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Anyone have bad leg cramps?



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I'm 10days postop and have the worst leg cramps in my calves all day long..... I know it's not a clot cuz I was in hospital yesterday for chest pain and I'm negative for clots or leaks so was wondering if anyone had this and if so what did you do to relieve it?

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YES !!

I distinctly remember having leg cramps in my calves for 2-3 days after getting home from the hospital.

I kept walking and ensuring that I was getting in my Water and what I could of my Protein. It passed and never returned.

Weird phenomenon.

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Keep yourself properly hydrated and active (walking, treadmill, etc.).

If it continues, some people take magnesium or potassium supplements for leg cramps, but I would ask your surgeon or PCP first.

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I'm 6 1/2 months out, and for the last two days, I've had excruciating cramps, not only in my calves, but in the front of my thighs. The first night of this, I was awake every 90 minutes or so, walking them out.

I talked to my boss (a physician), and took a muscle relaxer (that I already had), potassium, and some extra Calcium. I already drink about 90 ounces of Fluid a day.

Last night was better, I only woke up once, but my legs are very tight and achy today.

I'm hoping this is a temporary situation.

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I had the same problem and was diagnosed with low potassium. They said it sometimes happens to bariatric patients and they gave me potassium pills and told me to eat food high in potassium.

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I get horrible cramps in my calves, thighs, abdomen, hands and sometimes even my tongue (!). They're a side-effect of a drug I have to take. They're exacerbated whenever I'm low in electrolytes (potassium, Calcium, sodium, magnesium, etc.). It's hard to pinpoint which you're low in without a blood test. The best quick cure I can suggest is a sugar free energy drink like Powerade Zero.

In my case after months and months of trying the more likely candidates, I discovered that lack of magnesium (for me) is the culprit.

We're all losing weight. That means we pee a lot. When we pee a lot, we lose electrolytes at a higher rate--yet another reason to meet our Water requirements!

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For me cramps are all about the potassium dunno why. When they show up, in the past at least, i'd start eating Beans as much as possible and theyd go away.

Edited by RoscoColetrain

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As someone else had said look at a potassium supplement. I did that for the first like 60 days after talking to my doctor about it. I stopped having crapping, achey, weak feeling legs after I did that. And I was walking daily at that time too. I was able to get at the 2 month post surgery mark about 1 1/2 miles in a day. Now 15 months out I'm getting about 3 to 5 miles of walking in a day if nothing (exercise related) else.

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You can also get leg cramping if you are low on Iron.

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Try G2 Gatorade or Powerade Zero, until you can get to the doctor to have your potassium level checked.

Edited by 1SlimmerMe

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

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