Leg Cramp and RLS Relief

Try unwrapping a new bar of soap and putting it in the bed near your legs.

This is an old home remedy that works and nobody understand why.

I've been doing it for a few nights and it works. There are tons of internet stories about this.

 

Wow. Nice tip!

I always eat bananas for potassium if I start getting cramps!

 

I was doing everything I could think of...Staying hydrated, having lots of potassium and magnesium...nothing was working. The soap is working for some reason.

 

That's soooo strange! Is it any bar of soap? What brand are you using?

 

Bizarre world ... sleeping with a bar of soap!

 

They say any brand will work. I'm using Dial.

 

That is bizarre. I wonder if it works with restless leg syndrome as well. I've had that pretty bad throughout my pregnancy

 

Yes! Everything I've read said that it helps RLS too!

 

I guess a bar of soap is coming with me to bed tonight then

 

I'ma have to try this... Wonder if I have any soap?

 

Yeah, I almost didn't post this at HFs since we're all a bunch of dirty hippies.

 

I've also read that it helps arthritis, headaches, etc.

Some people sleep with a bar of soap under their pillow for upper body pain.

I'm wondering about wearing small bars of soap in my socks, lol!

 

Wow! Good to know Aeri! I'll try it tonight. My rls drives me crazy.

 

Yes it will. As a person who studies physiology my theory is it works is when we start cramping the leg or foot seeks the bar of soap and the soap helps stimulate the area. I think a cramp in the leg has to do with constricted veins and the leg or foot bumps the soap to help the blood to start flowing.

Something that helps a cramp that is already happening is to draw Zs or S's with your finger on the area cramping. Figure 8's work too.

 

There can be so many soap recipes out there these days some of this must be psychological, no? I mean if it can be "any brand" of "soap".

 

I can't find the study I read but some guys at some college studied it. They did not try to debunk it. They went on the assumption that it does work and tried to figure out why. The best they could come up with is that some molecules in soap could permeate your skin. They were thinking it must be fragrance. The common fragrances were lavender and something I have forgotten.

Under this assumption, sleeping with an animal or another person would work; even bumping your own leg would work.

 

Soap​

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soap

Detergent​

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detergent


Milder "soaps" like Dove may be more Detergent than soap. Also detergents foam better in harder waters, and vice-versa, so many companies change their formulas for different locations without advertising this fact so they have "consistent actions" when used in different areas.


The reason I said the "silly" up above about finding a bar of soap is to sound like a "dirty hippie" but also because I wash using detergents most of the time...

 

Ah...

I remember having the strangest argument with my mother over instant oatmeal. We were cooking some that we bought in Daytona. She was swearing that the oatmeal bought near Atlanta called for a different amount of water than those bought in Daytona. I gave her the benefit of the doubt and decided that the oatmeal had different directions based on being sold in a different climate. Or...my mother was just nuts.

 

I started looking into this earlier and read somewhere that dove soap is commonly reported as being less effective.

I also read that the soap usually stops being effective around 6 months and needs to be replaced, which makes me think it's not simply psychosomatic.

 

Some people report that if the bar gets accidentally knocked out of the bed, the cramps come back.

Also, some people said they just score the bar or shave a little off to refresh it. I think I read that Dove and Dial are supposed to be less effective. I may try the Ivory tonight.

Hell, I may get out all the soap I can find and just use it all.