\r\n \r\n I would recommend Magnesium Malate to relax the muscles. You can also use topically applied Magnesium Oil, for almost immediate relief from muscle tension/cramping. Epsom Salt baths are also one way of relaxing the whole body with Magnesium. From what I\'ve read, Calcium can actually cause muscle cramping. Good luck and welcome! \r\n

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\r\n "We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals." ~Immanual Kant~
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\r\nNatMedTalk and Beyond\r\n

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\r\n \r\n Hmm. I experimented some with magnesium instead of calcium, but cal/mag seemed to work better. The info on the web implies that magnesium is not well absorbed internally, and magnesium oil is a good alternative. There are lots of places selling it, but Swanson has what appears to be good stuff at a very reasonable price.
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\nI really like the looks of this. I have almost constant low-grade tension in my muscles. E.g. right now I have not-quite restless legs and a similar lesser feeling in my upper body. I don\'t *think* this is normal. It\'s a little like a "fingernails-on-chalkboard" feeling in my body much of the time. It would make sense that it could be caused by magnesium deficiency.
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\nI think I\'ll look into the magnesium oil. Thanks!\r\n

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\r\n \r\n Gary,
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\nAnother suggestion you may want to try is the herb Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora). It promotes relaxation for the nerves and muscles, and is used for sleep. I use the liquid tincture from Nature\'s Answer, which is also alcohol-free. \r\n

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\r\n \r\n I would try some Krill Oil. Or food is no longer has the right balance of Omega 6 to Omega 3.
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\r\nIt does affect the brain in different ways, and it is possible that it may help. I also like the Magnesium idea. It is more likely to be deficient in Mg than Calcium.
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\r\nDan\r\n

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\r\n \r\n Gary,
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\nI had this exact same thing this week.
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\nActually this week was a real roller coster ride that landed me in the hospital...a combination of nausea and vomiting and dehydration spun me out and I couldn\'t keep anything down. I had to get IV hydrated. After that I was fine...but in the two days it took to figure out what was wrong with me I had muscle ticks just all over my body, only at night when I would try to sleep.
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\nI\'m sure it had everything to do with getting so badly dehydrated and keeling over. When I got back from the hospital, btw, lab work said no electrolyte abnormalities, I did turn to my bottle of magnesium/calcium powder mix that I took as soon as I got home. That night I had no ticks and I seem to be doing OK after a power day at work yesterday.\r\n

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\r\n \r\n Its amazing what happens to your body when you dont get the amount of water you need... I would agree with arrow, sounds like dehydration!!!! When I dont drink enough water, I get severe leg cramps
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\nAlso, we have had articles on this forum and the other one in the past about what sugar substitutes can do....I seem to recall that one of the sugar substitutes caused the tic problems.... Shoot, its on the tip of my brain...what is that disease that causes tics in people????? Supposedly the diet sodas will cause this..... Do you use alot of sugar subs or do you drink diet sodas???? If so, get off of them, and see if that makes a difference.\r\n

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\r\n \r\n Nope, I drink almost zero soda, and I avoid artificial sweeteners like the plague.
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\nFortunately good beer doesn\'t use artificial sweeteners. \r\n

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\r\n \r\n Followup: I bought some Source Naturals mag malate and some Swanson mag oil. I started putting 5 sprays on each arm & leg at night.
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\nWithin less than a week, I slept through the ENTIRE NIGHT -' + '- something I have not done in YEARS!! HUZZAHH!!!! A million thanks to you, Kind2creatures, for this excellent suggestion!!
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\nIt hasn\'t all been perfect, but this is obviously a major key to my problems. I\'ve been experimenting with it for several months now and here is what I\'ve learned:
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• The malate may help some, but I think the oil is 90% of the improvement.
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• After a week of blissful sleep, I went back to waking in the night, but with only minor twitches. A few cal-mag pills usually put me back to sleep for another hour or 3.
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• The oil is NOT pleasant to use. It\'s pretty irritating and itchy. I have very dry/itchy skin already, so I\'m really limited to the areas where I can apply it. I had to quit using it on my legs because it torched off some really intense itching, and that disturbed my sleep almost as bad as the previous problems.
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\nHowever...
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• I finally realized (duh ) that my wonderful all-night sleep stopped at about the time I quit applying the oil to my legs. Well gee, guess what, that cut my dosage in half!! A few days ago I started applying as much (20 sprays) on my arms/chest as I had been applying to my arms/legs before, and shazam! I am sleeping most of the night again!!
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• I tried mixing the oil with Aveeno lotion to try to reduce the irritation, but that almost seemed to make it worse.
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• The lotion also helped with the application. The spray method is terrible -' + '- the mist goes all over and makes a slimy mess on countertops &etc. Recently I\'ve been spraying it directly into my hand (catching all the overspray) and rubbing that into my skin.
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\nI\'ve been doing some more research, and the DermaMag site at magnesiumdirect.com has some useful info, unlike the Swanson site. For their product at least, they say 8 sprays on each arm & leg (32 total) is approximately 400 mg of elemental Mg, which is about what you\'re supposed to have. So my 5 sprays per arm/leg (20 total) was well under the recommended dosage, and 5 sprays only on my arms (10 total) was much too little. No wonder I didn\'t get the full benefit!
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\nSo now I\'m working on increasing my dosage. The Swanson product seems to work but my skin doesn\'t like it. Ancient Minerals has an aloe-based gel product that looks good, but it\'s a bit spendy -' + '- almost a dollar a day in smaller quantities. I think I\'ll give it a try and see if I can tolerate it better than the Swanson\'s.
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\nThe writeups at magnesiumdirect.com claim that mag oil is actually very beneficial for dry-skin problems like eczema and psoriasis. Their customer testimonials include several people who say it helped their skin. That seems surprising to me, given how it irritated my skin, but maybe it was just too intense and concentrated for my skin to tolerate. Maybe working up in concentration would give my skin a chance to heal. Living in dry Colorado, winters have always been an itchy misery for me. If mag oil could cure my dry/itchy skin in addition to the miraculous improvement in my sleep, I wouldn\'t care WHAT it cost!!!
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\nSo: If you have problems with restless legs, sleep problems, muscle cramps, or many other problems, take a look at mag oil. It really does appear to help a wide range of problems!
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\nThanks again to everyone for your help!
\nGary\r\n

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