Hello,

My wife and I started the Atkins Diet about 6 weeks ago, I have lost 30 and my wife has lost 20 pounds (I am fatter, and I have more to loose). Well, my wife has developed really bad leg cramps at night to the point that she get hardly any sleep.

She works 8 to 10 hours a day, and I really don't think she needs additional exercise. She takes the following:

Centrum Performance Multi-Vit. once a day
1 Baby Asperin (non-diet reasons)
Wellbutrun (non-diet reasons)
Atkins Essential Oils once a day
Atkins Dieters Advantage 2 pill before each meal
Super B-Complex once a day
300 mg Calcium once a day
250 mg Magnesium once a day
and finally
550 mg Potassium Gluconate once a day

And, she drinks over 120 oz. of water a day.

But she still has leg cramps, however I take none of these and drink around 75 oz of water a day, and do not have leg cramps. She is in so much pain that she is thinking about dropping out of the diet completely.

Any help would be welcome.

Robert

Hi there Robert congrats on the losses so far!

Your wife should increase both her calcium and magnesium supplements. She should also spread them out throughout the day. The body can only use so much at a time - excess is wasted.

Magnesium deficiency is most likely causing the cramping.

RDA for calcium is 1000-1500mg a day. She's getting less than a third of that. RDA for magnesium is 400-600mg a day. She's getting half.

Take the two supplements together - they work in tandem and will help relax the muscles. Also, taking one dose of the magnesium before bed will help tremendously with night cramps. Magnesium is also very soothing and it helps you sleep like a baby

Be sure the minerals are chelated, BTW. You want "malate" or "citrate" and not calcium carbonate, from oyster shells - it's not as well absorbed.

The effects of the increased minerals should alleviate the problem almost immediately.

Hope she's feeling better soon!
Nat

Try upping the calcium, magnesium and especially the potassium. That should do the trick.


VIkki

I had them really bad too, and by increasing my calcium and magnesium it has gone away!!

Sorry Vikki, but I would not recommend increasing the potassium.

Rob's wife is taking baby asprin, which makes me think "heart attack", so she should be careful, if this is the case, with potassium supplements. At 550 mg she's getting a good dose as it is.

Potassium deficiency usually causes dizziness, fatigue and that 'blah' feeling - it's the lack of cal/mag that leads to the leg cramps.

Nat

I'm not 100% sure whether this works universally - but I was getting leg cramps too (I work out 4 -5 times a week) I have started stretching every night spending about 15 - 20 minutes stretching out all my muscles esp. my legs. I've found this has gotten rid of my cramps.

Wow, I stand corrected, that's what worked for me, and I had "blah" feelings as well, but I didn't take into consideration the baby aspirin. Thanks for enlightening me.

Vikki