Leg cramps
I was wondering if anyone other than myself have had any issues with extremely band
lower leg cramps at night? I have been getting cramps so bad lately I have been waking up almost screaming. Any one else? Suggestions? I am stage 4 on my 10th year having COPD.
Thank you
Sunshine90
Hi again, Sunshine90, and thanks for your post and excellent inquiry. Over the years, we've had folks speak to rib cramping and pain and, if I recall correctly, there have also been comments about leg cramps.
I did a search of the content within our community and found these two articles in which leg cramps are mentioned.
First this one, from: https://copd.net/stories/diagnosed-6-years-ago.
And next, this one, from: https://copd.net/forums/breo-side-effects.
You may want to read the author's comment and then look through the responses from the community.
I also hope that others within our community will see your post and respond by sharing their own personal experiences with this concern of yours.
Wishing you well,
Leon (site moderator COPD.net)
Hello Sunshine,
I have COPD (8 yrs. stage 4 for the past 3yrs.) and I too have experienced severe leg cramps in the evening. I also have chronic venous insufficiency and thought that maybe a contributing factor. I do wear compression socks during the day. I told my doctor and checked my pulse in my feet, said it was strong and that was that??? I am going to speak with him again. Sometimes in the mornings my legs hurt so bad from the knee down that I can hardly walk. Let me know if you learn anything. Good Luck Sunshine,
MikeHi
I to am still unaware of anything about our cramping, other than they hurt like crazy..lol
But with oxygen falling off, this would happen to me in the beginning so instead of wearing the tube in nose and around my ears with long cord dangling in front, I started wearing it coming from my nose then behind my ears and the long tube in back. This way it can not come off again, sorta like wearing backwards. I know I have it correct when I remove from nose and would have to pull over head to remove. I feel much more secure and it's less noticable. I would say that no damage was done by dropping to level 60 I do it sometimes. Good thing you knew what to do. Remain calm do pursed lip breathing say a prayer and you will be fine, well I was. Good luck
, thanks for sharing that tip that seems to be working well for you! All the best, Sam S. (COPD.net, team member).
Oddly enough, I have worse cramps in my hands. Way worse and far more often. But I also get cramps in my legs, both thighs and calves, and even in my neck and jaw. The hand cramps make it really hard to do anything, like write, or eat, or use the mouse or keyboard or phone. It's highly annoying. I will say that washing the dishes in hot water is very soothing. And they wake me up about as often as the leg cramps do. I have found that the more water I drink, the fewer cramps I get, but there is an annoying tradeoff involved between the myriad trips to the bathroom day and night and the pain. The amount of water I have to drink to completely stop them is ludicrous, and I just can't do it. But I have to drink as much as I can or I regret it. Still looking for a way to mitigate this so I can lose at least some of the cramps AND the bathroom trips. You can find info about how the water intake affects muscle tissues. Also, some of this can affect vitamin and mineral balances a bit, and then nutrition is in there too. I can easily remember drinking a lot when I was young, but it wasn't water! Oh, well. I guess for me it's the high cost of low living!
High Cost for low living. Lol I really like that. It sure seems that our illnesses take us all over, up down and around. All you said makes sense. So why did I not think of that? Lack of oxygen to the brain, and we can prove it. Ha ha sometimes it's just easier to laugh about it all than to except it. It makes me remember when my kids were little, I cut out the word quit from every dictionary we owned. Well. It worked. I brought that saying along from AA, as I am now 32.5 years clean and sober. That disease took over half my family and almost got me too. In a surprising turn of events, it would appear (I just realized this!) that once again I have a drinking problem! But this time it's not drinking enough water. Geez! I also still seem to have a leaky hole in my chin, too. Other aging issues my body forces on me include the fact that the older I get, the faster my hair and nails grow. It's highly annoying! The one thing I have been able to successfully fix is that, for the last 25 years of my working life I worked nights. I retired in 2017, and I have just now finally gotten my sleep turned back around and am sleeping nights again, mostly. Some folks say you have to pick your battles, but for me it seems I have to keep fighting on all fronts and accept that I will win only an ever-smaller percentage of them. The bad news is the number of battles grows. The good news is I can still win some. And the best news is that now I get to pick most of the background music! So at least there is that. Since I am a blues man, it makes life smoother.
Other notes on the cramps include that I am not low on potassium or magnesium, etc. The Doctor ran bloodwork on it and I tested good on all fronts for deficiencies, and she even gave me scrips for it the last two times I took Prednisone, and there was no change. The cramps stayed the same. Yes, the steroids do contribute to them, in high doses, but I only need that occasionally. So, in my case, what it boils down to (see what I did there?) is water. Apparently not only the COPD, but also some of my meds for it, cause dehydration. Or un-hydration, as I call it. At least this has to be making me less attractive to vampires.
My own leg cramps come and go, depending upon temperature and my amount of physical activity. Due to right leg weakness I was provided with a leg brace. However the major issue with using it is that, when I tighten it enough to help walking, it tends to cut off blood supply. Afterward I can expect a couple of days of leg cramps.
Thank you so much, you sound like me if not for bad luck we would not have any lol. but I am seeing others have the same issue and I plan asking my doctor. praying 4 you.
