“How to avoid muscle cramps when I am on dialysis?” A patient asked me yesterday. Many patients are experiencing leg cramps when they are on dialysis. What is the cause? How to avoid this symptom?

The cause of leg cramps.

kidneys are the blood cleaners and they are responsible for discharging the waste products and toxins as well as extra water in blood. At the same time, they also take charge of keeping electrolyte balance. When kidneys are failed, they will lose their ability to do these jobs. When there are serious symptoms, dialysis is needed. Dialysis is effective in relieving some of the symptoms in a short time, but it will bring some side-effects also. Leg cramps is one of the side-effects of dialysis.

Dialysis will remove the extra water in the blood. But if you take in too much water during the dialysis intervals, much water will be removed when you are on dialysis. The sudden loss of excessive water in blood will cause leg cramps.

Though dialysis also has the function of managing the electrolyte balance, it will also destroy the balance if the dialysis is not adequate. Low level of calcium will result in high excitability of muscles, which will lead to leg cramps.

How to avoid leg cramps?

You are suggested to control the water intake during dialysis intervals to prevent obvious changes of the water volume in bloodstream.

In your diet, you can add some foods that are rich in calcium to keep the normal calcium level in blood. If you want, you can consult the online doctor for a personalized foods list.

Do some exercises in moderate is helpful to relieve the symptom. You can drag your legs for a few times before dialysis.

Leg cramps can be very painful. Sometimes, it happens at any time, not only on dialysis. When it attacks at night, you will be kept awake all the night. If you want to know more about how to avoid it, you can email to renal-disease@hotmail.com for a free reply.