What's causing the muscle cramps

December 29, 2005 7:10 PM

Why am I getting muscle cramps in the strangest of places?

I've gotten them in my chin, neck, and stomach, along with the usual legs cramps. I get them in the middle of the night, i get them in the middle of sex, i get them from bending over when I brush my teeth (the stomach ones).

What the hell is wrong with me?

I'm overweight, but I've toned up a bit at the gym, though haven't really lost weight. I've gotten the cramps less since starting to excercise, but they still happen and I can't pinpoint the cause.

posted by anonpeon to health & fitness (14 comments total)

Lemme guess: You turned 30 recently?
posted by Oddly at 7:14 PM on December 29, 2005

If you have stomach teeth (even if you keep 'em clean), you should see a doctor. That doesn't sound normal.
posted by rob511 at 7:23 PM on December 29, 2005

No, seriously, what's your diet like? Plenty of veggies, dairy, minerals?
posted by rob511 at 7:25 PM on December 29, 2005

people said craps were caused by not taking enough potasium, so I started taking centrum and it seemed to help.
posted by delmoi at 7:27 PM on December 29, 2005

I get these kinds of cramps when I haven't been drinking enough water, if I make an effort to drink more water they go away. I've heard that electrolyte imbalances (such as potassium, magnesium, and calcium deficits) can contribute to them as well, so taking a multivitamin that has these could make sense as well.
posted by redheadeb at 7:40 PM on December 29, 2005

Potassium is my bet too. Eat two bananas and call me in the morning.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 7:44 PM on December 29, 2005

Dehydration, low potassium, low magnesium, sometimes low calcium are the usual triggers for 'weird' muscle cramps. Drink more water, take a good multivitamin that's high-ish in water soluble vitamins. Do that for a couple of weeks. If the cramps don't go away, go see a doc.
posted by jlkr at 8:05 PM on December 29, 2005 [1 favorite]

Some people get cramps all over the place, some get just muscle quivers, some get both. Stress, potassium deficiency, magnesium deficiency, and God knows what else can be triggers. This goes away sooner or later. MY muscle quivers hung around for a few months in 2003-2004, but haven't been back since.

Drink your water, eat your bananas, take some good multi vitamins, and yeah, continue your regular stretching and exercise.
posted by maudlin at 8:22 PM on December 29, 2005

Also: magnesium could help. If you take potassium, don't take a lot at once.
posted by NucleophilicAttack at 8:58 PM on December 29, 2005

The typos in this thread are going to have me giggling all night!
You could try some tonic water with quinine, which is given for muscle cramps.
posted by Iamtherealme at 10:29 PM on December 29, 2005

Thanks guys, I take the K and H20 and see what happens.
posted by anonpeon at 4:26 AM on December 30, 2005

IANAD
Cramps can be caused by circulatory problems, and also pinched nerves. I have had the weirdest tiny cramps which occur all over my upper body, as a result of a swollen disk in my neck pressing against nerves.

If you haven't, get your cholesterol checked. Blockage of blood vessels can develop in places other than the vessels going to the heart. I don't think this is likely in your case, as the places with cramps are numerous.
posted by Goofyy at 5:04 AM on December 30, 2005

Quinine is the usual solution to nocturnal leg cramps, try drinking some tonic water before bed (and I'm sure a bit of gin mixed in wouldn't hurt).
posted by mule at 7:53 PM on December 30, 2005

Lack of calcium does that on pregnant women, and we used to feed them calcium gluconate. IANAD, but I know you aren't supposed to take only calcium for any length of time, you need the other minerals as well. This stuff is a heavy sugar based syrup that will get the calcium into your blood in minutes, although in a pinch you can chew up a couple of calcium based antacids. This is just to see if it helps, as a diagnostic thing. If calcium cures it, then you just know more about the problem.

For the trace minerals, get iodized sea salt, there's a bit of everything in there. It will usually cure those fringie things where the skin starts to lift below the nailbeds on your fingers, BTW, just in case anyone has them. Quinine is an old remedy, still around because it works.
posted by deep_cover at 6:59 AM on December 31, 2005