Severe Leg Cramps - Diabetes Message Board

ghettosmurfette · 05-23-2004, 02:57 AM

I am a type one diabetic(weird because i am not a spring chicken) that was finally diagnosed in January 2004 after being treated as a type 2 for over 2 years, they have me on several pills(glucophage, avandia and micronase) along with Novalog (sliding scale dosage) and Lantus ( 100 units nightly)..since taking the 2 insulins i get severe leg cramps when i take them...does anyone know how to lessen the severity of the cramps or how to stop them?? its driving me nuts..the military docs here say its a sign of restless leg syndrome since it happens alot at night but i thionk it happens because of the Lantus or novalog, because when i take them i can count on the cramps..only my legs seem to be affected, they have told me its not neuropathy so i am at a standstill with the docs here.. any hints on how to treat em as they happen or what i can tell the docs to convince em that something bad is happening cause the pain is unbearable even with muscle relaxers and the no sleep cause i hurt thing is making me one tired camper lol

any help is greatly appreciated

Mommyof4 · 05-23-2004, 09:20 AM

Have you had your potassium checked lately? Diabetics have a problem with potassium depletion and one of the biggest signs is leg cramps. You can eat foods that are high in potassium like bananas, take supplements, massage the legs when it happens, etc.

If I were you, I would look to my potassium level first and then branch out to other causes. HTH

Eagle · 05-27-2004, 04:19 PM

Those potassium-depletion cramps can get your whole foot and leg so out of shape you can't get to the bathroom or kitchen to get your supplements until the cramp passes and you may even be crying. I've had them for many years. Your grocery store and/or pharmacy will have all kinds of supplements you'll need, might want to ask Dr. or Pharmacist for a list. On one of the Atkins sites I think we said Chromium, but don't take too much of that, Magnesium for muscles, StressTabs w/Zinc, for starters.

Sounds like an awful lot of medicine for having just been diagnosed, though I'm not a health care professional, in the dark myself. You've had second opinions I guess.

Pharmacy printouts may warn you that glucophage a/k/a metformin can cause muscle pain, which is different from the potassium cramp kind. I too have been on muscle-relaxant, methocarbamol, as if I just overused and injured both arms, like a rotator-cuff tear, can't sleep on shoulder-arm, pain mostly in biceps, one arm sort of healed after several months but the other almost unbearable until I decided to stop taking the nearly 3000 mg of glucophage, not the only med I'm taking, for a week, start back on it and see if right arm is healed but gets bad again.

I was right that was the cause, maybe too much build-up for an elderly person, dx'd in 1987 Type 2. My mother was on just sulphy___lureas until she was 84, and strictly controlled her diet, so I'm sort of on Atkins. The arm pain may have been or may be lactic acidosis, which I read on the internet can be fatal, caused by glucophage/metformin.

Some Drs I guess don't like you to be investigating things, so he threatened insulin shots, he well knows I'm trying to avoid, says most orals affect liver. Kept saying he didn't have time, so I'll be looking around. Said he didn't believe glucophage and metformin cause muscle pain.

This afternoon I found out on the internet some kind of dye test can wreck your kidneys, so careful, everyone, and if you have any hints for me, bring it on, please. Do I want a gerontologist? Anyone had that experience?

smackliet · 05-28-2004, 01:29 PM

Just a though, but yo can be allergic to the preservative in the insulin.
I cant use any insulins with cresole in them and most do.
You have to shop around for one with a different preservative to test it out.

Let me know how it goes.

Eagle · 06-01-2004, 06:21 PM

Thanks for the tip about insulins, which I'm trying to avoid ever starting, afraid I'll get Alzheimers and not be able to take care of it properly.

Keep us posted about the leg cramps. Potassium supplements are a big help, I have to take nearly every day anymore.

Magnesium and B-6 supplements also help w/ muscle pains.