Hi toddswife,

The "resident magnesium expert" here!!!

The best thing for muscle cramps is magnesium. A good quality supplement for this problem is magnesium glycinate as this is well tolerated (i.e. few people get the runs with it, only if you dose too high) and well absorbed.

If you go to your local Walmart or wherever, you may also find magnesium (Mg for short - it's a long word to type!!!) supplements, but these will generally be the less well absorbed forms, called Mg oxide and Mg citrate. If you have constipation, these are great, but otherwise they are worthless.

I tell you this from experience as I took them for years, being too skinflint to pay more or to scared (back then!!!) to use internet retailers, and they did absolutely nothing to help me get rid of the pesky night-time cramps.

Finally, I took the plunge and ordered those kinds of magnesium (Mg malate, Mg taurate and Mg glycinate) I had read about in various books as being better absorbed. I got them off various internet retailers here in Germany. I found that Mg malate didn't seem to work for me very well; the Mg taurate tablets I got were very expensive and so enormous I was always worried I would choke on them. The best kind for me are these:

http://www.iherb.com/Doctor-s-Best-...lets/16567?at=0

And, it seems also for other people!!! I have had wonderful feedback from people on this forum who have been taking these, too, so, in the meantime I am not just talking about my own experience, but that of other people here, too.

You might be generally low in electrolytes, so it might also help to try drinking a little salt water (use unrefined sea salt, if you can get it, with no added fluoride) in the mornings, too. Another electrolyte that can get low and cause cramps is potassium. I have found that it helps me with my arrhythmias (which is another sign of low magnesium) and have ordered this supplement. However, I can't report on it yet as my delivery seems to have been held up by the German customs (GGGGRRRRR). But, as it is also a chelated form, it should be well absorbed, too:

http://www.iherb.com/Nature-s-Way-P...sules/2000?at=0

The dosage for magnesium is for most people between 400-600mg per day. I was taking 400mg per day and that was doing the trick as far as most of my Mg deficiency symptoms were concerned. (Unbelievably, I have allowed myself to run out of Mg glycinate and, sure enough, I have had the beginnings of cramps whilst in bed. I am just praying for my delivery to arrive and trying not to stretch!!!)

It is best to spread your dose out over the course of the day and have the tablets between meals in order not to reduce the acidity of your stomach acid. I took one tablet mid morning, one mid-afternoon and two at night. When I get my next lot, I shall actually try to remember to have one first thing in the morning as this is when your Mg levels are very low. The same is true mid-afternoon when many of us experience a slump in energy levels.

I take two at night to ward off the cramps and my other weird symptom, which is unconscious jaw-clamping!!! Two of these Mg glycinate tablets stop that happening.

If you have a lot of stress in your life, you might need more, from time to time as we use up a lot more magnesium than normal when we are stressed.

However, I would start at a dosage of 400mg per day and then work up to a higher dosage. If you get the loose stools problem, then you have reached your maximum dosage and need to scale down again.

For most people, magnesium is non-toxic. The only people who have to avoid magnesium (or potassium) are those with kidney problems. It is also advisable for the very elderly to be careful with magnesium supplements as their kidneys may also not work so well either.

I order most of my supplements from iherb.com as they do very good shipping rates to Europe. Plus, as I found to my horror when I began shopping for supplements online, for me, it is much much cheaper to order from iherb.com than to order here in Germany. Most of the German online retailers sell American supplements anyway, but for two to three times the price you can get them for on iherb.com!!!

All the best and I hope this helps,

amanda