so they weren't going to do anything about it and I asked for iron tablets anyway as I couldn't sleep due to restless leg! After a week or so the restless leg completely went away, so I'd definitely ask and mention it! 😊

I found magnesium spray has really helped with my foot and leg cramp. Interestingly I was also anemic when it was at its worst and hadn't associated that with the cramps but my iron levels are on the up now and the cramps have improved...

I had this too. Started eating a banana each day and they stopped. Potassium and magnesium deficiency both cause cramps. And bananas contain both.