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We admit that putting a bar of soap under the bottom sheet near your feet seems like a strange way to prevent leg cramps. Many health professionals insist that it is pure placebo. But we think there are plausible explanations for why soap soothes leg cramps. Here is how it all got started:
A Surprising Soap Story:
Many years ago we received a message from a reader of our syndicated newspaper column about putting soap under the bottom sheet to prevent nighttime leg cramps.
She wrote:
“Under the cover of darkness (so my husband, who is an M.D., wouldn’t see), I slipped a bar of soap under the sheet on my side of the bed. For two nights I continued to have mild leg cramps but by the third night they were gone. I have not had them since.”
Since that early letter we have received hundreds of messages from people all around the world regarding the soap treatment for muscle and leg cramps. Many doctors (and quite a few non-health professionals) are absolutely convinced this is total nonsense. They chalk it up to suggestibility, largely because they cannot imagine how it could possibly work.
Two thoughtful and curious readers came up with a hypothesis. They submitted the following explanation for the benefit of the skeptics:
The following hypothesis was contributed by Derek H. Page and Hugh Smailes:
“Several years ago, the advice columnist Ann Landers raised a provocative question in her column: does soap at the foot of the bed cure night-time leg cramps? The consensus in the medical community is no: there is no conceivable mechanism by which it could, so any relief derived from this procedure must be due to the placebo effect. In other words, it’s all in the mind.
“But if it is indeed a placebo effect, it’s a remarkably strong one. Many people who have suffered for months, if not years, from painful, nocturnal cramps in their legs and feet have found immediate and long-lasting relief just by slipping a thin, innocent bar of soap beneath the sheets. Some even report relief although they were unaware that a bar of soap had been snuck into bed.
“Likewise, others whose cramps have mysteriously returned have been nonplussed until they later discover that their bars of soap have fallen from the bed. From the point of view of those who, like us, are trying to solve this mystery, it is fortunate that several websites (including this one) have maintained reports of this unusual treatment and its results.”
A Potential Explanation:
“We decided that although these data were anecdotal, and therefore suspect, we would treat them as if they were scientifically valid, and use them to try to develop an explanation for soap’s seemingly helpful effects. But as soon as we started reading the literature, we realized what an enormous task we had undertaken. The anecdotal literature is vast, and frustratingly contradictory.
“Nevertheless, we decided to continue, recognizing that any explanation we produced would remain an untested hypothesis. It would require testing by others before it could be elevated to the status of a theory. We decided to condense the relevant literature down to a few points on which there is general agreement. Here are the main relevant observations taken from the anecdotal evidence:
What People Report:
- It seems to work for many people, but not everyone. Soap in the bed appears to alleviate nocturnal leg cramps.
- Relief is immediate and sustained.
- Some people report that soap does not work. It appears either to work consistently and well or not at all. There are few cases of partial success.
- After a few months, a bar of soap is no longer effective for preventing cramps. It must be replaced. Old soap can be rejuvenated by scoring or shaving it to produce fresh surfaces.
- Some subjects have placed the soap between the sheets, and some have placed it under the bottom sheet. Either or both of these methods work.
- Some subjects report that direct physical contact between the subject and the soap is desirable, but few claim it is essential.
Conclusions:
“From these observations, certain conclusions may be drawn. For our purposes, number 4 on the above list is the most relevant. Apparently, the phenomenon can be switched off and on: off when the soap bar ages, and on again by scoring the soap. But why? What is it that’s being switched off and on?
“We hypothesize that it is an as-yet-unidentified molecule present in the soap. This might sound like a stretch, but in fact, this “switching” mechanism is consistent with what we know about the structure of soap.
“Soap is a water-swollen gel. When it’s purchased, its moisture content is generally somewhere between 5 to 15 percent. Soap is very porous, and when it’s swollen with water, it permits small, dispersed molecules to pass through it. But when it has aged, its surface dries out, and its surface is a lot less porous, so small molecules can no longer pass through it.”
Refreshing the Soap:
“We think that an unknown molecule that diffuses out of the soap gel is responsible for alleviating cramps. As long as the bar is emitting this molecule, the cramps are suppressed. An old bar of soap ceases to emit the molecule as the surface dries out and its resistance to diffusion rises. That’s when the cramps return. The bar can emit again–and once again eliminate cramps–after new, moister, fresher surfaces are exposed by scraping the bar of soap.
“From items number 5 and 6 from our list above, we know that direct contact between soap and skin can be helpful, but it does not seem to be essential. This suggests that our unknown molecule is volatile, capable of diffusing in air: i.e., that it can pass from a bar of soap to your cramping leg in a manner similar to the way a drug is transmitted through a skin patch.”
Soap Scented Oil (Fragrance): The Magic Molecules?
“After generating this hypothesis, we took a careful look at the list of ingredients on a package of soap, and we found only one possible source of small molecules of a volatile compound: the fragrance. Nearly all soaps contain fragrances or perfumes. Certainly those mentioned in the anecdotal evidence do. And what perfumes are used in soaps? That’s generally top-secret information, held close to the vest by soap manufacturers. But we do know that most soaps contain esters and oils, such as carrot oil and lavender oil (or their synthetic doppelgangers). These compounds are vasodilators. Like the ester nitroglycerin, which is used to alleviate pain caused by angina, they enlarge blood vessels.
“The quantity of perfume transmitted to the skin may be small, but it appears to be enough to dilate blood vessels and prevent cramps. We know, of course, that the small, mobile molecules in the fragrances of soap diffuse through its gel to the surface and evaporate. We know because we can smell them. And when you score an old bar of soap, you can smell it all over again, just as strongly as when you first took it from its paper wrapper.”
Who Will Test the Hypothesis?
“Before it can be accepted, every new hypothesis has to be tested. We would welcome the findings of anyone who might want to test our hypothesis, and we would be eager to see the results. To the research community, which is convinced that ion imbalance is responsible for the initiation of cramps, we say that this suggestion doesn’t challenge that.
“There is ample room here for research by the academic and medical communities. Our proposed mechanism will surely be under attack within the week. Yet it fits much of the data so well that we suspect that whatever future research results are obtained the final conclusion in this matter will include much of what is written here.”
Soap for Other Pain Problems?
“Finally, it has not escaped our notice that if this explanation is correct, it may have applications beyond the alleviation of leg cramps–specifically, but not only, in the management of pain from other conditions. We hope that having proposed this scientifically viable explanation for the phenomenon of soap alleviating leg cramps will validate the experiences of those that have benefitted from this ‘treatment,’ and open this area of inquiry to further medical and academic research. We do not claim originality for every element of this proposal. But we do claim originality for putting together the pieces of this puzzle.
“To those who have been unable to get relief with the soap treatment (i.e., those mentioned in item 3 above), we suggest you persevere and try a different soap with a stronger scent, potentially scoring it. You might try searching the internet, or this website, to see if there’s a brand others have had good luck with. The fresh, unwrapped bar of soap should then be placed between the sheets, preferably in a location where the soles of your feet can touch it. And please report back to us whether or not it works–we’d be very interested to hear.”
Dr. Derek H. Page, (Baie D’Urfe, Quebec, Canada) and Hugh Smailes (Apollo Bay, Victoria, Australia) As a final disclaimer: we are not physicians and have no health expertise, as our critics will doubtless be happy to affirm.
An Update on Derek and Hugh’s Hypothesis:
Several years ago an anesthesiologist by the name of Dr. Ough actually did some research on soap to relieve cramps. At that time he was working at Beloit Memorial Hospital in Beloit, Wisconsin. He reported his findings in the Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare (Sept. 2, 2008):
“…I assembled a skin patch made of crushed bar soap, and achieved successful results in regards to relief of muscle cramping and pain. I further experimented with the use of this soap patch for various other painful medical conditions.
“It was noted that the soap patch was successful in relieving pain from muscle cramps, knots, and even the trigger point pain associated with chronic myofascial pain syndrome. The soap patch also is effective for smooth muscle spasms, relieving the pain from menstrual cramps, intestinal cramps, and kidney stone.
“Hypothesizing that the scent of the soap was the active ingredient responsible for alleviating pain, I have since assembled the skin patches with a soap-scented oil (SSO), rather than bar soap itself, and hope to continue to expand its applications to other disease states…
“…I hypothesize that the active ingredient in the SSO skin patch is the scent itself. This would represent a new and unique method of medicinal delivery, because the scent is seemingly absorbed through the skin and not via the olfactory system.
“From these results, I conclude that the SSO skin patch is a safe and effective topical treatment for the pain of fibromyalgia.”
Joe’s Alternate Explanation for the Soap “Cure”
The world changed for us when we learned about research carried out by a Harvard neurobiologist, Bruce Bean, PhD and his buddy Rod McKinnon, MD (a Nobel prize winner). They concluded that muscle cramps are caused by overstimulation of nerves rather than by dehydration or electrolyte depletion. They heard about the old wives’ tale that eating a spoonful of yellow mustard or drinking an ounce of pickle juice could interrupt muscle cramps within minutes.
After years of experimentation they were able to explain this phenomena through nerve stimulation of the mouth, throat and stomach. TRP (transient receptor potential) channels in those organs were affected by strong flavors (cinnamon, ginger, hot pepper extract). Within minutes, stimulation of those sensory nerves could interrupt muscle cramps in legs. Details of their research efforts can be found at this link.
Soap Stimulating Nerves:
Now that we know muscle or leg cramps are triggered by overactive nerves and can be calmed by stimulating sensory neurons in the mouth, esophagus and stomach working through the spinal cord, we think we have a new explanation for the soap “cure.” The soap scented oil that is the basis for the fragrance that Derek and Hugh write about above could also be stimulating sensory nerves in the legs.
A chemist who specializes in volatile ingredients told us several years ago that the most popular soaps for leg cramps had limonene in them. This chemical is derived from the skin of lemons, limes and other citrus fruits. It is used as a fragrance and flavoring in cosmetics and other products. He was convinced that this fragrance somehow affected the body to prevent leg cramps.
It turns out that there are both olfactory (smell) and taste receptors in the skin. We are normally not aware of them, but they exist. It is entirely possible that fragrance in soap creates a low-level of sensory stimulation that goes through the spinal column and calms the nerves causing muscle cramps. Because it is a much slower process than swallowing strong flavors (like mustard or vinegar), it can take a day or two for the effect to manifest itself.
We think that limonene could be the key ingredient. Some soaps have a lot of limonene while others have very little. This could account for why some people report success and others are disappointed with the soap they use to prevent leg cramps.
Soap for Hand Cramps:
Many people have told us that when they get hand cramps they can interrupt them quickly by holding a bar of soap. Here is a link that describes this exact scenario.
We recognize that this is all a hypothesis rather than proof positive. But we think that nerve stimulation represents a plausible explanation and enhances the theory that Derek and Hugh offer at the top of this article.
What do you think? Have you experienced quick cramp relief from mustard, pickle juice or tonic water (another strong flavor that likely stimulates nerves)? If so, we are convinced that you are activating TRP channels in your mouth, throat and stomach that affect your spinal column. That turns off the misfiring nerves next to your cramping muscles.
Has the soap trick worked for you to prevent muscle or leg cramps? Share your experience below in the comment section and let us know what you think of our revised theory. At the time of this revision there are over 400 comments. Why not take a moment to read some of them and add your own.
Revised: by Joe Graedon, 9/28/17
By the way, we have added extra limonene to our Bed Soap. Here is what people say about this product:
Donna Jo in North Carolina states:
“It has really helped my RLS [restless leg syndrome] after I go to bed.”
Lucille in Texas shares:
“I like it and so does my husband. He uses it for restless leg and I for cramps. So far, it seems to work. Better than anything else I have tried.”
Cheryl in Richmond, Virginia loves Bed Soap:
“I love this soap and use it every night. It does help me in preventing night time leg/foot cramps. Also love the smell! So does my 5 year old granddaughter!”
Of course not everyone loves the smell of lavender (which helps some people fall asleep at night). Another fragrance is found in our Leg Soap. You can put these tiny soap chips in your socks at night or during the day.
Let us know if soap works for you to ease leg cramps, hand cramps, restless leg syndrome or anything else that goes bump in the night. Here is a link to our body care products, including bed soap and leg soap.
Stevie
I have about 6 bars of soap in my bed, initially for the leg cramps but also for restless legs. I have osteoarthritis, and the soaps help me sleep at night when various parts of my body keep me awake.
It has worked on my hips, knees, hands and shoulder. I use one particular brand and wouldn’t be without it
Erin
I’m a post-graduate qualified advanced practice ICU registered nurse. I had heard of the soap trick, and considered it to be complete nonsense – a placebo at best until . . .
One night I had an excruciating leg cramp. The calf muscles had a rock-hard lump of spasmed muscle. In sheer desperation I remembered the bar of soap trick and dragged myself into my bathroom to get a bar of soap. I had very low expectations of this working. However, within seconds of holding the bar of soap against the spasm it completely resolved. If I moved the soap away from my skin the spasm would return. I inserted the soap into a clean sock and used this to wrap around my calf securing the soap against the spasm, and after about 30 minutes the cramp had completely resolved. I also get terrible hand cramps – used the same soap in a sock technique where I wrap the sock around my hand to hold the soap in place. It works.
I don’t know why but it works. Currently, I keep a bar of soap in a sock in my nightstand and another in my coffee table. Right now I am in bed treating a back spasm with the soap. I also take magnesium daily. and if I skip the magnesium it’s almost guaranteed I will have spasms and even then, like tonight, having taken 450mg of magnesium, I still cramped up.
Ruth
It works. No need to think so hard. My legs love the soap, and I won’t go to bed without it. :)
Sharon
It has thankfully worked for me for years. I put a small bar or piece of soap on the painful area, and wrap a sock around it or if it is in my ankle, I put it in a sock. Good Luck!
Kristine
Why doesn’t your article mention RLS?
Beverly
I cut off a leg of panty hose, place a cupful of soap shavings in it, then tied it around the ankle of the leg that cramps a lot at night. Because the nylon is stretchy, I can just pull it off in the morning. It works like magic. When it stops working, I refill it with new soap shavings. The added bonus is that I don’t have to worry about a bar of soap falling out on the floor during the night.
Denise
I use unscented soap for washing, but the bars of soap that I slip between the sheets are the small ones given out by hotels. They have a strong odor and can last for a year. I’ve been using soap in my bed for close to 10 years and the practice has absolutely stopped my leg cramps. My husband used to have leg cramps as well, and it works for him. I initially chose to use hotel soaps because they are small and unobtrusive.
Larry
I have used my favorite 2 bars of soap daily under my bottom sheet for approximately 8 years without any further leg cramps. Yes, it works for me, and I change it out with new bars every 45 days. I take the bars that were in my bed to be used in the shower. This is the only things that has given me relief for my leg and feet cramps. My cramps were so severe that it caused me to fall down in public with tears streaming down my face. I played Division 1 football for four years and was pound-for-pound the strongest player on the team. I played often with injuries and pain but these cramps did me in. Thanks to a friend for telling me about this crazy soap trick that works. Blessings.
Jonathan
I put a bar of soap under the sheet, and my leg twitching stopped at once.
Louise
Was talking to my mum about this, and she told me her mother used to put a small bag containing a few camphor blocks between the sheets at the foot of the bed for leg cramps, so camphor appears to work too. Someone in the comments mentioned naphtha soap, isn’t that like mothballs? Has anyone tried literal sachets of lavender? I have some so I’m going to try that.
Bill
I’ve tried everything for years to fight my every night leg cramps. Soap is the only thing that’s worked for me.
I see an MD who specializes in vitality and longevity. He orders blood tests for me at least 3 times a year. All of my electrolytes, lipids, A1c, etc. are checked by Labcorp using the most exact methods available e.g. nuclear resonance imaging. Under my doctor’s guidance I take a large number of supplements to keep all of my blood results optimal. But I haven’t been able to stop the leg cramps. I’ve tried pushing electrolites e.g. 1000 mg of Magnesium, potassium, Calcium etc. per day. I’ve done nightly pickle juice drinks, Apple cider vinegar, drinking water befor bed, etc, Nothing worked until now. Dial soap is working for me.
My reading leads me to believe that the molecules that the soap offgasses ar responsible. There are two ways they can be getting into my body, my skin, and/or my nose and mouth. The research done by the anesthesiologist in this link https://www.peoplespharmacy.com/articles/why-does-soap-soothe-nighttime-leg-cramps shows that skin is one entry point.
However for me olfactory works very well. Having sex, more specifically an erection, almost always gave me leg cramps. I can stop those legs cramps by putting a bar of soap right next to my nose/mouth and inhaling its odor. It’s amazing! And it’s wonderful!
Deb
So I really though soap would NOT work but also thought “What have I got to lose,”right? Placed a bar of Ivory (hate that soap) between the top and bottom sheet. Much to my surprise it worked. Being skeptical I thought “coincidence” but decided to give it a go for at least a week.
On night 4 the shin cramps came back. However I realized the next morning that the bar of soap had fallen onto the floor – I put the soap back close to my legs, and last night I didn’t have any cramping. Hmmmmm
George
I’ve used soap to calm some of the most vicious and painful leg cramps one could ever suffer. I used to suffer them on a nightly basis. Now I rarely get them in bed. Even if one starts it does not last long. And the kicker is, my bar of soap is kept in my pillowcase. So relief is definitely olfactory.
Hazel
I have suffered from leg cramps, & cramp in my jaw when I yawn, & and a terrible cramp in my breast just under my bust. I have tried various cures. The best contains a special kind of magnesium. But 3 nights ago I slipped a bar of soap still in its wrapper into the bed. I can`t believe it. I haven`t had a cramp since.
Carol
(Follow-up to Carol’s post of Aug 14, 2020:) Based on information shared on this website, I ordered d-Limonene oil capsules online. 120 softgel 500 mg capsules of oil extracted from orange peel was about $7. I started piercing one capsule before bed and squirting it on a cotton ball, then wiping it on my lower legs. Soon I was just squirting it on my legs and wiping it in. Three weeks after beginning this bedtime routine, I have not had a single cramp, even during my afternoon nap each day.
As an experiment, last night I didn’t use the oil and sure enough I woke this morning with a mild but definite leg cramp. If soap has been working for you, you might try going directly to the oil itself and see if it is as effective for you as it has been for me.
Carol in south central Washington State
Carol
I have suffered excruciating nocturnal leg and foot cramps for about 15 years. I’ve been taking potassium and magnesium by the handfuls and dousing my legs with magnesium oil before bed and still get the darned things. It had gotten so bad I was afraid to lie down to sleep. Just had a full battery of blood work done to see if I was missing some mineral or vitamin. Nope, all was well.
My aunt passed on the soap in the bed trick, though her version was a bar under each knee. To say I was skeptical isn’t even close. But a couple of nights ago I was so desperate I strapped a bar of soap under each knee with ace bandages, and for the first time in weeks slept through the night without pain.
Karen
I learned about the soap trick 13 months ago from another member of a European group tour when I complained of cramps the night before. I started using Fels Naptha (per advice), and the result was dramatic. It fades after some months. On one occasion I bought a new bar, unwrapped it, and then lost track of which was old and which was new. So I kept both bars and discovered that the effect lasted for a longer period of time. So now when cramps start to return I buy a new bar but keep an old one as well.
Marisela
I love to have my soap under my sheet. It really works for me! The other day I was too long on toilet. When I got a really bad cramp I could not even stand up. Then I saw the box from the soap in the garbage can. I put it right away under my foot and rubbed it, and it was like a miracle!! This horrible cramp dissapeared!!
Elisabeth
The New Forest, UK
For several years I have always kept a bar of soap under the sheets in my bed, which has successfully stopped me getting any more leg cramps (except when it falls out of the end of the bed, which sometimes happens). But tonight I have suffered the most agonising leg cramps! I could not understand why because I could feel the bar of soap in the right place under my feet where I always keep it. However, when I investigated I discovered that when I changed the sheets a couple of days ago I had by mistakenly put the soap, not only under the sheet, but also under the electric blanket I have in the bed. So, athough I could still feel the soap under my feet, the thickness of the electric blanket had obviously been enough to stop the therapeutic effect of the soap working. A valuable lesson learned!
terry
whittier ca
I deeply against using more meds than necessary so home remedies always come first with me. I’ve always suffered from leg/feet cramping. The worst ones began when I began using Braille-sign equipped trains, buses, and walking up & down different platforms. Rainy season could mean extra steps if elevators or escalators were out. Standing for an hour or more until the last bus home arrived and finally the 20 minute walk to my apt.
Night times were extremely painful! Both legs cramped simultaneously and later learned it was my tendons. I can truthfully say I didn’t expect any relief from soap but there has been no pain after a busy day when I snuggle under the covers. yaaay!!! The scent didn’t matter. Thin/thick the bar still works its magic! I was taking extra vitamins A & D, magnesium, and calcium with no real help except with a bit of sleep and beautiful nails.
I do change out the bars if the scent doesn’t agree with me. The best side effect is that the other body pains have slowly disappeared from lower back, neck & arms from accidents due to my loss of sight. The recent cold weather has me reaching for that bar of soap and massaging my leg from the knee down along the bone. It’s the worse cramping area.
Grab a bar of soap instead of a pill. If you’re gonna try and smooth out that cramp anyway you might as well start with a soap bar instead of massaging oil. Sleep easy, soap user.
Peace,
Terry
Jennifer
This is fascinating. I also suffer leg and foot cramps when I am in a pool or in the sea for more than approximately 25 minutes. As the soap cure in my bed has worked against night cramps for years, I am seeking others with similar experiences in cold water and trying to find a way to successfully use the soap or Limonene oil when in the water for extended periods of time. Suggestions, please.
Anne
Connecticut
I have recently been using the soap in bed remedy after almost becoming an insomniac due to leg and knee discomfort. The soap I used is a French soap with Argan oil and is scented. But here’s an enigma. I have lost my sense of smell due to surgery and yet I had instant relief and have been sleeping most of the night. So I believe there is something to be said for other parts of the body benefitting from the aroma. People are laughing at me but I don’t care.
Jillian
Australia
A friend told me about a cake of soap in the bed to prevent leg cramps. I have suffered with cramp all my life so was willing to try. That was seven months ago. I have never had cramp since. I often kick the soap out of the bed, so I start off with three cakes of soap. I take magnesium, calcium and glucosamine on a daily basis but suffered with leg and feet cramps until I put soap in my bed. I use palmolive gold but I don’t think it would matter what brand of soap you use.
Chris
FL
Despite taking higher amounts of magnesium and taking electrolytes I had leg cramps at night. Even if I did not have a full blown cramp, I would wake almost every night with the need to stretch my legs. Desperate for a good night’s sleep I asked someone if they happened to know of any other remedy I could try. They told me to try the bar of soap trick. I went and got some soap right away. The first night my legs felt all tingly, and no cramps. The next few nights the tingly sensation faded away, but still no cramps.
Ralph
Los Angeles
I’m a former chemist and one of the most skeptical people you’ll ever meet. My mother was, too, and she was an RN but when nightly leg cramps came to her she was desperate enough to try the soap trick, which was mentioned to her in earnest by her family doctor. Worked like a charm!
Over the years I took many turns ribbing my mom for this “placebo cure” but leg cramps must be hereditary because today in my 50’s I started getting them myself–especially in my shins.
Nothing worked until in desperation I tried the soap trick and…VOILA! It worked like a charm. I have even had the experience of the cramps returning only to discover the soap had fallen onto the floor!
Crazy? Kook? Believer in mumbo jumbo? NOPE. But there is a bar of soap in my sheets.
Avis D
Las Vegas, Nevada
I have damaged nerves in my legs from a congenital foot problem and have suffered from leg and foot cramps at night for years. I tried the bar of soap and it worked beautifully.
They started up again and I discovered that the soap had slipped out of the bed and was on the floor…put it back and no more cramps. Another thing that works very well is drinking apple cider vinegar and honey in water once a day. The magnesium apparently is the factor that relieves these leg cramps.
don
california
The only soap or at least the one that worked the best was Ivory. It can last between a couple of weeks to 6 months. Every time I get a cramp I replace it with a new bar. I once told a nurse about it. She at first was advising me that I should take more magnesium. This is what she advises her patients. She didn’t think a bar of soap would work.
I saw her again a few months later and she said she just couldn’t believe how well the soap worked. She tells all her patients who have cramps and she was telling me story after story about patients who have suffered for years no longer getting cramps.
My uncle was an MD who suffers from debilitating cramps at night but just would not believe the soap trick would work but one night after an especially pain full cramp out of desperation he tried the soap bar. No more cramps. He spent days looking through medical literature trying to find a possible reason but found none.
I have tired scraping the bar after it stops working but that doesn’t seem to work. I always have to get a new bar. I once read that it might be the smell of the fragrance. Someone researched what was the most common fragrance and I can’t remember which it was.
You would think a company would spend some money to research this out find what it is in soap that is the cause and then refine it and find the best way to apply it, patent it and then make a fortune since this is such a common problem.
Gordon
Palm Coast, Florida
I have been using the bar of soap for several years. It works fine. I change the bar every 6 months or so. Just move from Cape Cod to Florida and the cramps returned. Then it dawned on me that the new bed was made up without the soap between the sheets.
I want to begin researching myself in hopes that what the molecular remedy is can it be used with MS patients and so many others that routinely get paralytic cramping? This is my goal but need to get involved with larger test group. Just moved in down here in Palm Coast, FL, but there are many retirees who I am sure suffer with leg cramps. Lots of work to do!
JUDI
Palm Springs, CA
I do have MS and severe muscle spasticity. The muscle cramps have been lifelong and I do not know if they are MS related or genetic or whatever…but I drink a very absorbable magnesium daily, take Epsom salt baths regularly and drink pickle juice or the mustard trick when the pain is unstoppable. I had used the soap trick several years ago and it worked like magic. Somehow, after several moves and other issues, I had forgotten about the soap. I have been unable to go a full hour without severe cramping until last night…I remembered the soap! Went and bought some Ivory and put three bars under my bottom sheet. Slept almost the whole night through…first time in months and months!! Will not be without my soap again. I wish you great good luck, Gordon, in your studies of how the soap affects MS patients!! Thank you for exploring this possibility…
Larry
Oklahoma
I have suffered from leg, foot and hand cramps for many years. Someone told me about using a bar of soap and even gave me a bar of Safeguard. I immediately put this in my bed next to my legs. First good night’s sleep I had had in years. I now wear a pair of shorts to bed that has pockets, and I place the bar of soap in one of the pockets and it work just as well. When I get hand cramps, I hold the bar of soap in each hand and usually within 15 to 20 minutes, I no longer have hand cramps. I have also used Zest and it works the same as Safeguard. I don’t know why it works, but I know that it works for me.
Jeff
Boston MA
I have suffered from painful leg cramps in both calfs, (aka “Charley Horse”) since the age of about 45. I am now close to 60. I tried using a name-brand avender soap about 2 years ago with remarkable results. It virtually prevents leg and foot cramps. If the soap is not in the bed or is over 3 to 4 months old, cramps return. Putting my leg near or against the soap will also stop a cramp in progress. My wife doesn’t get foot cramps anymore even with the soap on my side of the bed.
All my friends have had significant prevention or reduction in leg, foot,and hand cramps using this soap. I have a few skeptical friends who refuse to believe it and would apparently rather suffer than spend a couple of dollars at the pharmacy.
shane
Texas
such an interesting thread, my father has CIPD and severe leg cramps, we are looking for ways to help him!
Linda
Kingsport, TN
I have had cramps from my toes to my hips. You could literally see the muscles cramp up and I have even been bruised due to the cramps being so intense. I have use a multitude of different items to help. The only thing that is helping me at all is a bar of soap at the foot of the bed. I am a believer. It is very inexpensive. So glad that I have heard of this.
Denis
Western Australia
After pulling an elastic tubular stocking over my cramped leg, and slipping a bar of soap inside it over the cramped area, the pain went in about 10 minutes, I could feel it easing then disappearing, whether or not is was the soap or it would have gone in 10 mins. anyhow ,I don’t know
SANDRA D.
Oklahoma
I’ve been a hairdresser for over 50 years, and I have used small pieces of soap on top of my feet under socks for quite a while. My colon doctor also told me to drink Gatorade-type drinks, and it really helps with leg and foot cramps.
Cindy
Michigan
I could not believe it when my doctor suggested to put a bar of soap under the bottom sheet at the foot of the bed to relieve my very painful night time leg cramps. Well I wanted to prove that ridiculous theory wrong so I tried it. It worked! Don’t know why but it did and has been working ever since!
Lisa
NY
My mother told me to place soap under my pillow when I called her about my fingers getting locked up. It was painful. I was skeptical but to my surprise it worked like a charm. That was about three years ago. I haven’t had the problem since. It worked for my dad too. My mom put soap under his sheet without telling him. He woke up without cramps. He still thinks my mom is crazy but sleeps with the soap under his sheets every night.
Suuzie
Tennessee
It has worked for me over the years! I was thinking possibly the bar of soap is absorbing humidity under the cover ….I know when it rains my joints hurt. Just a thought!
Donna
Raymond, NH
A friend told me about the soap under the bottom sheet. I was very skeptical but was open to anything for my night-time wake-ups from leg and foot cramps. Have tried a lot of said leg cramp reliefs: Tonic water, leg cramp pills, apple cider vinegar, did find quinine to work but not prescribed anymore. So I thought I’d try soap. Did not have leg cramps for 3 nights. While stretching this morning I felt a twinge in my calf, and I placed the soap on that area. It worked. No cramp. I have no idea why and still don’t. But I will not look a gift horse in the mouth. I’M just blessed it is working for me. 74 and still dancing now.
Debbie
Minneapolis Minnesota United States
I never I’ve tried anything that I’ve read online yet other than soap under my sheet. My husband used to get cramps every night so bad that he would have to jump out of bed and literally scare the heck out of me. So I read up on it, and they said to try soap. We tried it. He no longer gets cramps at night, and I also use it on my side because I think I have restless leg syndrome, and oh my goodness! It works so well that I took it out for a week just to see what would happen, and he started getting cramps again. I’d also wake up in the middle of the night and have to move my feet so much. I put it back in just this Monday, and it works! I swear it’s the best thing in the world. I actually can sleep at night because my husband’s not jumping out of bed with leg cramps!
Kezza
Melbourne, Australia
I thought the whole soap thing was just a silly old wives’ tale. But after recent excruciating leg and foot cramps that kept me awake night after night I was ready to try anything. I had tried taking magnesium, and while it worked initially, it didn’t give relief every night. I put a new bar of soap into a sock on the affected foot, and I got instant relief. I did the same thing the next night and no cramps. Incredible as it seems, it works.
Frances
Ontario.
I have had terrible foot cramps since I had surgery on both my feet. Every few hours at night, tried drinking plenty of water. Magnesium tablets nothing worked. A friend told me about the soap method, used it the last five nights, total relief.
ray smith
Canterbury NZ
I started using soap with zero expectations 4 months ago and I’ve had total relief. I don’t care if it’s placebo – that’s irrelevant. “It works for me”. Prior to that I was up several times a night over many years, waking tired with painfull leg muscles. Both legs often camped at the same time, often front and back muscles. THANKS so much Peoples Pharmacy. Ray Smith NZ
Patricia T
Vancouver, BC
My Osteopath suggested that I try to soap bar remedy, and it worked immediately.
I am very thankful as I never would have happened upon this by myself.
Linda
NC
I have had Restless Leg Syndrome for many years. 10 years ago I heard from friends that a bar of Ivory soap under the sheet at the foot of the bed stopped the twitching and cramping. Tried it, and it worked! I read in the article above that the soap remedy can help with relieving Fibromyalgia, so I will certainly try that. I have always used Ivory, I buy it in the 8 pack, don’t want to run out :)
Bill
MI
My wife, who had finally and suddenly succumbed to heart disease used to have terrible leg cramps and wake me at night when she was in pain. I felt so bad for her. I would sit and massage her calves and feet until the cramps eased so we could sleep. The doctor gave her vitamins and meds and ran blood tests and nothing seemed to help. She worked in the medical field as a medical transcriber for decades so she was knowledgeable in that field. I looked online for home remedies to see if I could find something. I read about using soap between the sheets. We were shopping so I said let’s get a big pack of bar soap and try it. She was skeptical, to say the least. I said, “no lose because we’ll use the soap if it doesn’t work”. We put it under the sheet and it worked until the soap would get old and she would replace it. She swore by it after that even though she and her doctor couldn’t explain why it worked.
Lorraine
Ontario
I started putting a bar of soap (Lily of the Valley) under my top sheet a few weeks ago after hearing that a friend of mine did it and it worked. I would get restless feet and leg and foot cramps before bed. I had been using 100% Lavender Oil, even during the day when I would get foot cramps, and it did work extremely well. I have been telling everyone to use it. Now I get complete relief at night with the bar of soap under the top sheet. I’ve even put a piece of soap in my sock when I have a problem during the day and it works too. And I believe as well, the bar of soap helps me to sleep. Even when I get up, which is usually a few times a night, I have no problem falling right back to sleep. So very big bonus there. It really works….so now I will be telling everyone about the bar of soap in the bed! Just remember it’s in there when you change your bed (you’ll wonder what the thud is when it hits the floor) and it seems you have to refresh it or put in a new bar maybe once a month. It truly works!
Cord
TN
Left hand cramped today, drew out of shape and was very painful. Put a bar of soap in my hand, and the cramping stopped immediately.
GWEN
EDMONTON,ALBERTA
For years I had terrible leg and feet cramps at night. To the point where I had to get out of bed and try to walk them out!!! Horrible, horrible cramps!! I read about this soup under sheet “treatment” and tried it that very night. Weeks and weeks go by and I’m cramp free.
I take the bar out of it’s wrapper and put it under my bottom sheet. I’ve told a few people,some are willing to try and some not. I just figure if the cramps are bad enough they will try it and if not, so be it.
Frankly, I don’t care if it is the “placebo effect.” It works for me and I’m staying with it!!! And I’m very grateful to whoever came up with this in the first place.
Once in a while I do have painful cramps in my hands but I never though about trying a bar of soap but the next time it happens I can promise that I will!!!
Anne
California
It will be considered “scientific” when some pharmaceutical company produces a “Miracle Bar” and markets it at $50.00 each or more! Personally, I laughed at myself for falling for the soap story and now only smile when I wake up after a restful cramp-free night! Never mind why it works….
Barbara
Ontario Canada
I was up every night with horrible Charley horses , we call them. I had broken my leg and then had a broken hip. I still have swelling in my ankle and leg . I put the soap in my bed and forgot about it. My daughter asked me one morning if I was up in the night with cramps and I realized I had not had any since the soap was put in the bed. The best part is the swelling in my ankle and leg. Has diminished and I can finally turn my ankle both ways! I don’t understand the cure but seeing and feeling is believing. I’ll never run out of soap! My mom is 101 and having trouble with hand cramps so I’m going to get her to try holding the soap in her hands while she watches t,v, will keep you posted, thanks for your explanations.
Nancy
Florida
I read your articles frequently and read about the soap for leg cramps years ago. My husband is very skeptical so I put the soap in the bed and didn’t tell him. He stopped having leg cramps and when I told him about the soap, he was surprised. I have shared this with many people since because I am a believer.
Karen
Manchester, MD
It was recommended to me by my physical therapist. I suffer with debilitating cramps on a regular basis. Like several times a week. It usually has me awake for at leadership 30 mins. Since using soap in my bed for the padt month, Ive only had cramps three times and they were very mild and as soon as I touch the soap with my feet the cramps go away completely!!! The weirdest thing I’ve ever experienced… ever!!! Definitely recommend it! Plus, like Ive been saying, what harm can it do if it doesn’t work for you? And your bed always smells nice and clean!
Carol
New York
My husband has suffered from leg cramps for years. Last year I read about the soap for leg cramps in your newsletter. Without telling him, I placed a bar of soap between the mattress pad and fitted sheet.
A week went by and I asked him how his leg cramps were and he said he hadn’t had any. The next week, I asked again and received the same response. I then told him about the soap and he was amazed. No placebo effect here!
Alexander
Bar of Soap works for me. Just do not forget replaced when it stop working.
Full spoon of mustard works too.
Carrie W
Florida
I, too, put the soap in the sock when I go to bed — it seems to work much better that way. But, I didn’t remove the original soap under the sheets — couldn’t hurt.
I have saved the soaps that seemed to run out of effectiveness, so now will shave off the top layer on them and use them over again — great idea! Thanks so much for helping us all to sleep!
Rosemarie
Appleton, wi
Rubbing it on your stomach for belly cramps also works. Wish I had known that when I suffered with the monthly cramping.
Linda C.
WA
I was very skeptical. I thought that all those people who said it worked were suckers who will believe anything. But the soap in my bed has been like a miracle! Before I frequently had severe leg cramps several times a night. They are now gone! Just to be sure it will work, I put several pieces in my bed near my calves every night.
Pam
Dallas, TX
I was introduced to bed soap several years ago after a lengthy stay in the hospital left me with twitching legs and cramps as I came off strong pain medicine. My sister suggested soap in the bed. I tried and it gave immediate relief.
I have had other muscle aches and pains as well as abdominal cramps when I move my desk chair (on wheels) several times a day. So I went to your website and bought the small pieces of soap (Leg Soap) from you and attached them in various places on my body with Transpore tape. I am 67, work 8-10 hours a day with a lengthy commute. I would never be able to keep up without the soap pieces. They keep me from having pain and I can stay off strong meds for pain.
I was so delighted to find your Leg Soap so that I do not have to shave the soap myself.
I use this daily for chronic back pain and knee pain. This solution has been a life changer. Thank you for making the little soap chips!
Susan
Florida
I used to put a bar of Dial soap at the foot of the bed under the bottom sheet but it kept falling out so decided to try putting it in the drawer that holds pillowcases. It works just as well – my husband never has leg cramps.
Larry M
Raleigh, NC
I can’t help wondering…. I don’t get migraines, but your columns are filled with posts from people who do. Has anyone tried ending a migraine headache by holding one fresh bar of soap at the back of the neck and another on the forehead?
Luba
Santa Monica, CA
I have immense gratitude for discovering the leg cramp cure on your website. With a lot of skepticism, I tried using soap, and much to my surprise and disbelief, it worked!!!!! So I thank you so, so much for introducing it to me. Incidentally, the first time I used it, it worked for two or three months… then it didn’t. I decided to take a fork and score the surface. That did it! I know when to do that… just wait until the cramps come back, then score away.
Carol
Charlotte
I’ve used soap-under-the-sheets for several months and swear by it. I’ve also used a bar for hand cramps (just hold it in your hand for a few minutes and the cramp disappears) and for a very strong cramp in my upper leg. That happened as I was reaching across a bed while changing sheets and left me unable to walk because my let went numb. My hubby brought me a bar of soap, I rubbed it at the point of the cramp and all was well in about 3 minutes. I’d like to share a trick for keeping the soap in place under the sheet. Cut down a pair of stockings (not socks) to a little longer than the bar of soap. Gather the extra length and tie in a knot (like you’d tie a balloon). Then pin this little package to the bed pad, under the bottom sheet. Now it can’t be kicked off the bed! I’ve used the same two bars since the beginning and the fragrance is still great, so I believe that the nylon stocking helps to preserve the soap.
Patricia G.
WV
After hearing all these testimonials I decided to try the soap bar treatment and everyone is right, it does work. However, whenever I get the cramps I have to rub the bar across my leg or foot until the cramp goes away. Maybe the soap needs replaced.
Diana
FL
Worked for my dog. I put 2 bars of Ivory under my elderly dog’s pillow and she didn’t wake up once. She had been waking up crying several times during the night with leg pains.
Pat
Cyprus
Certainly helps me (though as a user of only organic products I hate the synthetic smell).
Joyce L.
Lebanon Tn
I’ve tried it for years. I recommend it to every one. It works. Believe it or not it does!
Joyce L
Lenanon Tn
I’ve been using soap in my bed for several years it works great haven’t had leg cramps for years soap does work and I tell people all the time about it I recommend it for leg cramps I am a diabetic for 41 years and bad back problems it works great
Joyce L
Tennessee
Well o be used bar soap for over two years for leg cramps and it works I’ve told several people about it nd they also use soap for the leg cramps also and it same reason leg cramps and it works better than any cream try it because it works better than anything I’ve tried or heard of.
DarB
Tucson, AZ
I was very skeptical when I first read this (actually, I laughed my head off!), but I have such severe problems with foot and leg cramps that I’ll try just about anything. To my complete surprise, it worked immediately! For years, I’ve had such bad cramps in both legs and feet at night that sometimes it feels like my bones are actually going to snap into pieces because the muscles are cramped up so tightly. I’ve tried everything that anyone has ever suggested (and yes, I drink about a gallon of RO water every day, eat fruits and vegetables, take mineral and enzyme supplements), and nothing has worked. The only thing that has ever worked was to get out of bed and walk around the house for 20 minutes or so, and sometimes my feet and legs were so cramped up that I couldn’t straighten them out enough to be able to walk, so I’d have to lean against the wall for a few minutes until I could stand up. This has been happening almost every night, sometimes twice a night, for at least five years.
Imagine my amazement when something as simple as a bar of soap made it all stop immediately. After reading about it here, I now keep a bar of soap in bed, positioned between my lower calf and ankle, and … for joy, for joy!! … no more cramps to speak of. In the past two weeks since I started using the soap trick, I have only had a couple of very minor cramps (small, “normal” cramps, nothing bone-cracking like before). When that happened, I held the soap directly against the cramp, and it completely stopped within about 10 seconds. Unbelievable !!! I’m hopeful that soon the cramps will stop completely, when they realize that The Soap is here to stay!!!. Thank you, thank you, thank you to The People’s Pharmacy for all the wonderful (and sometimes weird) information that you share.
Merdene
N.
I am trying the Ivory soap for what is a leg cramp behind the knee that feels like a throbbing ache rather than severe sharp pain. It takes five or ten minutes to subside; however, I bought an OTC topical medication for the condition, and it soothes and warms the skin very quickly so that the cramp goes away. The fact that I get the cramps in only one leg makes me think that an old injury (from falling off a bike as a kid) may come back in the form of a leg cramp. I wonder if, since the oils and perfumes in soap may ease the pain, wouldn’t perfume itself, or essential oils work also?
Eve
WA
I have had serious leg cramps for years. I am talking about the type that blow you out of bed and rage for hours, leaving residual pain throughout the following day.
I tried this out of desperation. No cramps since day one. I am beyond grateful.
Kathleen
Washington IA
I know it sounds absolutely crazy but my 92 year old mother had suffered with leg cramps for years and now I started having trouble. I TELL YOU IT WORKS! I don’t care why; I’m just happy to get a good night’s rest. I use Ivory but it sounds like others have results with any brand.
Michele
VIRGINIA
Soap in the bed is the only thing that works for me. I have always had terrible foot cramps but had begun to also have calf cramps that were unbearable. My parents told me that their doctor had recommended the soap trick and had no idea why it worked. I tried it and it’s fantastic.
I’ve been doing it for a month, and suddenly I’ve started getting some minor cramping again. I think it’s time to score or shave the soap. So glad that I read this article!
Mary
London
It works. Without a doubt. Thanks for the great article.
Gail
VA
I read a doctor’s blog on soap to prevent leg cramps. I started to get a very bad cramp in my right leg about twice a week, and often have foot cramps. I thought, “Silly, but what do I have to lose?” IT WORKS!! I find it actually prevents it if I feel one coming on and I put the bar of soap directly on the area. One night I woke up with a cramp and couldn’t remember where the soap was (in the bathroom). This is proof enough for me.
Bonnie
Phoenix, AZ
I have Systemic Lupus, IBS, and Sjogren’s. Unfortunately, my immune system flares at the drop of a hat, so my doctor and I have had to go to alternative therapies for any relief/treatment. I have to be very careful what I do for myself at any given time as I will react to things normally prescribed to anyone with these conditions. I had leg cramps plague me for several years and heard of this bit of placing a bar of soap between the sheets, near my feet, several times and thought this was just too simple. But, I do know that “simple” is sometimes best and gave it a try. Instead of just placing the bar between the top and bottom/fitted sheets, though, I rubbed it onto the fitted bottom sheet and then left it there where it would lay between my feet. The leg cramps stopped, not just at night, but during the day as well. I removed the bar to see if that would make a difference; it really didn’t. I like to keep it there, though.
So, I thought, perhaps, there was a placebo effect going on here and decided to try this with my husband without him knowing about it. I rubbed a bar of soap on the area where his legs and feet lay at night, then slipped the bar under the fitted sheet. He didn’t notice it there. As he has RLS, diagnosed by his physician, he’s been given prescriptions for meds he can’t tolerate and didn’t want to go that route. Now, the RLS has stopped and, when he told his physician about the soap, once I’d revealed to him my little experiment, his physician is left scratching his head. That doctor has told my husband that he’s going to try it himself, though.
As I also have severe cramping in my hands, I now use nothing but bar soap to wash them with. Most of those cramps have ceased and they only come up slightly when I’ve been using my hands a lot for typing, cooking, or cleaning.
I wouldn’t suggest anyone go off their meds or do anything against their physician’s guidance, but as this really doesn’t seem to hurt or have any negative side effects, what’s the harm in it. All a person is out is the cost of a bar of soap. The brand I’m using is Jergen’s and that, to me, is very nice. As I rub it on the bottom sheet almost nightly, that refreshes the surface of the bar and releases whatever goodness that’s in it to help it do its job, it seems. After doing this for several months now, I’ve not had a flare or rash develop, which is awesome for me.
Salvatore
New Jersey
I would get leg cramps just about every night, when I heard a lady masseuses on the internet say you will not believe this until you try it. If you get leg cramps at night when in bed put a bar of soap under the covers with you, you can put it in a sock if you like, and you will not get cramps at night in bed any more, so I did and she was so right. I couldn’t stop telling people about it. I was having lunch in a restaurant at the shore, Sandy Hook, and I told a lady in the restaurant that was having leg cramps how to eliminate the cramps with a bar of soap. When I told her two men sitting next to me almost fell on the floor from laughing. Then they told me this friend of mine next to me said he has been using soap for cramps under the covers for years now and I never believed him, I thought he was just out of his mind.
Norma
Lake city florida
I’ve only tried for three nifhts, but that’s three nights without cramps. You’ve got to love those old wives tales.
Shy
Do you guys have a similar explanation for the similarly strange belief that putting a bundle of wine corks in your bed can also stop cramps? I’ve heard this recently from people who swear by it but can’t fathom the theory behind such a belief.
Terry Graedon
Never heard that one. It’s hard to imagine it would be comfortable…or that it would work. If somebody tries it, please report.
Dianne
San pedro
My husband lost his his leg in a motorcycle accident and get a phantom pain and nerve pain. And recently he has been experiencing really bad leg cramps in his right calf a few times a night. That leg is stressed from doing extra work to support him sometimes. Anyway, he researched and found a link about soap and leg cramps. He decided to give it a try but instead of putting under the sheet he puts directly on the leg and it’s been 7 straight nights and not in any time during his sleep has he woken up with a cramp. They’re GONE! And his short leg nerve pain has severely decreased and some of those nights it’s 100% calm. So people can say what they want about this being all in people’s mind that it’s working, I see first hand every night that’s it is really working and thank God. Can’t hurt to try it and see for yourself.
Vicki
Illinois
I have had leg cramps for years and nothing I tried would help me. A friend at work kept telling me to use the soap under the sheets method. I thought she was crazy! After a week of waking up 2-3 times a night with horrible cramps that took 10-15 min to walk off, I finally decided to try putting a bar of soap between the sheets. It has been a week now, and I’ve not had one cramp!!! I am so excited! I even feel better because I can have a full nights sleep with no interruptions.
Gail
I also put it right on my leg or foot and NO CRAMPS!!
Joe
nsw
As a cynic I was skeptical about this remedy. My sister told me about it and in the five years since I’ve had no night cramps. A week ago I was away from home and forgot to use soap in the bed. I had cramp twice during the night. Next night I used soap and had no recurrence. I have however experienced “pre-cramp” feelings at night and some cramp during the day.
gloria
Indiana
Sometimes I will wear the bar of soap in socks IT works I don’t know why but it does.
Critina
South America
My name is Cristina from Asuncion, Paraguay. Many years ago a friend told me about ubbing a bar o soap on the cramp area. I have never heard of putting it on the bed but for sure there us a bar on my night table. I can testify any time in front of whoever that it works. I assure you that it is not placebo effect because i have try every wife tale and nothing worked. Eating bananas before bed and during the cramp. Stepping on cold tle floor. Running hot water. Massaging. Oatmeal paste, just to mention some options. Nothing works. The soap for me works like magic, instantaneously. In all truth I do not care why it works but it does. Thanks for the research and explanation
Judith
Windsor Ontario Canada
I have suffered with leg cramps most of my adult life.tonic water helped for a while but I don’t think they put as much quinine in the water any more because of the harmful effect on the liver. Soap under the sheets is a blessing it has ended my leg cramps and allowed me to get a good night’s sleep
Mary
Texas
I am a 75 year woman in fairly good health but was having foot and leg cramps every night. I went to the doctor and she said to take magnesium.
Her nurse spoke up and said her grandmother swore by a bar of soap in the bed. The doctor laughed and said she had heard of it but there was no scientific evidense.
I was desperate and that night. A bar of soap went to bed with me. No cramps. Sometimes I will lie on top of the cover and I will feel the cramps coming on and I will stick my legs under the cover and in a few seconds the cramps are gone. It may not cure them but it certainly does help. I’m a believer.
Judy
Hendersonville, NC
Is one soap better then another
Katie
Alabama
In my experience a soap with a stein smell like Coast or Zest works best.
Chris
Los Angeles
Ivory works best. Dove and Dial do not work.
Sue
Bunnythorpe New Zealand
I am a believer of the soap in the sheets thing. Personally I did not think it would work but I decided to give it a go and since I have had a bar of lavender soap in my bed, I have not had cramp at all. I am thinking about not taking my magnesium each night now just to see if the soap theory is correct. I am hoping so as it would be cheaper for me. However, on another note, I remember my late dad having a bar of camphor in his bed as he also suffered with night cramps badly. He swore the camphor alleviated the cramps also.
Louise
South Carolina
Myself and the majority of my family suffer from the Family Curse — severe leg cramps at least once a night. One day a friend asked why I was so tired, I explained I had been woken up every hour the night before with severe leg cramps so yes, I was exhausted.
She asked if I’d ever tried soap under the sheets. I thought she was crazy, but I was desperate. I had immediate relief and have had no cramps in my legs since sleeping with a bar of soap. It may seem crazy, but I don’t care — it works!
Donna
Clemson S.C.
I’m thinking of putting slivers of soap in socks to sleep in.
Joe Graedon
Donna, why not buy your Leg Soap product? We have already created soap chips for this very purpose. Makes the process really easy. No worries about slipping and cutting yourself with a knife. Here’s a link:
https://www.peoplespharmacy.com/store/body-care/peoples-pharmacy-leg-soap/
Rhoni
Georgia
I placed a bar of soap in my daughter’s bed because she’d complained with her legs hurting. I am the one that changes the bed so the next time I changed the bed I removed the soap and she complained her legs hurt again. So I replaced the soap and they stopped. I haven’t told her about this and she hasn’t noticed it. What teen would. I make her bed ,change it weekly. So it works. She hasn’t complained with leg cramps in over a year . Hell a package of soap is 3 bars for dollar at local dollar store , so if that keeps us out of Dr office then I’ll spend that every 6 months.
Betty
Jacksonville Florida
All I can say is I have tried it and it works. I’m in retail and after long hours on my feet my legs ache. Putting the soap at my feet at night made a huge difference. My legs were not sore the next morning.
Lori
Rochester, New York
I’ll tell you what!!! I’ve been experiencing leg cramps for a very, very long time in addition to my legs feeling like they have little spiders, if you will, crawling on them!! That soap trick’s working is NOT NOT NOT IN MY head! If doctors or other health care providers experienced this they would know it does work!! Sure I was standoffish but it’s soap under the sheets. It either works or it doesn’t. IT DOES, so all the naysayers “boo” to you! If you’re experiencing cramps in the legs, give it a try!
Pat
GA
I, too, was skeptical when I saw a woman holding a bar of soap on an internet page and claiming relief from nightly leg cramps. But sharing her cramping experience, I was willing to try it — it would only cost a bar of soap. If it didn’t work I’d just put it in the shower! Blessed relief!!! Several relatives and friends have now taken my advice to “try it” with positive results. I hope research may expand the unique “treatment” for other types of pain too. I’ve used Dove because that’s what I had on hand—so, for months now, my husband and I have slept “cramp free” with two bars under the fitted sheet!!!
Virginia M
Brentwood CA 94513
I rub the bottom of my feet after a shower with soap and put socks on.
It relieved my RLS. When I first heard about it I was spectical but how much does a bar of soap cost and it works.
Just putting it under the sheet does not work and be sure your feet are clean before you do it.
RG
Southern California
I have been using Irish Spring bar soap in my bed for several years. It works like a charm. As you mentioned in your article, the bars of soap lose their potency after about three months. I replace them after that time, and I continue to have no leg cramps.
Kg
pasadena
I’ve suffered for yrs with my toes wanting to contort, my feet seemingly trying to develop another joint (as if), and the calf muscles twisting like a candy cane stripe from ankle to knee. Excruciating to the point of crying. I’ve taken a powdered calcium/magnisum supplement nightly, and know that when I stop, the cramps come back in a couple days. My husband reminded me of the Ivory soap like friends have mentioned. I thought it was an old wives tale… it’s not going to work – how could it. It’s weird, I can’t understand why, but it has worked for a week straight with no cramps waking me up in the middle of the night, or during a workout at the gym. I’m skeptical, but hey, it’s working so far.
Kathy
NS
I had suffered for a long time with leg cramps, spasms and even charlie horses. The charlie horses were so intense I would literally wake from a sound sleep, pretty much jumping out of bed, the pain was so intense it felt like my bones were going to fracture. I would stand and stretch so many times a night. sleep was interrupted so much and I would wake up with my legs hurting so bad from the spasms.
It was suggested to put a bar of irish spring soap under my bed sheet. Today I DO NOT have leg cramps, no muscle spasms and very rarely a charlie horse. I replace the soap every 2-3 mths or I shave the outer part off the soap to renew it. No matter what ppl say about it being all in my head.
I know it is not cause once the soap gets old, my cramps come back. No matter what it is, I will always have a bar of soap under my bottom sheet. Try it if you suffer. What do you have to lose? Oh yeah just nasty leg cramps…
Loni
Iowa
I have had sleepless nights due to leg and feet cramps. Put the soap in bed have not had any since! Also have arthritis in my toes, was painful to have the sheets touch my feet, that also has disappeared. Will always use the soap it’s a miracle!
Joni
NC
Joni
NC
April 1, 2017
For years I had terrible problems with my legs hurting especially in the evenings. I then had two hamstring/ankle injuries that caused severe pain and kept me from falling asleep at night. Three weeks ago I tried this soap method and am happy to report- I stopped taking the 3 Aleve
pain pills I was up to a night. From the first night of putting the soap in my bed- absolutely no pain! It worked for me, and I swear by it!
Elsie
Ontario
Last night when I lay down in bed I began to experience a severe cramp in my right lower leg. Nothing seemed to relieve it and then I remembered what my mother had told me many decades ago and reached for the nearest bar of soap. Because my feet are very cold in bed, most every night I wear socks to sleep. I tucked the bar of soap into the front of my right sock and the cramps immediately subsided and I had a most wonderful sleep.
Elsie
Ontario
I used Olay bar soap.
Cathy
Arizona
I’ve had the most excruciating leg, knee, foot, ankle, thigh, shin cramps consistently for years. I would literally wake up, jump (when possible) out of bed, hang onto furniture and try to walk it off. This happened several times each night. I heard about the soap in the bed and decided to try it last week. I haven’t had a cramp of any sort since then. I am a definite believer and boy does it feel good to be able to sleep through the night! My sheets from this point out will always have soap at the bottom of the bed.
Ronnie
texas
it works leg cramps gone
Connie
Ontaro
I first saw this remedy on Facebook. I giggled I waited a few nights so I thought I would try it. Wow I actually slept through the night. I had severe leg cramping foot cramping on both legs at the same time every night. I would have to get up to walk by holdin on to furniture until I was able to get relief. This was every night. Never I was able to get a full nights sleep. I’m on my fourth night and it is heaven. I told my husband and he says it’s all in the mind. I said all in the mind as long as it works I recommend it
Kay
KZN South Africa
Hi, I heard about the soap and thought it was utter rubbish I have been on medication which people with Alzheimers take for over 15 years and I thought what the heck let me a try but because I was skeptical it didnt work and I decided to give it another try after seeing articles about it more and more and would ;you believe it does work!!! I am off meds now for 2 weeks and what a relief!!!! My pharmacist will be at a loss though lol
Mike
North Carolina
Me and my wife had been fighting restless legs and cramps for 3 years. Tried the soap three weeks ago it has stopped for us both I had been told of this years ago but now I know it works.
Carl
Portland, OR
After talking with my med insurance provider lady Friday, I’m going to give it try. Put the soap in the bed Friday night and today read the article. Going to also try apple cider vinegar/honey and the Tonic water as well.
I’m tired of pain. The jury is out.
Linda
Florida
My sister in law told me about putting a bar of soap in my bed to get rid of my leg cramps. I laughed when she told me since I tried everything to relieve the cramps for years and nothing worked consistently. But just for giggles I tried it last week when I changed my sheets. It really does work!
Shell
NC
I’m not sure what to think, I had horrid leg & foot cramps last night. I got up and tried to walk them off and then remembered something about a bar of soap at the foot of the bed… so I opened a box and put a bar of Leaver soap at the foot of the bed. instant relief, not another cramp for the rest of the night. I have been thinking about the oddity of this cure all day – was it the walking or the soap?
Dorothy
Wisconsin
I was helping my friend who had a hip replacement at her home for a week. When I undid her bed I noticed a bar of soap and asked her about it, and l laughed. Well, I occasionally get leg cramps and thought I would try it . The first night and only night I had put a bar of Yardley soap in my bed and during the night I had an annoying flicking type of sensation in my left knee which had been previously been replaced about four years ago . It drove me crazy and sometime during the night I took it off my bed and I no longer felt that annoying feeling. Just thought I would mention this as weird as it sounds. But I’m certainly a firm believer that something in that soap reacted to my nerves or ?
Grace
CA
My dad suffered from leg cramps and also used the bar of soap for relief. We chalked it up to another one of his eccentricities and had a good laugh over it. But now that I’ve been suffering with leg cramps for the past month, I’ll be giving it a try. My dad said that only Ivory soap worked, but apparently any soap will work judging from the comments. Hope it works, have been dreading going to sleep at night.
Charlotte
Appreciate the article! This morning, woke up with a cramp in my left leg and had to get up and press my foot to the floor to alleviate it. I’ve seen this home remedy mentioned before, and I laughed. But now, armed with this new info, am gonna give it a try! (I have a bar of lavender soap that I haven’t opened yet. It’s in a box, so I don’t know if leaving it in the box will still work – that is, if the circumstantial evidence is true. I figure some of the people it could work via a placebo effect as well as the ‘vapors’ or whatev.
Jerry
Chattanooga TN
I was told only Ivory soap worked too…
Vicki
SC
I, too, was very skeptical, but thought, what the heck! It’s a buck and I can use the soap in the shower. THAT WAS 6 YEARS AGO!!! I absolutely swear by the soap under the sheet.
I recently moved and have low back pain. I couldn’t sleep for a few nights and realized that I had not put a bar of soap under my sheet. Once I did, I’m sleeping like a baby again. I use the soap for low back pain so I place it higher in the bed in line with my back. I have another one near the foot of my bed for leg cramps. I use Irish Spring, but I think most soaps seem to work.
Lola
St. Louis
I was skeptical when told I should put Ivory soap between sheet and mattress cover. Leg cramps that made me get out of bed and walk have now been gone for two weeks. Not even one little cramp.
Avis
Nevada
Soap works, even for skeptics. My leg cramps returned and I discovered the soap has fallen out of the bed and was on the floor … apparently too far from me to help. Restored the soap, leg cramps stopped. Another excellent remedy is drinking a mixture of apple cider vinegar and honey. Hot water will dissolve the honey.
No particular amount is recommended, but vinegar is strong and you only need a splash of it. The minerals in the apple cider vinegar are, I think, what does the trick. Don’t need much…just a swallow or two before bed or even earlier in the day.
Laura
Albuquerque, NM
I step, without shame, from the ranks of the skeptics into the ranks of those who have experienced cessation of leg cramps after the simple addition of bar soap under the sheet of the bed. The skeptical mind thinks, ‘This is far too easy to effect a cure’; after a month solid without a single cramp I’m thankful and convinced. Prior to the soap I had tried long courses of magnesium, potassium, and turmeric, drinking water before bed, not drinking water, and stretching — with zero help. The soap has done away with severe foot and leg cramps since the first night.
I use Kiss My Face Olive Oil soap from my local health food store (Sprouts).
Barbara
FL
I have been using Dial Soap between the sheet and the mattress for quite some time. It does work. Sometimes if I have been doing strenuous walking or working I will have to revert to an age old remedy: vinegar, honey and a little water to swallow and appease the cramps.
Ramon
New Mexico
My wife read about the soap under the sheets thing and told me about it.
I did not believe it would work. I am seventy years old and was remodeling
our house late last summer. I was getting cramps on my legs and feet three
to four times a week. I had to take Motrin’s often, and they would work for
me but it would take about thirty minutes to do so. One night as I went to
bed I felt something under the sheets. My wife had tried to sneak a bar of
soap under the sheets. I left it there to make her happy and to prove it would
not work. I did not have cramps that night and have not had cramps since.
It has been four month. I do not know how it works, but it does.
Stardusty
Washington
just a note; Tonic water would help, it contains quinine which we prescribed to our patients for years for leg cramps and are given to military as well for same reason. Also, thank you for all this info. we are going to try this for RLS.
miriam
CT
My bar of soap is still in the wrapper. It has been under the fitted sheet for six months now. How do you explain that?
Regina R Weaver
OH
The bar of soap works for me.
Heather
QLD
Well now, I am sensitive to fragrances so I use unscented soap. Yet still this soap under the bed sheet has worked for me too. I also have an old bar of soap. It’s years old, as I stocked up on this purer soap when the chemist that sold it moved away. So back to the drawing board, scientists!
Heatther
QLD
Well now I am sensitive to fragrances so I use unscented soap. Yet still this soap under the bed sheet has worked for me too. Back to the drawing board scientists.
Marie
Az.
Thank You! (for your explanation). I experience cramps in the back of my thighs, when I sit and play cards for a few hrs. They are excruciating. I had this experience New Years Eve. My host gave me a new bar fresh out of the box. As soon as I got near enough to the skin, the pain was completely relieved, and it did not return, as I continued to sit for another hour and half. I was very aware of the sudden relief. Thank you for informing others about this simple way of relief. I must remember to carry a new bar of soap with me when I know I am going to be sitting any length of time.
Jai
Bayville NJ
Hi, I also read through some of the comments and have also heard about the soap. I too was a bit leery and decided to give it a try. Well it did work after only one night. I did have a bit of cramping but nothing like I was. I will continue to try this and I hope those awful leg cramps in my right leg due to a pinched nerve and the good old menopause go away. Not sure which is the culprit. I will post more if anything changes. Thanks.
Eddie
Tulsa, ok
OMG, it works for me. Have arthritis, and the relief is great!
Debbie
Lincoln, Ca
I have suffered for years with restless leg syndrome. It normally takes me anywhere from 1 1/2 – 2 hours to fall asleep every night due to the herking and jerking of my legs and body. My daughter told me about the soap fix. I was very willing to try anything at this point. Nothing sounds too crazy when you’re exhausted. I placed a bar of Caress soap under my feet and literally for the first time in years, I fell asleep immediately. Thinking it might be a fluke, I did it two nights in a row…. I slept like a baby again. This is remarkable. I could never try to explain the whole fragrance molecules aspect to someone but I know something this works and
I’m absolutely ecstatic.
Meg
Georgia
I get cramped fingers so severely that I have to use my other hand to “peel” my fingers out straight. The soap works like magic after a minute or two. I had severe scoliosis that required surgery to straighten out my spine in order for me to be able to walk. The spinal column required titanium rods and pins to keep the vertebra together and maintain stability.
I get cramps in many areas of the body. I inquired with the doctor as to why I get cramps so often and in so many areas of the body. The doctor confirmed it was due to the issues with my spine. So, with often pain and deformed looking fingers, I was willing to try the soap. Simply said, the pain went away and the fingers relaxed. The soap works for cramps anywhere they occur in my body. Unfortunately, cramps can spring up anywhere and anytime in my body and it is not always practical to grab a bar of soap.
I would like to mention that recently I tried an experiment of my own. I began having pain in my right piriformis muscle ( approximately in the middle of the “butt” cheek, often responsible for irritating the sciatic nerve by compressing the nerve when the muscle becomes tight . This is not a problem in my case) so, I placed the bar of soap where I was having pain. The pain disappeared; I suspect the pain will return at some point just like the cramps, but at least I can obtain relief of the pain so I can walk without discomfort. Incidentally, I am sixty-four years old. How can it be that a bar of soap can have this effect? Well, I cannot answer that question, but I am happy to say I can play my piano anytime and walked the dogs with my husband without suffering from the muscle pain.
Thank you for reading my very long comment. Meg G.
Sally S
Washington
Soap works to alleviate my feet – leg cramps!! I use two large soaps one for each foot-leg. If my soap ages I get a new one or I scape it as previously advise. I take soaps on vacaction; it surprises the maids to see soap between the sheets! SOAP WORKS TO REMOVE FOOT-leg CRAMPS!
Tina h
Ohio
I will try it out tonight. CAN’T WAIT, SO MANY POSITIVE RESPONSES!!!
Mary
Where I live it is very hot and humid. I found open small bars of soap caused mildew on the mattress cover. I decided to try UNOPENED (sealed in plastic) small bars of soap under the bottom sheet. No more mildew.
It is not a 100% yet I am pretty sure my night time cramps are fewer.
Joy
Jupiter, FL
I have long suffered with cramps in my legs and feet for years, especially after playing tennis I would dread the night. A friend told me about the soap trick and it sounded so stupid and far fetched but I tried it anyway. Happy to report that I haven’t had a cramp since I put the soap under the bottom sheet. Made a believer out of me it did. No idea how it works but it has for me
Krysta
North Carolina
I have restless leg syndrome and after trying medication to relieve it, I stopped because the side effects of the medication were awful. I heard about this treatment and thought why not! I tried it last night and it actually worked. Honestly, I am amazed. I was a little restless, but I’d say 80% of the restlessness was gone and I could actually sleep!
Judy
California
I have had severely bad cramps foe several years now. My usual course of action was to treat the cramp after it arrived. I keep mustard packets at my bedside and have tried pickle juice and baking soda under my tongue (works very quickly, but not pleasant).
My sister told me about the bar of soap. I put a new bar of Dove on top of the fitted sheet 2 weeks ago and cramps are gone.
I know this is to quick to offer proof pisitive, but at this point a bar of soap will stay in my bed.
Jennifer
Barbados
I have suffered from leg and foot cramps in bed for years. Complaints to doctors have led to expensive diagnostic tests to ascertain circulation problems and issues with my veins. I tried the soap (admittedly inside socks , not under sheets) a few years ago without success but the soap may have been too old, so I will try it again.
However, I am curious about any solutions for foot cramps which I suffer while swimming in salt or fresh water for periods upwards of 30 minutes. Has anyone else had this experience. This I have ascribed so far to lowering temperature.
Elma B
Houston Texas
Soap might work but too risky for a trial as I suffered from night cramps on my legs & feet.
Then I discovered that Ben Gay is a miracle over the counter medicine that works almost instantly when applied on the cramp.
Sara
Michigan
The soap theory works. I had cramps in the arches of my feet almost nightly and I tried soap under the sheet, the problem was that it fell out or moved, so I took it a step further and broke a small bar of soap in half and put the pieces in socks. Works great! No more cramps in my arches.
carol
Scottsdale, AZ
I have used soap for many years for all muscle cramps. The perfume theory is new to me but it makes sense. I was told it was the sodium chloride in the soap that attracted the potassium to your muscle. Whatever the reason it works, I don’t give a hoot. I have bars of soap everywhere. My primary care doctor never heard of the soap fix.
Pauline M
Wales uk
I tried this, just to prove it was a stupid idea. I have suffered leg cramp and restless legs for years. Guess what??? I must eat my “soap” words. For over two weeks, I have not had any discomfort and am sleeping much better. Thank you whoever you are for this idea.
Ladyroxanne
USA
A few months ago, I was experiencing extreme nightly leg cramps and I read about putting a bar of soap under my sheets. I figured I’d try it, after all what could it hurt. I did it and I have never had another leg cramp. Recently, I went on a two week vacation and did not use the bar of soap. My cramps never returned. I still keep a bar of soap under my sheets.
My cramps were unbearable and now they are gone. Try it…
Judy
Texas
One of the worker’s at my job came in at the end of the day suffering with leg cramps and the old wives tales began to swirl around the office. Well, Meemaw’s pickle jar was still in the fridge from over a year ago and even though the pickles were long gone, somehow the juice was still there.
This kid drank guzzled down about a cup or so of that old juice and as the chatter continued about other things like soap in the bed, I just had to Google it! By the time I read your article, our young man was feeling better for sure and went home happy. Then I told my co-worker about the bed soap, AND ABOUT HOW IT MAY HELP HAND CRAMPS. She wears a “thing” strapped to her wrist and she rests her hand on a special pad. She’s probably gonna try it out. Thanks so much for doing the research and putting it online. Much appreciated.
Christy
Vancouver, WA
I used to prevent night-time leg cramps by eating a cup of plain nonfat yogurt that has 400 mg potassium per serving. When I later developed a milk allergy accompanied by skin rashes, I had to stop with the yogurt. The leg cramps returned.
Taking a quinine tablet sublingually (under the tongue) works relatively quickly, as does tonic water with quinine. I imagine the nasty flavor of the quinine is achieving the stimulation of the mouth, throat, and stomach. I know for me that quinine does not work as a preventative, whereas the high-potassium yogurt did.
My stepmother takes a lot of B-Vitamin super-complex (1 in the morning, two at night), with good results. She keeps quinine pills at her bedside for when the rare leg cramp does strike. Since quinine can be toxic, I think I would really like to try the mustard, cinnamon or pickle juice instead. Has anyone tried a cinnamon candy or gum?
Sarah
Charlesston, SC
Soap works beautifully–though it kept getting lost in the bed, now I just keep a bar in my bed table in case I need it–I also keep mustard and a silver (colored) spoon. I find they all work immediately. So does glycerine. Frankly, I don’t care whether it’s a placebo effect or not, as long as it’s safe. One time in a hotel room in Europe my husband had a leg cramp–but it was quickly gone with a small hotel soap!
HEIDE KAPLAN
Delray Beach, FL
I have been keeping Ivory Soap under my bottom sheet for years and haven’t had the cramps that I used to have. I refresh with a new bar about every 3 months (and I then use the old bar in the shower-I don’t throw it away so there is no waste). When sitting in my recliner watching TV or reading I occasionally get a leg cramp mainly thigh, I tried the pickle juice, taste MUCH better than apple cider vinegar, and that has given me immediate relief. THANK YOU for all your ideas.
I shall try soap against my sore muscles after golf or other sport activity.
Anita
Berkshire, MA
I suffered from pain in my legs for several years. It would be so bad sometimes that I would “pound” my legs as hard as I could with the heel of my other foot-which did nothing to help. I came across the soap method on this website for restless leg syndrome. I was sure I did NOT have RLS but figured I’d try it anyway. First 2 days I didn’t feel relief, but on the 3rd day the pain was gone. Every once in a while I will switch the bar of soap when I have a sense of the feeling again. It always works. I will always keep a bar of soap under my sheet. I even did it on a cruise but the room attendant kept removing it.
My sister suffered with leg pain too, and I told her to try it. She, of course, thought I was “nuts” but I asked her what she had to lose. She is now a faithful user too.
I tell everyone. Best advice ever. I love this website.
Anita
Berkshire, MA
I suffered from pain in my legsfor several years. It would so bad sometimes that I would “pound” my legs as hard as I could with the heel of my other foot-which did nothing to help. I came across the soap method on this website for restless leg syndrome. I was sure I did NOT have RLS but figured I’d try it anyway. First 2 days I didn’t feel relief, but on the 3rd day the pain was gone. Every once in a while I will switch the bar of soap when I have a sense of the feeling again. It always works. I will always keep a bar of soap under my sheet. I even did it on a cruise but the room attendant kept taking it out.
My sister suffered with leg pain too and I told her to try it. She, iof course, thought I was “nuts” but I asked her what she had to lose. She is now a faithful user too. I tell everyone. Best advise ever.
Jonathan Videri Evans
SHORELINE, WA
I found the article and was intrigued by the title. I read through everything and the comments as well and I decided to try it that very night. I did and it worked!! I put a bar of ‘hotel soap’ the kind that comes in a little box (lightly scented) and placed it in the pillowcase that contains the sand pillow I use to prop up my knees in bed. After having gone through all too many nights of sudden cramps and spasms in my lower legs and feet, no cramps… nothing at all. It was probably the best night’s sleep I have had in ages. I have no idea how it works but THAT it works is enough for me. Thank the stars!!
Konrad Wassenaar
Brisbane, Australia
It was one of the best days of my life when I stumbled across the soap in the socks article about 10 weeks ago. I placed two small pieces in my cocks and placed 2 pieces under the bottom bed sheet. The results were immediate, although for years I would get a daily dose of leg cramps during the night. At times so severe that I screamed the house down from the pain. Although I have since been diagnosed with some heart problems for which I receive medication that as a side effect can cause muscle cramps, I am still free of any cramps. I am now telling any doctor I come in contact with, some just shrug their shoulders while others are taking it seriously. Miracles are still happening.
Dick
Birmingham, AL
I get cramps in my hands especially when driving in the morning and now keep a bar of soap in the car, hold it while driving with one hand and the cramps go away!
Jack
Garland , Tx
I have found that putting a small sliver of soap in my left sock stops the leg cramp I get
during one of our mat exercises. This is one where lying on our backs and we raise our left leg
and bring our knee up to our hips. Then place our right leg over our left knee and lower our
foot to the floor. Without the soap I tend to get a cramp in my right leg.
Cindy M. Black
The soap comments are always the most entertaining! I just read them all and laughed over and over. And yes, I do use the soap too, and it does work. I had several pieces of old soap under the bottom sheet and eventually I started getting some leg cramps again. Realized the soap pieces were about 2 years old, so I tossed them and put new soap in. Voila, not one leg cramp since then!
Patrick
Indiana
As a professional paper pusher and weekend gardener and landscape hobbyist I frequently am awaken on weekend nights by severe hand and finger cramps stemming from my weekend garden and yard labor. I keep a small (hotel size) bar of soap in my bedside stand and hold it in my affected hand. Within seconds the cramps diminish and in mere minutes the cramps disappear and do not return. The bar I am using now I have used for at least a year — the scent has diminished but still present but the effectiveness has not diminished.
Judy
Cleveland OH
The soap works for me. I’m not sure why but who cares? I also bought some leg cramp ointment and I found this works also. I told my husband, I usually smell like a salad after rubbing it on but it stops the pain with seconds. I’ve mentioned this to my brothers and sisters and also my friends. I’m sure the doctors could prescribe some kind of pain relief but between the prices and side-effects from the prescribed drugs, I’ll go with old fashion remedies before resorting to prescriptions. Right now I take 2 tart cherry capsules daily to help my restless leg syndrome and it is almost 100% effective. If I do have a bout of it, I just take a few more capsules a day and after a couple of days, I drop back down to my 2 daily capsules. Going to try the soap theory on some my arthritis shoulder.
Suzanne
I have a regular bar of soap on my bedside table, and whenever I get a calf or foot muscle cramp I immediately rub it with the soap. The cramp disappears almost immediately and doesn’t return, at least for the night. I use soap from my natural grocery; I haven’t tried soap like Ivory and other well-known brands. I haven’t had success with soap under the sheet because I toss and turn and don’t know where my legs will be when the cramp hits.
Ginnie Siena Bivona
TX
I’ve been using soap under the bottom sheet on my bed for years!! But…lately it hasn’t been working as well…however, I didn’t know about shaving the bar. I’ll do that today. And when my leg started cramping a couple of nights ago I got up to try the mustard thing, reluctantly. Mustard, in the middle of the night…right outta the bottle? Eeew! However, I had a bottle of honey mustard in the fridge, and it tasted waaay better, stopped the cramps, and I went back to sleep smiling. So now I have two great proven remedies. Thanks Peoples Pharmacy!!
LyeSoap
Cumming GA USA
Well, we have been making soap for 18 years now, selling and shipping it all over the country. And it has also brought relief to many customers and to ourselves. The ingredients in our soap are: lye (sodium hydroxide), lard (food grade fatty acid) and water from the tap. We are proud that there are NO perfumes, fragrances, etc in our soap, Pure N Simple. We have three other varieties to which we simply add the actual ingredients of: cinnamon and oatmeal from the grocery store, or fresh lemons from the grocery store, or dried lavender flowers. Again, there is NO perfume or fragrances or essential oils in any of our soap. Yet it works for pain! So for this reason I an inclined to believe that the remedy is from something other than fragrance. Photos of our soap and alot of information can be found at http://www.lyesoap.com
GAYLE
OR - Oregon
I save soap chips from the bath and use them under the sheet. They are thinner than a bar. I prefer them in a semi-circle where my calves are.
CAWDERY
For myself soap does not work but a small glass of cold water immediately before going to bed seems to work.
Betsy St John
Norfolk, Va
I have been using the bar under the sheet for years and swear by it. Also if I get a cramp up the shin or in the upper leg or my hands have a tendency to cramp. I use liquid hand soap and rub it in like hand lotion and within 5 minutes all my cramping isgone. Sounds stupid but it really works.
P.O.
Canad
For years I suffered with severe leg cramps. My foot would even contort and the muscles in my leg could be seen due to theocntractions present. I tried the soap suggestion. no for the first time in a very long time, l I had no xpcramps at all. I used Irish spring and to this day have had no more cramps except when I needed to shave the soap down. I was very reluctant at first, because I have a medical background, and things are proven scientifically. I was wrong and don’t care now, science or no science it worked. P
Don
california
When I first tried this, it didn’t work with Jergen’s Soap. I then tried another brand and it didn’t work. Then I looked to see what people were using and many said Ivory. So, I tired that and daily cramps vanished. Have been doing this for a number of years now. I do find I have to use a new bar of soap about every 2 to 4 months.
Early on, kept thinking this can’t possibly work and would stop using it and then within days cramps would come back. I told my uncle who was a retired MD about it since he was having cramps. He told me later he didn’t take the advice since he never heard of it but after one nigh of very bad cramps he tried it the next night. No more cramps. He then spent the next week searching through Medical Journals looking for a reason and could not find a single article on why it might work.
I was once talking to a nurse about how I use to have cramps. She told me she had the same problem and told me to take Magnesium and Potassium and stay well hydrated. I told her about the soap. Saw her again about 6 months later and she said she couldn’t believe how well the soaped worked and she has been telling all her patients. She now gets constant calls from those patients thanking her for the advice and how it has worked wonders. Surprised a pharmaceutical company hasn’t done any research into this since it would seem simple to find the ingredient that is causing this to work.
Bernice
PA
As K said, I also only sleep with a top sheet year round so it cannot be because of too many blankets. There have been times that I have used multiple covers due to power outage in winter, but as long as the soap is there, no more leg cramps!
John
Wales, UK.
My daughter told me about this 2 days ago. I was sceptical, so I stopped taking my quinine sulphate tablet and she put a bar of “Knights Castile” soap in my bed. 2 nights cramp free so far, so I am very hopeful.
Millie
Hull
I was woken twice in one night with my husband in pain with leg cramps. I remembered reading about the soap remendy so put one at the end of the bed he slept through the night with no more cramps.
Ap
lockyer
I tried it today on my aching joints and muscles; it worked well took away the pain one at a time in 15 to 20 minutes. I thought the action of pain release may be due to a chemical change in the lye because I only use chemical free soap.
Ap
lockyer
I tried it today on my aching joints and muscles; it worked well took away the pain one at a time in 15 to 20 minutes. I thought the action of pain release may be due to a chemical change in the lye because I only use chemical free soap.
JAnet
Witt, Il.
It sure works for me! No more walking the floor to rid the cramps from my legs! Amen!
Susan
CA
I tried this after suffering for 50-years of restless leg, and it works!
I used a small white hotel soap and stuck it in the pillow case of the pillow I rest my legs on at night.
It is amazing to me that this works!
Mike
Lake Forest, Ca
I tried the bar of soap under the bottom sheet and it worked extremely well. One night I developed serious painful cramping in my hands. Got up and took another bar from the sink and just holding it for a few minutes stopped the cramps. From then on I put the bar of soap in an athletic sock and tied it off at the open end. I put it at the foot of the bed, under my covers, near my feet. When I get the hand cramps I just reach down and get the soap/sock, hold it for a few minutes and when I get relief I put it back near my feet. Don’t know if I have to, but I change the soap for a fresh bar about one a month. I use unscented Ivory. So much better than tylenol, heating pad, or putting feet in hot water, or walking it off. What a blessing to have found the soap treatment.
sharon
Kentucky
I was standing in line at Walmart talking to a woman and we were talking about leg and foot cramps at night, I told her mine were so bad that I come up out of bed like a bolt of lightening hit me in my sleep, this has been happening to me for years, she told me the soap on the sheet trick and I love old wives tales so I went home and put the soap on my bottom sheet between me and my husband, and it WORKS, I will swear by it. One night it had fallen off into the floor and I didn’t know it and my legs cramped until I put it back. Last night my husband and I were talking about when I was making sure it was there and he said what’s that for again, when I told him he said, you know my legs haven’t been cramping either, so here are two more believers.
George
Raleigh NC
After having two ESI procedure on the lumbar area to reduce inflammation of a nerve, I start developing extreme calf muscle cramps. I was prescribe Gabapentin and some other drugs for muscle relaxation . I start fearing that I was having some type of Arachnoiditis. After reading an article about the soap technique I was curious about the results. Well last night on the middle of the night I was experiencing some type of discomfort on both legs, the kind is common preceding the cramp. So I got out of bed and took a soap bar and applied all over the back of my legs , some kind like it when you wax your surfboard. I went back to bed and believe it or not my legs did not hurt and they feel very light, not tight or heavy. I am going to continue using the soap every time I feel I am about to cramp hopping that I always get the same results
Bill
uk
I read the article about soap is a cure for cramps, and as i have suffered from feet and calf cramps at night, and may i add so bad i do have to get up until i can get rid of it. If i’m honest i don’t normally take any notice of some of these old wive’s tales, but it was disturbing my sleep almost every other night.and i used to take Crampexe but they have stopped making the product until 2017 so the company tells me. So i put a bar of soap under the bottom sheet and on top of the mattress, and low and behold it has worked. I have started to feel cramp starting a few times and whether it was right or wrong i put my foot or my calf on the bar of soap, and i cannot explain but my cramp just disappeared. I have been using soap for 2 weeks now and have not had to get out of bed at all and havn’t had cramp bad. All i can say is it worked for me and i havn’t got an answer to it.
Laura
San Antonio, Texas
I heard about this from friends. I thought what harm could come from trying this! I used a new bar of oil of Olay soap and immediately my every night cramps and pain stopped. What’re the reasoning it works and has continued to work for the past 9 months!! Try it ! It may work for you! ⭐️✨?
kathy
kokomo, in
Ive been doing this for about 2 months..its working for me!! I use Dove soap..the pink one ?
doreen
Williams Bay Wisconsin
It would be helpful to know if all bar soap works, or if it must contain specific ingredients beyond fragrance.
Bill
Hi, i just used an ordinary bar of soap from the bathroom.
sue
mayflower ar
I use my homemade soap for leg cramps. I put a fresh bar between my sheets and wow no leg cramps or restless leg cramps.
Walter
South Carolina
When I turned 64 I had to have both ankles replaced due to cartilage loss. I had been unable to walk much for the previous three years so both calves had lost most of their size and muscle. A year after the ankle replacements I started experiencing leg, foot and toe cramps in the early hours. Over the next two years the cramps became increasingly worse. My family doctor told me to eat an orange each day to add potassium but didn’t help, she referred me to a foot doctor who told me it was just getting old. Someone suggest putting a bar of soap under the sheet which my wife did and I haven’t experienced any cramps for two nights now, fingers crossed. The only other change was I stopped taking a D3 2,000 vitamin .
Phil
Sydney, Australia
My wife (60+ years of age) has suffered from leg cramps at night for years. When we first heard about a bar of soap in the bed being a possible cure for cramps we were doubtful but decided to give it a try since nothing else had worked. And we were astonished to find that adding a bar of soap or two to her side of the bed has actually worked!
It’s not 100% effective but it’s scoring at least 90% with her after six months and that’s amazing. Even more impressive is the research that’s been done and concluded much the same as we have: there’s no apparent reason for it but it just works.
My wife’s explanation, by the way, is that while sleeping she moves her feet around to ‘find’ the soap and that little bit of exercise and stretching during the night stops cramps from building up. Whatever the reason, we can happily recommend a bar of soap in bed for anyone experiencing night cramps in their lower extremities. It doesn’t cost much and it’s helped both of us get a better nights’ sleep for the past six months.
Stuart
Brisbane
My daughter, who gets woken with leg cramps most nights, just tried this on the insistence of her grandmother. No leg cramps, or even a hint of them, the first night. I was pretty sceptical and called this an old wives tale. I may have to apologise to my mother-in-law!
Louis
Florida
Works for me. I inhale the soap when a cramp appears and the cramp goes away.
Kim
GA
I have suffered for years, probably due to dehydration and mineral deficiencies. I had read about it for years, but was reluctant to try it until an elderly aunt swore she had had relief for years. So, in the 3 weeks since I started using soap at the foot of my bed, I have not been woken once with a cramp. In fact, you know that weird tingly feel you get just before a cramp hits? I can touch the soap when I feel that and it immediately stops. I use the fancy Irish Spring exfoliating soap only because that’s what I had on hand.
Loraine Findlay
Stone Hut, South Australia
Ì tried soap but didn’t work for me. Everyone’s makeup is different I suppose. A friend suggested putting a cork from a wine bottle in bed, has to be real cork and I have found that it works. Have been using cork now for about 6-8 weeks and no more night cramps. It’s fantastic. I can now sleep all night.
Michael
Rosemead, CA
My wife uses it and it works for her. She also uses soap if she gets a cramp while awake while walking or just sitting. She carries a little bar like what you may find in a hotel or given as a sample and rubs it on her leg. Cramps start to go away immediately.
dianne
What brand soaps can I try for severe leg cramps? The brand would be helpful!
Marten
Ireland
Legs cramps?
This is because if a person has too many blankets on the bed, air cannot circulate. What happens then is a chemical builds up in ones legs giving severe cramps. I used to get this back in 1979 and since I changed bedclothes to lighter duvet, I never got them again.
K
That’s not always the case. Even during our harsh Wisconsin winters I sleep with only a flat sheet covering me because I get too warm.
I have unspecified leg tremors coupled with Restless Leg Syndrome.
The tremors cause cramps sometimes. Other times my legs give out completely and I collapse.
The Restless Leg Syndrome gives the oddest sensations in my legs and feet to the point I feel the need to kick them around like I’m running in bed.
Judith
Australia
I thought it was too simple to be true so I tried it thinking it wouldn’t work. But it did! I put a bar of Cashmere Bouquet Lavender soap inside a small sock, tied it off, and put it between the sheets at the end of my bed. Sometimes I woke from my restless legs, then I’d feel around for the soap and put my feet on it, and the pain went immediately! I will now put some extra bars around all sides of the bed to help with our back and shoulder pain – I’m sure it will work. I will put them in a sock under the mattress so they don’t move around. I also cut a bar of soap in half and put the halves in my socks while sitting in the lounge at night – my restless legs calmed down immediately.
Judith
“I will put them in a sock under the mattress so they don’t move around.” – I meant to say that I’ll put the soaps under the fitted sheet – sorry :)
Mark
Brick, New Jersey
I ridiculed my friend for believing that a bar soap stopped leg cramps and felt foolish trying it. I was sure it wouldn’t work but after 1 year of no leg cramps, I’m a believer! I know it works and sincerely recommend it.
Sandy
St. Paul, MN
I have suffered nightly for many YEARS from foot and leg cramps. Nothing I have tried seemed to work as well as soap. I place it between my fitted sheet and my mattress pad – one at the top of the bed and one by my feet. It works!! What I have found it if the bar breaks – has any crumbling – it will not work. I am so grateful to have found this and other articles that steered me this way.
susanna
New South Wales
I put soap in between my sheets for restless legs.
Shirley
Indiana
I tried it and it works. I was skeptical, but it works. I put my bar of Dial under the fitted sheet. Can’t explain it, don’t understand it, but it works!
Kiran
India
I have gotten leg cramps since my childhood. I have tried homeopathic med. &allopathic med. also. With the passing years (74years now), it has become worst. But what a blessing, I have slept very well for the last two days because of soap under my sheets.
Constance
TX
I wonder if a bar of soap would help my legs stay calm when I’m trying to sleep overnight in an airplane seat! I plan to try it somehow.
Carla
Georgia
I have few leg cramps. My biggest problem is the excruciating pain from nerve damage caused by chemo treatment I had. A friend called me and told me about this soap deal. She said Irish Spring soap was mentioned a lot as to effectiveness. I said alright, nothing to lose. If it don’t work, I still have a bar of soap to use.
Im not one who takes much meds and I’ve came off ALL meds ordered by my oncologist due to side effects. I haven’t been satisfied with any of the medications but desperately searching for something to ease the pain. This day happened to be the worst pain yet since one year ago when i was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. I put a bar of Irish Spring soap under my fitted sheet and went to sleep. Surprisingly, next morning, almost all of the pain was gone. Coincidence? Who knows. But I will continue as long as I get relief.
Vanessa
South Dakota
My husband suffered many sleepless nights with leg cramps. Then, his boss’s mother told him about the bar of soap they have been using for years now. Low in behold, no cramps at all last night.
This little magic we call a bar of soap has left me speechless and grateful. I just know it works.
Maurice
Florida
My wife was suffering from leg cramps about 4 to 5 times per week. I place a bar of Irish Spring under the bottom sheet on her side of the bed. No more leg cramps! Once when we changed the sheets, I forgot to put the soap back under the sheet, and the next morning my wife said “the soap doesn’t work……..I had leg cramps last night”. After the soap was placed again, no more leg cramps. Another interesting thing is that our 5 year old Havanese dog sleeps on the bed with us. When he was younger, he would jump onto the bed by himself. A few months ago, I had to start lifting him up on the bed, and thought that his jumping days were over as he was getting older, but after we started using the soap, he jumps on the bed by himself again. Apparently, the soap is magical, and really works.
Danna
I can’t use scented soap does regular soap work
DONNA
ANY bar of soap works!! I, personally use Olay. Been doing this soap thing for many years and I swear by it. I slept in my grandson’s bed when I visited, ( never thinking about the bar of soap I had always placed under the fitted sheet in my own bed at home). In the wee hours of the morning I was awaked by the old familiar leg cramp, which had me pacing the floor at 3 a.m. Of course my grandson’s bed had no bar of soap in the bed. It’not mind-over-matter….it TRUELY works!!!
Criss
Washington
I first heard about this from a co-worker about 6-8 years ago I was getting leg cramps about twice or 3 times a week and she told me that her grandmother used this and worked for her, now I always have a bar of soap between the mattress cover and fitted sheet, and I now have cramps maybe once every 2 or 3 months, so I would say this has definitely worked for me, the only thing I don’t agree with is the scent part as I have also used unscented soap and it still works, I have never shaved the soap I always just get a new bar, will try shaving and post again in a few months.
Isabelle
Victoria BC, Canada
A good friend told me about this yesterday. I have chronic pain from neck to toes and have had a few night cramps as I stretch to alleviate the pain in the night. I just stuck a nice bar of soap from a body shop in my bed tonight. We’ll see. I hope it works! As an RN, I need to understand the scientific “why” and “how.” I like the idea of slowly-released molecules and the pizoelecric idea of the Acupuncturist above. Well, good night, here goes the experiment… zzz…
Michelle
Indianapolis
This definitely works! I don’t care how or why, but it does. I would get cramps from my feet up to my inner thighs and could barely walk. Slam, bam, bar of soap, no more cramps. Who’d thought? I don’t care how hokey he looks or sounds. Better than taking a pill, like the pharmaceutical companies would like.
Gina
Green Bay, WI
I don’t know how this works, but it does work! I am curious why scented lotion wouldn’t work. Or even fabric sheets. There must be more to it than just the scent.
Becky
Virginia
My theory is that people with restless legs and leg cramps often generate a lot of static electricity by moving their legs against the sheets and blankets (try looking under the covers when you are wearing flannel pjs and moving your legs around in the Winter, and you can see the sparks shooting around). The soap in some way grounds the electrical charges, so the static “zings” that these people are feeling unconsciously in their sleep no longer cause their legs to react and move around to avoid the minute electrical charge. This isn’t really based on any particular science, but as an acupuncturist, I believe that very tiny pizoelectric charges can have a big effect on the body….what does anyone think about this idea?
Annette
Arizona
I opened the bar of soap and removed the wrapper. May have to change it more often by worth it!
Virginia
Central New York
I am amazed that a bar of soap placed under my bed sheet actually relieved my night time leg cramps.
Virginia
Louisiana
I read on Facebook that placing a bar of soap between the mattress and the bottom sheet would alleviate leg cramps. I tried it several nights ago and no leg cramps! I am convinced it works I have suffered terribly especially since being placed on a cholesterol reducing medicine. I will continue to use it, grateful I found it.
bellabecka
VA
If you have a charlie horse in your leg or in your foot, try flexing your foot up towards you and hold it there till the pain subsides. I do this everytime I get one and it works every time whether sitting up or laying down.
Gina
Green Bay, WI
Yes, my aunt was a nurse and she taught me that. It does work very well and every time. :-)
emily
Austin
Yes, until the shin muscle cramps up. I get them all of the time and it takes walking around for several minutes to help. I’ll try the soap. It can’t hurt.
Tammi
Ohio
Unfortunately doing this is what makes my leg cramps worse :( im going to try the bar of soap and see if it helps! Its no fun to wake in the middle of the night and not be able to walk because of the pain.
DONNA
California
Why even have a leg cramp….use the soap!!!! Sometimes the leg cramp is excruciating and flexing the foot only makes it hurt even worse. USE THE SOAP….IT WORKS! Who cares WHY it works.
Michelle
Kansas
If it is about the fragrance, then wouldn’t a scented lotion do as much?
Barbara
Virginia
It works!!
Klári
Hungary
It is always the simple and natural solutions to problems that seem to work the best. And sometimes the solution is quite incredible but hey if it works? Great! I am going ot try it I just have to buy a bar of soap because I use liquid soap to wash my hands.
Wons
Arkansas
If this is true then wouldn’t essential oils work? Or would it have more to do with the gradual release of the scent?
Tab
Bluefield, VA
I’m sure that if you used a lavender, peppermint, or chamomile specific soap, it would work even better!
Sharon
Illinois
I am watching great Grandma at 104 yrs old this weekend at my mother-in-law’s home and after thinking my foot hit a dog toy in the bed the night before I asked my husband the next morning to see what is under the covers at the foot of the bed …..
OMG a bar of soap, the irony of the story is, I never heard of this but I have terrible foot and leg trouble and he was laughing when I told him I had no trouble hopping out of bed pain free!
Honestly had I known prior I would have not believed it. I had no idea it was there or the story behind it, I will be putting a bar of Irish spring in my bed when I return home!!!! Placebo effect or not???????
Jean
I’ve been using it for about one month and no more leg cramps. I’m glad I read the article so that I know to switch to a new bar every couple months. An added bonus the tingling in my feet seems to be subsiding.
dale
Florida
I had read of this in several different articles. I read it tongue in cheek and thought how stupid is that? Last week my sleep was disturbed AGAIN by leg and foot cramps and I leaped out of bed to walk them off. I was so annoyed at this sleep interruption. Out of nowhere the soap remedy popped into my head and I went and got a fresh bar of soap and put it at my feet under the sheets. I had nothing to lose, not even my dignity. I haven’t had a leg or foot cramp since I put the soap in my bed! Who knew? It did work for me.
Marcia
Maryland
It works! I tried this “solution” this past weekend and I was able to sleep for the first time in weeks! Whether the bar of soap is actually a cure, who cares, it works!
Leonard
tennessee
I was having leg pain for several days. I took hydrocodone and it helped but it would come back.. A lady told me about using soap under the sheet. After two nights the pain was gone and it has not come back.
Catherine
MAINE
I have been using lavender soap in my bed for about 8 months now and IT WORKS!!!! I can tell when I need to shave the soap I start to get leg cramps…I get right up and shave the soap then….I am a firm believer…
Yvonne
It works
Yvonne
Essex, MD
When my husband told me his fellow band members used a bar of soap in bed for leg cramps I just laughed. I was suffering with foot, ankle, behind the knees, thighs and calf cramps at night. So I thought what the heck and tried it with a bar of dove soap. First night still had leg cramps but they went away quickly. The following nights no leg cramps! I can even stretch and no leg cramps. I don’t know what it is but it works. I am only in my first week of doing this.
Kathy
NORTH CAROLINA
Recently spent the night in a hotel with a colleague while attending a work conference. We were both in our beds reading when I complained of a severe cramp in my foot. She jumped up. went to the bathroom, retrieved the bar of hotel soap we had barely used, wrapped it (still damp) in a tissue and had me put it under my foot. I was absolutely amazed at the almost instantaneous relief! I had never heard of this “remedy” before but will certainly be using it again.
Frank
Chattanooga, Tn
I am 89 years young. Play 3 sets hard doubles tennis every Monday night until 9:00 PM. Go to bed around 11:00 PM. Almost on cue severe leg cramps of various sorts occur. Excruciating! They come and go for 2-3 hours. Sleep…impossible. Bar of Safeguard worked originally but never solved the problem totally. As a chemist I studied the many theories of why soap worked, but still looking for a permanent solution.
Over the years dentists have given me prescriptions of hydrocodone for pain that I never used. Concluding that leg cramps are in fact ‘real pain’ I took 1 pill at 11 PM plus an Aleve PM for sleep and never had the first cramp. Additionally, I had the first real good night’s sleep in my tennis history.
I might add that I also use a heating pad that works on nights that I don’t play tennis and cramps are not nearly so severe.
I also add that hydrocodone is addictive and I limit myself to Monday night only.
Jon B.
Fresno, CA
I have been an Ivory soap user to ease my nocturnal leg cramps for several years with wonderful results. I strongly disagree with the “placebo effect” explanation offered by some. I have read several articles which suggest that there is a chemical, or molecular exchange explanation, and a couple of these articles have specifically suggested that lavender oil may be the secret. It was reported that massage therapist often use lavender oil because of the pleasing scent, but also it is claimed that the lavender oil helps with circulation and muscle relaxation. So, a few months ago I went to a natural health store and bought a small bottle of lavender oil. I searched on-line how to use the oil and discovered it needs to be mixed (diluted) with something like extra virgin olive oil (which also has some interesting properties). Using straight lavender oil can cause an unpleasant skin reaction. Several of the articles suggested safe recipes. I applied a small amount as recommended and had great results! So now I mix lavender oil and extra virgin olive oil according to the recommended portions and rub a small amount on the backs of my thighs each night before going to bed. I have the same positive results I did for all those years with the bar of soap. I don’t use the soap any more. WORKS LIKE A CHARM !!!
Ralph
Or.
Have used the motel soaps for years, unwrapped, and make sure I put into sheets when we travel. No leg cramps or vascular pain! Cheapest fix on the market!
d
CT
I had wicked muscle cramps in both of my feet and calves last night. I had to force my foot and leg to unclench, to be able to walk to bathroom to open one bar of coast soap. I put it under the fitted sheet and the cramps stopped immediately! Just NUTS. It has to be something related to the scent, because it worked in seconds.
Sheri
lewiston, Idaho
I tried Ivory soap under the bedsheets for my husband. He would have restless legs and sleep apnea. He would snort, like he was trying to breathe, and then move his arms and legs like he was walking or swimming in his sleep. This would go on for hours and I couldn’t sleep because he would pull the blankets while moving and wake me over and over. I knew he wasn’t sleeping well either. He was so tired during the day. Well, happily the soap worked. He stopped moving so much. He still snores but so do I . It’s our allergies. Probably from our cats. But he definitely sleeps more sound and is not as tired during the day.
Tammy
Greensboro, NC
Hi,
I was having a lot of pain in my left leg right in the muscle and I put 2 bars of soap under my sheet. I left it under there for 1 night and the next morning I was amazed the relief it had given me.
joan
ohio
m daughter read an article about the benefit of soap for leg cramps i have suffered for years with severe foot and leg cramps tried this and i am amazed it has worked for me every time i dont know (or care) why it works i am a believer from experience suggest you fellow sufferers try it
Rick
Missouri
A friend told me about this about six weeks ago. I thought she was nuts but I tried it anyway. I have not had one cramp since. I have a bar of Ivory soap between the sheets. I don’t know why it works but I truly believe it does..Thank you Carol!!
Judy
Edenton nc
My dad use to put bar soap under his sheets. I tried to throw it away one day when making his bed, I didn’t know why it was there, well he made me put it right back.lol He said he used it for leg cramps and arthritis. Did it work.? I’m not sure..
Walter
Rouses Point, NY USA
I have suffered from leg cramps for years, usually nocturnal and especially after having given my legs a serious workout during the day. Quinine was a tremendous relief but since the US FDA feels it knows what is best for us (BS), that option is no longer available. OTC Leg Cramps works to a great extent but is not 100%. Recently, I began getting severe nocturnal leg cramps in spite of the medication I used. My aunt and uncle told me about the bar of soap and I near fell out of my chair laughing. With nothing to lose, I tried it. It has been a week and the first bed time leg cramp was this morning. I found that my wife had rolled over the bar of soap. As soon as I retrieved it, the leg cramp started to diminish and within minutes was gone. I have never been able to stay in bed and have the cramp disappear. A incredulous as this seems, it works.
Martin
UK
Hello I suffered from severe leg and foot cramps for years and used the soap remedy and it worked well for about 3 months, then it started to wear off despite changing the soap regularly so I tried the organic pressed apple cider vinegar before going to bed. This worked well for a few days before I stopped taking it due to the acid indigestion, however I now take goldenrod a dried herb from my garden which is working well, still keeping the soap in the bed which lessens the cramps anyway.
I would recommend half to a full teaspoon of golden rod stem and flower in tea to anyone suffering from severe leg cramps, I haven’t had a single attack of the cramps since starting it a few weeks ago
Donna Morgan
Tucson AZ
I had my environmental PA tell about using Ivory soap under the fitted sheet at the foot of my bed for the leg cramps and sure enough not one cramp has occurred. The first night I could actually feel like something was surrounding my lower legs – a calming affect. Awesome!
Tim
Ft. Lauderdale
Hello,
I make soap and a few other similar products for a living. I also suffer from leg cramps at night. So after reading you article and a few others I figured that I would give it a try. I make an all natural product though so no fragrance oils. I thought about adding an essential oil but decided to cut a long thin piece off of an unscented soap loaf I had already made. I put it under my bed and to my delight and surprise the leg cramps ended and never returned (as long as the soap stays in the bed).
Since I gave a few more to friends and customers who also have leg cramps at night. The results have been immediate and continuous. So good news and bad news on figuring out why this works. I can now say with confidence that it is not related in any way to a fragrance oil added to the soap. It is the soap itself. I will continue to run experiments to see if different types of oils used to make the soap make a difference.
My working hypothesis is that it has more to do with the soap molecule itself. It is dipolar having a short positive end and a long neutral tail. I am guessing that this would put off a unique magnetic field. Since our nervous system is run with a such a small amount of electricity being transmitted through our nerves it could be influenced by a small magnetic field.
I would be very interested in any more possible explanations. It would be really great to find a way to test my hypothesis better.
Freddy
Albion, CA
My golf buddies think I’m crazy. THANKS for publishing this information. I use Ivory Soap between the sheets. I leave the the wrapper on. It works like a charm. Nightly leg cramps were terrible.
Sheila
Nova Scotia
I have leg pains especially at night. I put non fragrance Ivory in my bed two nights ago and can’t believe that the last two nights I have not had pain and did not have to get up for ice through the night. Amazing.
Mary
Indiana
Do you think it works on any pain? Like migraines? If some are rubbing it on the pain, seems like it should work on your headache as well. Just curious.
Bob
Marion In US
Is it harmful for animals
W. Scott
Washington State
So I read this article a few days ago and thought I’d give it a try not only for my leg pains but for restless legs (which is what I originally heard soap was good for). So far, it’s worked for both. Not only that, but using soap beneath the bottom sheet has completely alleviated the back spasms I was having at the time. But only when I’m in bed. I’m still totally in pain during the day. However, getting a relatively pain free night’s sleep helps tremendously in dealing with the pain during the day.
Elizabeth
Oakland, CA
Question: Does it have to be a large bar of soap? what about using the little ones we bring home from motel stays?
Marj
US
Soap between the sheets to stop leg cramps has been working for me. I have had very painful cramps in mostly my feet and legs for many years. I was told about the soap a month ago and finally decided to try it. The cramps slowed the first few days, were less intense and then stopped. I travelled for work for two weeks, did not take soap with me, and the cramps returned. When I got back home, I again had the soap between the sheets, and it is working. I do not keep my feet touching it, but it is nearby. I was so happy to be told about this. It seems the more cramps I have at night, the more I get during the day, and that is holding true for relieving them. Also, stretching in bed at night can bring on a leg cramp, but now with the soap I am finding I can do that, too, without cramps. I am so happy, because the cramps are painful and interrupt my sleep every night.
Thank you.
Tammy
USA
I’ve described to my cancer doctors leg cramps so bad that I wake up to feel like flesh tearing inner thigh muscle…three docs, three different solutions. I shared with my aunt, then she told me to put a bar of soap under the sheets at the bottom of the bed. It worked, but it wasn’t until visiting my mother-in-law’s house that I became a true believer. Waking my husband to help me, he grabbed the soap from her bath dish then plastered it over the offending cramp for almost immediate release.
Melissa Dendy
United States
My mother heard this at work from a customer and that night she tried it. And it worked! She has had cramps in her feet and legs for years and years.
Kimberly
Northern California
About these leg cramps! I started sleeping with bar soap a year ago! And I find much relief- I usually have a bar in my overnight bag but tonight I am not prepared, my daughter used liquid and my last visit I slept in my grandsons bed and left my soap under his bottom sheet- and he was given relief until the soap was list, he is 2. I have searched every closet & drawer- it works for me, every time, under the bottom sheet- It also is helping my mother who it had not told about the secret- until my son told me that my mom cries out at night due to cramps- she places pieces of soap into her socks to assure the benefit. I thought maybe the glycerin
Barry
Walnut Creek CA
Thanks for this great article ! Dove soap works for me. I am a runner. I suffered from leg cramping over several years. A bar of scented Dove soap under the sheets now allows me a full night sleep free from the cramp attacks I used to suffer with. I am hoping the chemistry of this solution can be distilled into a medically recognized product, or protocol, and approved for general use.
LadyDi
Central Florida
Add me to the New Believer Crowd. LOL Seriously, I find the more I try home remedies the more successful I am with it. Getting older is a pain as most of us find out but I noticed an increase in late nite cramping while sleeping. To the point of waking me up out of a dead sleep even. So I kept reading online where the bar of soap between the sheets thing works, beyond me exactly why. Floating molecule of fragrance or something similarly placebo like. I am here to tell you that it works. Woke up a couple nites ago with a massive buildup of a leg cramp, immediately jumped out of bed wide awake to walk it out and pound it out, usually the only thing that works. Well, I also grabbed a bar of soap thinking what the heck right? Can’t hurt, heh?! Sure enough, have had NO reocurrences of night cramps all all. Hope it continues since I sleep soo much better now! :D
Linda
Illinois
I was the caregiver for my mother who had dementia. She would get severe foot cramps and be crying because of such pain! I would hand her a bar of Ivory soap and in less than a minute, she was quiet again. She would realize she had something in her hand, look at it, and then put it her mouth! As I said, she had dementia and was my 5 foot 2 year old! She had no clue that the soap would work. She had no clue she was holding the soap until the pain had stopped. It worked every time!
sara
Morgantown wv
I too am a total believer. I have suffered from debilitating leg cramps for a couple of years primarily caused by blood pressure meds. The soap works for me. I don’t care if it sounds crazy. If I start to get a cramp I press it on the area and it stops immediately. I have tried lots of other things that did not help. It is NOT a placebo effect.
mary
toronto, ontario
I picked up my bar of soap from my bed and found that it was warm. It had absorbed body heat overnight. It was like having a hot water bottle in my hand. So I conclude that the continuous warmth is one reason for its effectiveness. It works for me.
Charlie
I have been using soap in the bed for years. I had cramps in my thigh so bad, the muscle would look like a small football under the skin. Only thing that would relieve it was to get up and get in the shower with the hot water turned all the way up and the hand shower against my thigh. I heard about the soap thing from a nurse, tried it, have been using it since. My wife suffers from restless leg syndrome, and it seems to help that also. I do not know why it works, I just know that it does, and is a lot easier cure than drinking tonic water which not only tastes horrible, but does not work very well.
Teresa D
Medina, New York
My boyfriend has cramps and restless legs at night….I haven’t had a full night’s sleep since I moved in. I’m going to try this without him knowing…. I’ll write in about a week and report back! For my sake, I hope it works….I’m tired ?
Vito Hermosilla
San Francisco
I believe you have seriously missed the point regarding soap and leg cramps. I have had tremendous success with my patients using soap.
Here is what I believe is going on.
1) It is irrelevant that you use soap ( you could get the same results with a can of spam)
2) If there is nothing at the end of your bed as a barrier, it is common when you wake in the night or in the morning to stretch your legs including pointing you feet.
3) If there is a barrier (the soap can be a barrier at the end of the bed under the bottom sheet)and the rule is you do not touch it, you will not point your feet and that alone will stop most night cramps during sleep and first thing when you wake in the AM.
You cannot get a serious stretch without pointing you feet!
4) It is surprisingly easy to get in this new habit and my patients (including myself ) have found this an easy fix.
What is very interesting to me is your patients have been touching the soap with their flat foot and not their pointed foot. You can see how this would get similar results.
If a person believes the type of soap makes a difference then I think that is even better.
Roseanne
Jackson, TN
Just 2 hours ago, I had those awful hand cramps that make the bones feel as if they are piling up in a heap on my hand. I’ve never found anything that would relieve them. Not believing it would work, but being desperate, I tried this soap thing remedy; lo and behold! it actually worked — almost instantly! Will never doubt it again.
Lissa
Indiana
I read an article from you guys last night, my hips are always hurting me, during sleep. So I figured I would look online and see why my hips are so sore at night. Yeah I never thought I would find something that said about relief, let alone a bar of soap. Which I thought was actually kinda stupid, but I figured I had nothing to lose. So I went into the bathroom grab the new bar of Irish Spring original. I felt kind of stupid doing it, but all my god, it really does work and I actually started feeling relief right away and then that after so, much pain at all. I haven’t had that much good of a sleep, honestly in years. The only time I woke up last night was the few times that my daughter woke up in the middle of the night wanting her bottle other than that I think I would have been just fine. But my body felt well rested, more that has had before. Who needs science to agree, when we have actual people who swear by this, I know I will and I will always suggest it thank you very much I appreciate it, & I wish I would have found this sooner. It’s really worth a try y’all. Hopefully you’ll try it and sleep much better tonight. Sweet dreams.
ROBERT
Juno Beach FL
Have used IVORY bar soap more than ten yrs. with total success. When slight cramping remerges, cut bar in half – next, cut halves in half, etc. until “cubes” cease. Then, replace with new bar. Keep soap in air-tight ZIP-LOC bag during daytime. IVORY is said to have ingredients as follows;
New varieties of Ivory soap contain altered ingredients, such as in “Simply Ivory” (or “simplement ivory”): sodium tallowate and/or sodium palmate, water, sodium cocoate or sodium palm kernelate, glycerin, sodium chloride, fragrance, one or more of the following: coconut acid, palm kernel acid, tallow acid or palmitic acid, and tetrasodium EDTA.
In order to isolate the source of relief, suggest testing with singles and/or combinations of these ingredients. Even with “pure” soap, such as Ivory, slight aromatic presence is noticeable.
Detergents, such as DIAL provide NO relief.
Regardless of what “Medical Authorities” state – PURE SOAP PREVENTS LEG CRAMPS, IF USED PROPERLY.
Tony
San Jose, CA
My fiancé had terrible leg cramps at night until she heard of the soap remedy which worked exceedingly well for her. Last night, however, she had foot cramps and was dismayed to find the remedy no longer effective. It turns out that the housekeepers had visited the day before and had changed the sheets and laid the bar of soap on the dresser rather than returning it to the bed. Hope is restored!
Charlotte
Australia
Thanks so much for your post, and more research should be considered. Most of the experience mentioned here relates to leg cramps. Mine is hand cramps & numbing in the early hours during winter. I keep waking up with pain in my hand and arm. I tried massage, heat pack, supplements, etc but the cramps are becoming regular. I Googled for ideas and found the soap stories. I tried it, and bingo! It does relieve the pain.
I put it away, but a few hours later the cramp came back. I use goat’s milk soap, simple soap, and cocoa fragrance bar but I think any soap bar will do. I prefer to hold the bar, since it works quicker, slipping it inside a hand mitten.
Christy
Essex, UK
My husband has terrible restless legs at night and as he sleeps, twitching away, I’m awake all night. I found the soap cure and got out a bar of Tone that I had brought back with me from America (I’m American, he’s English and we live in England) and out the soap in the bed under his ankle and it worked!
He had no idea as he was fast asleep. When it got stale, I used a bar of Caress, also from America that worked too. Now that one is old, and me not having any more American soap, I bought English Leather soap here and it didn’t work. I bought Dove here and sadly, it isn’t working either. What is in American soap that’s not in English soap?! I need to have someone send me some from home to see if it stops his legs again.
Lynn
San Jose, CA
One thing that may work for you is to shave the soap with a knife or even a peeler, hence removing the outer layer of soap and the inside will be fresh. You can keep whittling away at the soap until it is small. It saves money too!
Sally
Pennsylvania, USA
Christy I had read your post and if you would like to contact me via email, I would be happy to make arrangements to send you soap. You don’t need to be in pain when there’s a remedy out there as simple as soap. God bless!!!
Suz
FL
It works! I had such severe leg and ankle cramps, and they wouldn’t go away after standing. I thought I’d developed a chronic muscle issue. Then someone told me about using soap between the sheets. The cramps subsided immediately. I use Dove, but will use anything I have available. Took it on an extended trip and used it between my sheets in motels. I was so worried the cleaning staff would find the bar, and think some crazy person was staying there. So I left the empty box beside my bed so I would remember to take the soap out of the bed! LOL
Teddy
33914
I’m a 5 year cancer fighter “Multiple Myeloma” and had a stem cell transplant in 2011. I have had on and off leg cramps since I was diagnosed in 2010. most the time it was due to low potassium or magnesium. Lately they have been bad and not related to low levels so I thought I would try the soap and to my surprise I haven’t had a cramp for 4 days. You made a believer out of me.
lou
washington, dc
I had ankle surgery in 2009 and the recovery was painful. Since then some arthritis has developed in that ankle and leg cramping the same leg. When it its very bad I take hotel soaps and place them on my ankle plus the ligaments across the top of my foot. They are kept in place by wearing a sturdy tube sock to bed. Inevitably I wake up the next morning with less stiffness and pain and more range of motion.
D
15946
I will be trying the ivory in the bed to relieve leg cramps.
Two years ago, I had back surgery and my lower back and right hip still are painful – might be arthritis …. I am hoping the soap in the bed will reduce the pain – I take a lot of advil liquid with some success but the advil doesn’t do enough.
Ken
tempe az
From the info listed in the above article it is the fragrance that is the active ingredient, if this is the case then Ivory being % 44/100 pure soap would not be effective as there are no added fragrance.
Marlene
Maine
I have been having leg and foot cramps almost every night for years. Since I had vascular surgery twice on both legs many years ago I assume the cramps were from poor circulation. My cousin told me about the “soap cure” a year ago while at my home on a visit. I am embarrassed to say I laughed and commented that she couldn’t be serious. Last week out of desperation I tried a bar of ivory soap between the sheets at the foot of my bed and cannot believe that I have had no legs cramps since. I am totally amazed and will continue using.
Sharon
Chesapeake, VA
I have had cramps for years. Have tried everything, and talked to the dr. about it. Nothing worked for me, then my mom passed away and I found out she was sleeping with bars of soap, and someone said maybe it was for leg cramps. I said she never told me about any leg cramps.
So I looked up reasons for sleeping with soap and found out. So I thought that if she slept with it maybe there was something to it. It won’t hurt to try. Now I know why she never told me about leg cramps, she didn’t have any. The soap worked when nothing else did. I use the small bars of facial soap and hand soap that I had taken home from hotel stays. They are more comfortable to sleep on. Under the bottom sheet does not work as good for my cramps. I need it to touch my skin.
I keep soap with me all the time in my purse. If I get a cramp I put the soap on it and it stops. I have about 10 small bars of soap in my bed. When they get old I used then to wash my hands for a day, let it dry and put it back in the bed. When I get up in the morning, soon as I stand up pieces of soap start falling off of me to the floor. Pick them up put them back in the bed. No cramps that night. If I have only a little soap in the bed, I can still have a cramp. But if I reach for the soap in the bed and put it on the cramping area, it stops like a miracle.
I used to get them while driving, now I wear a pair of socks with broken up pieces of soap from a small bar inside the socks touching my legs, no more cramps while driving. Hope this helps someone else stop the cramps. If it don’t work try putting it on the skin, direct contact. Works for me every time.
Nicola
South Africa
I have suffered for months with leg cramps and have tried all the usual supplements ie magnesium, quinine etc with no joy. In desperation I decide to try the soap in my bed. To my absolute amazement it worked and is still working. Thank you, thank you, thank you
Barbara
Pennsylvania
I could not sleep last night because of leg and foot cramps. I don’t get them frequently, but when I do they are severe. I was exhausted and had to be up early for work today so I was desperate. I found this online and tried it. Almost immediately my legs and feet began to relax until the cramps were gone. I could not believe it! I dozed off and got a great night’s sleep. I’m not questioning just thrilled to have found this – thank you!
Martin F
Ohio
I enjoyed reading this article. My mother began using this idea about 10 yrs ago. It worked for her. She has since passed. I began using it for the past 60 days, it’s working for me. My older sister by ten years has just began using it as well. I wouldn’t have thought to scrape the soap. I only knew about the fragrance & the ingredients. I was figuring the types of oils had something to do with it. I didn’t correlate the ingredients with the molecule and that’s what I found to be interested. Thanks for sharing your research and writing this article.
Maryland W
Idaho
I hadn’t had a good nights sleep in months because of leg & foot cramps. I tried extra potassium and bananas but that didn’t help. A friend suggested a bar of soap under my sheet. I told him I used to do that but forgot about it when I moved. I found an old bar of soap and it works great. No more cramps.
Angela W.
St. Louis MO
I recently heard about this concept, soap to stop leg cramps, but was leary of trying it. Two nights ago I had them again for the 5th night in a row. Mine usually strike between 3 and 5am. I woke up at 3am and being afraid of having cramps again I went into the bathroom and opened a new bar of Dove (our favorite smell and soap) and put it under the fitted sheet. I was very skeptical and rather doubtful it would help. However, I did not get the cramps.
I thought it must be a placebo effect but I did not care. Now after my 3rd night with no cramps I am more than curious so I did a search for leg cramps and soap and found your article first. I completely agree with your thinking…. it is something omitted from the soap. I have also heard that this can help people with arthritic pain and I believe this is true. I wish you luck with your research. I can’t help but wonder what else this molecule might help.
Joan
College Station TX
When I tried a bar of soap in a little ziploc, especially under my knees, I received great relief from the leg cramps I was experiencing during the night. After using this for a while I asked my chiropractor, who has 18 years experience, about why I was having leg cramps. He knew immediately and activated his activator somewhere on my ankle and I haven’t had leg cramps since. I don’t know if my eating/drinking 2 cups plain yogurt/milk, which provides calcium, daily makes a difference. I wish all of you well.
Natalie
Having been through four pregnancies that all had me waking up to horrible leg cramps, I can tell you that soap in the sheets was the only thing that helped me.
Jo
arizona
I have suffered with leg cramps for years. I have also tried several remedies, including lotions, Meds, etc. NOTHING helped. Finally, after hearing & reading about the soap method & thinking it was bunk, I tried it 3 weeks ago. To my amazement, I have not had a leg/foot cramp since. If I feel one coming on I simply move my leg/foot to touch the soap & it goes away. Blissful sleep once again. I don’t care if their is no scientific reason for this—it works for me!
Rayanna
Surrey
I just tried it. It helped me
Dawn
Baltimore
I have suffered for a good few years from the painful leg cramps, some one suggested I put a bar of soap at the bottom of my bed – unbelievable!!!! no more leg cramps – don’t know why, not interested in why, just so happy it has been working. Can recommend that anyone with cramps, give it a try!!!
Tami
Grandview
Don’t know why but it does work – I use Dove, have used others –I travel with mine
I suffered for years – thought it sounded dumb, but tried it and have shared with others…
it’s amazing!
Barbara
W. Palm beach, FL
At a family function tonight, one of the invitees had a severe cramp in her leg. I told her to put a bar of soap on it. She put a bar of Dove and it IMMEDIATELY subsided. She was absolutely amazed.
Debra
Michigan City
I thought it was the most ridiculous thing I had ever read, but it was only a few feet from the bedroom to get my soap from the bathroom. Normally, I wouldn’t have soap because I used to use body wash. But my new hobby is making soap. I tried it and it worked, only I put it under my leg. I figured why take chances with just under the covers on my bed. It stopped the pain in my leg. I don’t know if I would call it a cramp, my leg has just been aching for some reason. But it worked!
Megan
utah
Just tried this last night, worked like a charm. My thoughts are.. does it have to be soap? Can a small rubber ball work? I think i might try a ball. Or a magnet. Instead of putting in under the sheets I put it in a tube sock and wore the sock so it would stay in direct contact with my foot. I was desperate for sleep after being woken up by my leg pain in the middle of the night. I am currently using my husband’s old spice brand of bar soap. Only bar I could find at 1 am.
David Ritchie
Maryland
The soap seems to work…..I tried Dove soap, others seem to like Ivory. If it works, who cares about the brand. I have found that the bar loses its effectiveness after a week or two….I guess it depends on severity of the cramps, restless legs, etc. I haven’t tried shaving the soap once it loses its effectiveness. All I know is that my legs were restless and driving me and my wife crazy. We put the soap under the sheet and it worked. Go figure. I didn’t want to try medication, so this was a Godsend…..give it a try. :-)
Nina
Bainbridge Island, WA
I read about the soap cure in a Sunday newspaper. As I’ve had numbness and/or tingling in one foot for several years which has been increasing, I thought I’d try it. It works. It’s only been a week but I haven’t experienced the numbness or tingling.
Peggy
Plattsmouth, NE
NINA BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, WA. Do you have Neuropathy in your foot causing the numbness and tingling? If so, I might try a bar of Soap to see if it helps numbness from Neuropathy.
Toni-Marie
Ontario, Canada
I am a 51 year old woman who suffers from very painful foot and leg cramps a few nights per week and also during the day. My mother told me about the soap cure a few years ago. Last week while talking with her I complained about my cramps. She said what about the soap, didn’t you put a bar under your sheets? I laughed at her and said it is nothing but a big wives tale. She told me if I wanted to be stubborn then suffer with leg cramps.
I immediately grabbed a new bar of Dove soap and put it between the sheets while on the phone with her. Guess what? This stubborn fool has not had a single cramp since. Only a week or so but sweet relief. Thank you for a well written article, after reading the comments I will use soap the next time I have a cramp during the day.
Cheers!
Ed
Dover, DE
First of all, I don’t suffer from leg “cramps.” I have had restless leg syndrome for many years (40?) which, while not really painful is highly annoying and a real sleep disrupter. My solution over the years has been super-hot baths/showers. These have eased my legs very well. I heard about the soap effect and decided to try it. Only a week so far, but seems to work. I am using a new cake of Dial which has a very strong fragrance. I am sure it is the fragrance. Whether it is absorbed directly into the skin or if it is a sort of aroma therapy, I don’t know. Bed smells great, however! I have the cake placed under my bottom sheet about calf-high. It will be interesting to try an “odorless” soap like Ivory as a test. Fascinating stuff!
Elaine
Thousand Oaks, CA
I have been a soap maker for about 15 years. For the sake of clarity, I will define “real” soap as a product created by the mutual consuming of fatty acids (fat or oil) and a caustic alkali (lye). Any other solid bar is not necessarily soap. Some are solid detergents which do not have anything close to the molecular structure or complexity of soap.
When craft-made soap is produced, its glycerine is not skimmed off in the process, to be repackaged and sold as a humectant in lotions. Commercial soap,is stripped of its glycerine. Instead it is retained in the bar and stays on the skin. This makes “real” soap particularly soothing.
During the process of making soap, soap makers learn to recognize a state called “trace”. The soap traces when the oil and lye emulsify but have not yet metamorphosed into soap. That takes some time. The emulsion is important, though, because the oil and lye molecules need to be very close together in order for soap to form. During or shortly after trace is when we add the fragrance. Most soap makers use steam expelled essential oils to scent the soap. One common oil we use to help to lock in the fragrance is Litsea Cubeba. It is found in a very high percentage of hand made soaps. But, since essential oils can be added to shower “gels” which are not soap, I tend to doubt if it is the added fragrance that is helping with the cramps. I think researchers should revisit the high pH salts in real soap, as well as the retained glycerine. Most soap makers use high amounts of solid coconut and palm oils. A good 50% of my formulas contain these solid oils. I think researchers should look at the breakdown and byproducts of these specific oils for theraputic properties.
One interesting theory in the article was the scoring of soap to reveal a wetter layer. Many soap makers take pride in not selling a “wet” product and cure their soaps for weeks before releasing them for sale. Others “mill” it by shredding it then melting it and re-pouring into molds. This further reduces moisture and makes the soap less vulnerable to the ravages of water and friction.
Now you have me thinking I should offer an un-cured product, poured into a shallow cookie-sheet type mold so it is less noticeable under the sheets. I’m also wondering if a soap infused sock might be a product that could help. I’m willing to work on some formulas and mold / alternative delivery methods if any ideas or encouragement pop up here.
Sorry for the book lol.
h
United Kingdom
My dad is going to try this and will let you know. Thanks.
Martha L.
Clearwater, FL
I learned of this treatment in September 2014 and it has worked for me since that time. The only time I have had a cramp in my leg is when I need to take the soap out and score it all over with a fork. I have used Ivory soap. I insert the soap down near my legs between upper and lower sheets. I did try Oil of Olay that has a stronger fragrance but the larger bar was not comfortable in bed. Perhaps I need to slice it in two. But I went back to Ivory which works so well. If you ever find out what molecule is doing the magic I would like to know more.
Navin
I have a bar of Irish Spring in my sock right now which stopped my foot from cramping immediately. It makes sense about the fragrance considering how strong the fragrance of Irish Spring is. This is the second time I’ve tried it, and it worked immediately both times.
Debi
Florida
My mom has used a bar of soap in bed for many years. (She’s 85) She told my husband about the leg cramp aid and he’s used it for at least 15 years now with great success. If I experience cramping in my feet or legs you can be sure I will be doing the same after seeing how it works for them. Hubby and I have twin beds bolted together but different bedding so I wonder if his bar in his bed has prevented me from even getting leg cramps.
Janee Wells
United States
Finding your conclusions from your anecdotal research — ITEM #4 actually– is great information. I am a 58 yr old white female who gets a painful cramp in my foot arches and calves every few weeks. Unsure of the cause. I have been using Ivory Soap under my sheet near my ankles in bed for about 15 years, as my mother had effectively used it for years before and since. I have experienced the soap to prevent or at least reduce the frequency of the cramps. A few times the cramps came more frequently, and sure enough, I had not replaced the soap when I laundered the sheets.
Occasionally I would run out of soap in the bathtub and borrowed from the bed so the bed got a fresh bar coincidentally. When a cramp does come on, I dig for the soap and place it directly on the area and have often experienced the cramp to go away in 20 seconds or so. AMAZING! In the past year, though, I have been puzzled by not these results. I was unaware that I had failed to get new soap or scrape the soap. I will try to remember to write back after I give it a try.
Lorraine H.
SoCal.
I have suffered many, many years with leg cramps, I get them in every single part of my leg/feet, mostly at night in bed, but sometimes during the day and while just relaxing on the couch. The pain is sometimes so severe I can’t even think straight. The worst are the ones that occur behind my knee, when that ligament seizes up. I have tried EVERYTHING over the years, a banana a day (helped, but I get sick of bananas), eating dates, which also helps, potassium supplements etc etc. I have always read about the soap, it comes up in just about every single google search you do on leg cramps, but alas, I am also a skeptic. No more! Finally, I see a Dr. whose opinion I value highly, post something on his site to a runner who is desperate for relief from cramps. He says he has no clue why, but that he has had patients who claim it works to use the soap in the bed. I read Dove worked the best, so that night I placed a large bar of dove under the sheet, under my legs. No more Cramps! This was over two months ago, never a cramp! I am shocked that it works, and have had a few nights where I felt one coming on, I search for the bar, and place it under the area where the cramp is coming on… and it stops immediately. I don’t believe it is the placebo effect, even though I really wanted it to work, I did not think it would. I did consider the fragrance, as I had read it only worked with certain soaps, I also considered the fat content, and think dove has a higher concentration of fat. No clue really, just so glad it works! Keep trying to figure it out, guys, this could be so good for the medical community with other issues as well! Happy Thanksgiving, all… this runner is very happy, and very thankful! L.
joan seiler
United States
It is not a placebo…as others have stated this actually does work and I am just as surprised as anyone that it does. I am a total skeptic of unexplained things like this. I only did it as a last resort and really didn’t expect any results but I was tired. I had been dealing with leg cramps off and on for a while but at that point it was every night, and yes, I tried everything from over the counter to scripts… I had heard of this online and even my doctor told me to try it but, being stubborn me, I thought it was a placebo, so I went many a night suffering before I finally threw a bar of soap under the sheets while in the cramping state. I had gotten out of bed how many times trying to walk it off, just to go back to bed and cramp up again. I found an unopened bar of soap in the back of the cabinet (I use body wash) and viola!!!!! I don’t know why it works.. I wish I did..but the fact is..it does work.
joy
70739
IT WORKS FOR ME…. I don’t know why and I am one who wants to solve all mysteries.. Maybe it emits, or draws moisture from the air to the area where it lies. I know before I found this cure I searched and came across instructions to never let myself get thirsty. Dehydration might cause cramping. I do try to drink enough water during the day. But have gotten cramps anyway. The new bar of soap WORKS. I leave it in the bed a few days then take it to bathe and put a new bar.
Ann T.
South Dakota
I get horrible toe and feet cramps mostly during the day but some at night. My toes take on a twisted (literally) life of their own. ‘Walking it off’ doesn’t help.
I remembered the soap cure in the sheets at night. My toes and feet were cramping so badly in the early evening. I took calcium and no help.
The spasms and cramps had gone on for hours. I grabbed two small bars of soap and put one in each sock that I was wearing. I stretched out on the couch and instant relief. Got up after awhile took out the soap-no more cramps. Ask me if I’m a believer!
Mary
Oregon
I have no idea why – but it DOES work. I was a lot more than skeptical after years of supplements and exersizes that do not work! I tried the soap and am amazed! A plain old bar of soap between the sheets and my legs have not cramped up since. I am sleeping so well now that I have soap where I really need it! What a trip.
Patty
USA
I don’t care if it is the placebo effect. Whatever, it works! But the reasoning was driving my husband and I crazy: So much so that we actually discussed it over dinner tonight.
I had a nasty cramp in my left calf muscle (have no idea where it came from) for DAYS…..I even thought of going to my doctor about it. It was THAT painful. Then I remembered my bar of soap was there (I also have Restless legs – and it cured that). So, I put my left calf right on the bar of soap, next morning cramp was gone and hasn’t come back since.
Patricia
Limassol Cyprus
Just recently I developed cramps in my feet, going up my ankle, in the night. The third time it was truly excruciating. Looking on the internet, I saw many suggestions, but I chose the soap one for a good reason.
First, on that night had I dreamed I was in a shop. The assistant was showing me soap, which I was refusing, as I use only organic vegetable soap with natural oils for aroma. When I read about using soap for cramps I bought the horrible branded stuff you find in the supermarket. It immediately stopped the cramp! I am no longer afraid. (Lifeboy and Dove). I put it in my socks as it was falling out of the bed.
Why did I choose the soap cure? Decades ago in Scotland, after a pregnancy, a nasty marriage, living with awful inlaws, I got a bad kidney infection, and then a pus-filled thing on the end of my finger. Red and throbbing with pain. Nothing fixed it – hot kaolin poultices etc. My old grandad told me to grate green soap and mix it with sugar. Put this on as a poultice cold. Unbelievably it drew out all the poison!. Bravo soap!
Susan B
29455
I have been suffering from leg cramps for several years now, attributing them to my cholesterol medicine and dehydration. I was thrilled to be turned on to the soap remedy by a friend who heard about it from a friend. I tested it out and from the first night I found relief.
I have not, in the past two months, had a full leg cramp or toe cramp in bed with the soap. I have however, gotten them while lying on top of the bed watching TV, but if I put my foot under the sheet and comforter, next to the soap it dissipates. I use Dial soap because my husband vetoed Irish Spring saying the scent was too strong. I think everyone with a cramping problem should try it.
Carol Siegel
Elkins park, pa
It absolutely works. I used to get extremely painful leg cramps during the night – almost every night. They would wake me up. The soap works! I put a bar in a sock between the sheets. The cramps all but stopped! If I feel one coming on, I simply rub the soap on the area and the cramping subsides. Amazing! Who would believe??!!
Cindy
United States
I have suffered with leg cramps at night that wake me out of a sound sleep and keep me up for awhile. Needless to say come morning I am really dragging. I had heard about the bar of soap awhile ago, but did nothing about it. I also read that the best soap was Ivory. I purchased 1 bar at the Dollar store, and it sat on my kitchen counter for about a month or so, (didn’t want to rush into anything)!
This past Friday I had the worst leg cramp, I tend to get them in the front of my legs where there isn’t a lot of muscle to rub. I also exercise quite a bit, and take Spinning classes at least 3-4 times a week, so I figured it was from that. On Saturday night, same thing. Finally I had enough!
I unwrapped the bar of Ivory and gently placed it at the foot of my bed between the fitted sheet and on top of the mattress pad. I have slept straight through the last 4 nights! And this includes last night after training with my Personal trainer who had me doing a lot of leg work and taking a Spin class! I will never go without a bar of soap under my sheet at the foot of the bed again!!!
Old Rick
Houston, Texas
My doctor laughs, my wife laughs, but it works. Irish spring seems to work best. We travel a lot and there must be a lot of room maids that wonder why soap is under the bottom sheet! I know this works because when it is not there here comes the “Charlie horses”. Just try it and see. I was very skeptical until I did and now I carry a bar of soap in my suitcase all the time!
Tiza
I really don’t care if it’s a placebo or not. It works. But I don’t think it is because one lady’s husband wouldn’t use it. She was having foot or leg cramps, can’t remember, but he had bad charlie horses every night in his sleep. So one night she was still awake, and she could tell he was fixing to have a charlie horse because his leg tightened up and he moaned, so she crambed the soap under his leg. Instantly he fell back to sleep and never really woke up. The next morning, he didn’t know that he had a cramp like that, then his wife told him what she had done, which was the thing that he had made fun of.
Needless to say, he started using it every night as well.
l jo
I tried all kinds of over the counter drugs/vitamins and homeopathic remedies. By far this has worked the best. Why! Someone needs research this! it can’t be the placebo effect because I didn’t think it was going to work. I thought everyone was playing a prank on me.
Meh
At night I don’t have cramping per se. Those usually happen in the late evening. Instead, I get a sensation of weakness accompanied by my left foot jerking or my left leg twitching. This keeps me up at night because the sensation is unpleasant. I’d heard about this through Dr. Gott’s newspaper column, but never thought to try it. Talking to a work colleague the subject of night cramping came up and I suggested this tool and searched the net to find some examples of people using it to send to her.
That was yesterday.
This morning, we compared notes. She started the usual toe and leg cramping and decided to use the soap – it worked, although she wants to use a less fragrant bar of soap.
My left leg starts it’s dance, I put the soap under the sheet, it stop immediately, but the right leg (has never done this before) starting the twitching, so I kicked the soap between my feet and the right foot/leg quieted down and I was able to fall asleep.
That bar of soap is staying under the covers!
Shellly
Have posted comment a few minutes ago, as well as commented on several entries. As victim of MS, I again state the soap remedy is about the most effective cure of any drug, prescription or OTC, I’ve ever used for any ailment. Surprisingly, my MS doctor, head of the MS department for a large county in Florida, never heard of it, giggled to himself, jotted down a few words, but never acknowledged this amazing oddity.
Perhaps the MS community, for whom muscle spasms are a way of life, should be educated through their physicians or the MS Society. I take prescription meds for high blood pressure and statins for cholesterol. Those numbers always vary, are definitely affected by climate and environmental changes, not to mention the continuous rise in price, and the inconvenience, though not great, of filling a script. Soap is always readily available, wherever you may be and whenever you may need it. I only wish there was such a simple solution to keeping BP and cholesterol numbers in check. Yuck, I hate swallowing pills!
Shelly
The Hyland products seem to be a hit and miss remedy for me, whereas soap works all the time, all over, wherever a cramp or spasm used to strike. Less expensive too!
Derek Page and Hugh Smailes
Thank you, Newell H, for the compliment. Much appreciated. It is probably easy as you say for an individual to do a simple experiment to test the hypothesis that vapor phase transfer is responsible for the beneficial effects of soap. However that would not convince anyone in the medical field.
When we suggested a simple experiment (1) it was hoped that many interested sufferers of cramps would participate. A positive result from a number of subjects would perhaps persuade a university professor to do further work on the topic. Unfortunately not a single experiment has been reported. We hope the soap does work for you. If it does you are the perfect candidate for the experiment described in (1).
Derek Page and Hugh Smailes
1. Page, D.H. Peoplespharmacy.com January 2013
Lizzy M.
I had heard about this from my mother a long time ago, and then again through a friend from work. Sometimes I get leg or toe cramps out of the blue late at night before I go to bed, and they can be “whoppers” very painful. Tonight I felt a thigh cramp coming on and grabbed a bar of soap someone had given us that is labeled “massaging soap.” I just put the dry soap right on my cramp, and within a few seconds it went away. Amazing! (By the way, it has a very nice fragrance).
I found myself quite insulted when I read somebody’s answer to the soap “cure.” They said it was all in your head, a placebo effect, really, only working for those “gullible people” and why don’t they eat 4 bananas each day, and just lay still when it happens.
Sounds like that person has never suffered from a leg cramp. If they had, they’d realize that people are not “gullible” but just desperate to find different things that might work. And just laying still when it happens doesn’t work for me at all. While it might be good to get more potassium in your diet (gatorade works pretty well, too), I’m pretty sure I’m not going to be eating 4 bananas each day.
Carol E
Okay, soap was great for about six days. Then I was dying again, having to get out of bed and into the shower for relief. Then I went back online searching again, and I found Hyland’s Leg Cramp PM. Before I got any, though, my friend mentioned she uses some OTC stuff that works great. Turns out it was Hyland’s. It’s available at WalMart (but not all of them, apparently).
So if the soap doesn’t work for you, I highly suggest Hyland’s!!
Carol
Newell H.
Me again: If it’s the fragrance then why not only perfume?
Cheers again: NH
Newell H.
Dr. Derek H. Page and Hugh Smailes: Your scientific enquiry and logic is superb and you deserve much credit on that score. Why not test it yourselves. It’s simple to do and then you get the professional credit for accomplishing that.
I did my own research project 2 years ago and it had an application I never suspected. In 2 years it appears that no one is interested in its value but just this past year it has been referenced twice. You can find it at (it’s Open Source) DOI:10.4236/psych.2012.38093 if you’re interested. I remember a time when I was sitting around thinking, “I wonder how I’m ever going to accomplish that”, and I was 79 at the time.
Anyway Dr. Page and Smaile, thanks for your excellent scientific sleuthing. IMO you 2 are excellent scientists. I’ve been looking all over for a cure for my leg cramps and I will certainly let you know if your cure works for me.
Newell H.
Anita
I have been using soap in my bed for about 5 years now, in fact the same bar. I don’t even remember the name. NO CRAMPS. When I feel one coming on I simply rub my foot over the bar and voila it’s gone. I just recommended this to a co-worker for her Mom. I printed this article because she gave me that “Yeah right” look.
Try it. It really works.
Carol E
Certainly not definitive and other factors may have contributed, but I’m three days cramp free, sleeping with a bar of soap in my bed!! Let me add this disclaimer: it’s possible (but I haven’t kept a diary of it yet) that my leg cramps are somehow tied to my menstrual cycle and are possibly worse for a few days each month, and I’m in the days immediately following that cycle.
I don’t think I’ll know for sure about the soap till next month. However, I still experience cramping all throughout the month, and also sleep anxiety (afraid to fall asleep, fearing that pain will flair up!), but the past three nights, the anxiety has lessened with my new-found confidence that the leg cramps are gone! It’s like a BOGO remedy!! :-)
Janine G
When I heard about this, more than 10years ago, I thought it was crazy. After pacing the floor in agony with severe cramps in my ankles at 2a.m. I tried it. The relief was amazing and immediate. I don’t believe this is the placebo effect, as I don’t believe I can meditate or relax away the physiological effects of my leg cramps with mind control.
DPS
My MD recently suggested I place a bar of Dial soap in the bed. My leg spasms and cramps have been abated, to my surprise.
Bob and Gloria G.
Bob and I have used a bar of soap for leg cramps for years. We have had severe leg cramps and as soon as we place a bar of soap on the cramped leg it stops immediately… we have always been amazed by this prompt relief. I like the theory of vasodilation from the perfume. Although I have thought about the alkaline effect of soap as being a possible effect. Your thoughts?
Ron t
I have suffered leg cramps for years off and on. I have associated the cramps with diminished hydration but have found the soap remedy to work immediately to relieve extremely painful and sustained cramps during the night. The vasodilator theory makes the most sense to me. If I hold the bar against the back of the knee, relief is immediate. Interesting.
LjPete
I was one who never believed this would work, but when foot cramps started to really bother me nightly, I tried it. Not a cramp since and it’s been 6 months. It is truly amazing and needs to be researched.
Only with scientific proof will doctors believe how this works. If you have leg or foot cramps, just grab a fresh bar and slip it under the bottom sheet. The effect is amazing. Thanks to people who told me, I feel so much better, free of terrible arch cramps in my feet.
Sarah
I’ve used soap for the past 4 nights for restless-leg type pains in my legs, arms & back. 100% success so far!
I’m interested to see that others have had success with Dove as my informant said that was the only brand of soap that doesn’t work…
EMK
I actually have had to sleep with a tightly laced pair of sneakers, on my foot and leg cramps were that bad! I would wake up almost screaming. This went on for months. I finally said something to my doctor about it. She said try a bar of bath soap. I said what!? She said my mom always said it works. So I opened a new bar of soap put it at the bottom of the bed between the sheets and I have not had leg or feet or toe cramps since!!!
cat
I don’t remember how or when I first heard about this, but we have been putting soap between the sheets for many years now. The only time it doesn’t work is when I forgot to replace the bar after changing the sheets. I did not know about the trick of scraping the soap to create a fresh surface. That is something I’ll try.
Also, I believe you are correct about the fragrance emitting something that relieves the cramps. But, not being a scientist, I can only guess that it would also have something to do with the combination of another ingredient within the soap. Whatever it is, my husband and I are truly grateful and continue to let others know about it.
Brenda
I have suffered with extremely painful leg and foot cramps. I would have them twice a night every night and be awake for hours trying to walk them off. I took Advil every night just to get through. I tried aroma therapy, too. I took calcium, magnesium and potassium to no avail. I drank lots of water to be sure I was hydrated. Nothing worked.
I went to see my excellent internist who honestly told me that medical science has no idea what causes these nocturnal leg and foot cramps.
Then I tried a bar of soap (I used Dove) and it worked immediately. It worked for several nights then it stopped. I took a knife and scraped all sides of the bar of soap and put it back in my bed. Amazingly the leg cramps stopped. Soap clearly does not cure the cause of the leg cramps but it stops the cramps cold!
With the soap I can sleep through the night without the severe pain and loss of sleep. Thanks to who ever started this posting.
tiza
I love the soap and am using it now. My neck and upper shoulder hurt last night, and I put a bar of soap directly on it. Stopped hurting. I sometimes get a stiff neck because of my work at the computer.
Miranda
My mother (88) has used the soap cure for a number of years. I thought she was completely mad and that maybe her leg cramps had just naturally cured. Recently I started to have terrible cramp in my legs, feet, toes… excruciating. Two nights ago, fed up I put the light on at 3 am and searched for a bar of soap high and low. At last I found a minute hotel soap in its cover, ripped it open and rubbed it all over the cramped up leg…. instantly it felt better, I then put it in the bed beside the same leg and was amazed to have a perfect night’s sleep. I’m so pleased!
GNF
Soap in my bed socks – sounds bizarre but it was like finding Lorenzo’s oil for my painful and persistent nightly foot cramps. I haven’t tried the bar of soap in the sheets simply because much of the literature (that I came across) mentioned both foot and leg cramps. The cramps from which I suffer travel no further than my feet and have at times been almost unbearably painful. Putting the soap inside each bed sock seemed a logical way of directly targeting the problem area (and I didn’t want to waste a drop of ammunition against these rotten little so and so’s!) Whether this hypothesis is ever elevated to the status of theory or is debunked and treated with scorn by researchers will not alter the fact that from the very first night I put soap inside my bed socks, I have been cramp-free.
Lynette R
My 14 year old son had swollen cramped hands and could not get relief with massage or stretching. I googled the problem and found others had relief within 30sec by holding a bar of soap. We were both sceptical but gave it a go. Within 40 seconds I could visibly see a reduction in the swelling and after 2 minutes the cramps were gone. We used 2 old bars of soap.
andrew p
A couple of weeks ago I started placing a bar of soap in my bed to ease my leg cramps. The effect was immediate, no cramps at all. In my case its not a placebo. One night I was tired and gone to bed forgetting to place the soap in my bed. The cramps returned in the middle of the night and gone again after I put the soap back.
Sheila t
I read an article on soap under the sheets by Dr Gott roughly 8 years ago. I tried it and got immediate relief. I recommended the remedy to several friends and they got immediate relief. If I happen to get a foot or leg cramp when my soap falls out of bed, I press the soap on my leg or foot and the cramp goes away.
The soap remedy has worked for me for 8 years now!
David C
I have been cramp free with the soap since Nov 2013. I used to get severe leg cramps twice a week until I started using the Irish Spring miracle cure. However I was challenged, in the name of science, to stop using it and change my sheets. I had no cramps for three weeks and was wondering I’d the whole thing had been a bizarre coincidence but then the cramps returned. Needless to say I’m back on the “cure”.
J.Timothy
I have been suffering with nighttime leg cramps for DECADES. I put a bar of Irish Spring Icy Blast in my bed near my feet and the relief was almost instantaneous. I am flummoxed as to how this works, but it does.
Ada L.
I have severe spinal stenosis that generates severe sciatica pain down my right leg. I have to sleep in a recliner because lying in bed aggravates the problem, but even with the recliner, I rarely sleep more than 4 hours before the pain starts up and wakes me.
So I decided to try this, placing the soap in the seat of the recliner next to the lumbar area of my spine where the spinal stenosis is located. AND IT WORKED! I now sleep 6-7 hours without pain every night. And when I got a cramp in my leg 2 nights ago, I rubbed the soap on my leg and the cramp eventually went away. I am amazed that this works. For me, it’s been just a godsend.
jr
I poor a small amount of Dawn dish soap in the corner of my sheet. Just a bit, and smear it around in about a half square foot area. I put a sheet over that sheet and I must say, this is the most pleasant sleep I’ve had in ages.
Debbie
I am so glad I came across this article! My husband was having severe leg cramps at night, he would wake up several times screaming from the pain in his legs. I have gotten into essential oils and used some of them on his legs helped some but not for a long period of time, he would drink pickle juice and that would help some but I thought that was not such a good idea because of the salt which would cause other health issues!!
So I started looking up home remedies and came upon this site and I thought what the heck do we have to lose? I had a bar of unopened Dove soap so without telling my husband anything about it I placed it near his legs under the sheet after he had gone to sleep, so he or others could not say “well it had to do with brain power” or something crazy like that. :/
So that night no cramps a few nights went on without cramps and I asked him about not having any and he said “no cramps kinda weird but he was not gonna jinx it” so I told him then about the soap which he kind laughed but did not remove it! haha He has sleep every night now no CRAMPS and he has not removed the soap! haha he told me 2 nights ago he had a little cramp so I replaced it with a new bar (I had read some saying replace it about every 2-3 months) and all is GREAT!! I work for 6 doctors and told them about it and 5 of them kinda laughed at me and said okaayy, but I think one of them secretly went and bought him a new bar of dove soap! haha. Thanks for the article and my husband THANKS you also. I hope any of you that suffer from this will give it a try even if you think its crazy what do you have to lose?? CRAMPS! Good Luck!
F E-B
I used to have frequent leg cramps during the night. My remedy was to roll my foot backwards and forwards over a bottle or jam jar (I’m in the UK!) This soon alleviated the pain. However, much better to prevent the cramps in the first place. I happened to read about soap curing cramps and of course found it hard to believe. But I had nothing to lose, so why not try it? I used unbranded soap from the supermarket – slipping it under my bottom sheet. I keep it at the edge of the bed, on a level with my thighs. I first tried this four years ago and have had no leg cramps since! Quite extraordinary.
EH
Dr. Bob, I have a permanet stimulator as well, but, I leave it on 24/7. I still get these maddening arch and leg cramps. I will be getting a bar of soap today.
Kate Giblin
This works.
I wonder..since it works for nerve issues if it’s not the fragrance, but somehow interacting with electric based nerve impulses…like accupuncture. But with soap. As weird as it sounds…we are made of energy as much as matter…often one and the same.
LJJ
I sooooo believe in this – I haven’t had leg cramps in years. I change the bar of Ivory Soap when it yellows…I just bath with it…I have made the recommendation to others – with great skepticism – but after trying it – they all are believers…so why knock it! It’s cheap and why not try it!!!
Tiza
hemant,
Yes, I would use it for your grandfather. It’s not going to hurt anything at all. I remember reading about a nurse that worked in a nursing home, and she has known about the soap for many years. Her and other nurses working there would place some soap in the bed to help calm the pain of the elderly. When she was on her feet for a long time, she said that she’d do it at night as well. You can also use it at different times, well, at any time really, if you have a cramp or whatever.
hemant
Can someone please tell me if my grandfather (86 years old) can try this soap therapy too? If it helps my grandfather to get his good night sleep, it would be one of my biggest achievement till date.
Shannon
I suffer with terrible nocturnal leg cramps. A friend told me about the soap. I have tried potassium, calcium, magnesium, and nothing has helped. I have placed hot packs on my legs at night, it helped for a very short time. I have drank home remedies and to no avail. I decided it can’t hurt to try the soap in my bed. I decided to put the soap in each sock and wear them to bed. WOW!!!! It really worked. I have not had leg cramps in three nights now. I am sold. My question is: Has anyone used a pure soap like Tom’s and did it still work? Soap for leg cramps…who’d thought such an inexpensive fix to a VERY painful problem. I am one very happy lady :)
violet
I have tried everything. Ideas this article happened to have ivory soap in the bathroom… put in under my sheet between my legs and Omg instant relief. No kidding. Thank you so much!!!!!
JNK
For arthritis pain maybe the soap helps some, as I have osteoarthritis in both hips and was told about 18 years ago I would need a hip replacement… not done yet because… I have only used the soap for sever leg cramps about 3 years and may help but the arthritis put me on the floor until I drank one cup of 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar in hot water and honey to taste… doctor scoffed at me… but another remedy for something is from a woman that from very early age suffered bad car sickness.
She had to travel across Canada and back and was told to sit on a newspaper. She tried it and was not sick or even queasy once. These old remedies sound foolish but so very glad they help. Give things a try.
wpm
A friend told me to try soap two months ago. I frequently would wake up screaming with lag cramps. I don’t know what or why but IT WORKS!!! I have used several different bars/brands, usually a “hotel” soap because it is thiner, I place it between the mattress and the fitted sheet at my calf.
T Lady of Dunan
I went searching the Internet tonight to find out WHY soap works. Three months ago my grandmother came to stay. She was unpacking and I saw she brought her own soap. I told her we had plenty and that she didn’t need to do that and she explained the curative against cramps in the legs. Both her and my grandfather swear by it.
Now I have Fibromyalgia and therefore get cramps everywhere especially in my side stomach muscles that go all the way around to the kidneys, and in the rib cage area. When I get these I start breathing like I am giving birth. The pain is excruciating and intensifies when I exhale and they usually last about a half hour or more.
I used my grandmas advice and took a new bar of Dial rubbing it over the stomach, kidneys and ribs. Within one to two minutes I started to feel relief. The odd thing was that as I moved it away from one area to the next, the area I just left would start cramping again. So I started to rub it back and forth over all of the areas. Within five minutes all of the cramping eased down. Since normally the cramping lasts for a half hour or more I superstitiously tucked it into the waistband of my pants.
Now here’s the amazing thing. For the last four days prior to these cramps I have been in horrible pain with a pinched nerve and tight muscles in my right shoulder rhomboid area. I haven’t been able to sleep, lift my arm or bend over. I can barely turn my neck. As I was feeling relief from the cramps it all of a sudden occurred to me that my back didn’t seem to hurting. I could now put my arm over my head, turn my neck and the god awful pinching from the last four days is now gone.
If this is a placebo effect, which I highly doubt, It definitely never occurred to me to use it for my back. So I have to say it not only works for legs as most state but also worked for other areas of the body for which I wasn’t expecting. I will for sure leave it in the bed now as my husband has restless leg syndrome and I can’t wait to experiment on him next.
Dave
I was urged to try this quite a few times. I, naturally, was very sceptical, but after one too many incidences of waking up with that horrifying snap to my calf, I finally relented.
That was September 2013.
On January 30th, 2014, I can cheerfully report I have not had a single instance in which I have been awoken with a single, solitary cramp. It shouldn’t work, but damn, it does, and does so with great effect.
I’ve recommended this to friends, and they’ve reported the same results.
I’ve now gone from weekly incidences to a total eradication of cramping episodes.
Go fig!
Randi RC
I’ve been having painful leg cramps and restless legs for several weeks to the point where I have been unable to sleep. My husband said I should try the old bar of soap in the bed trick that his grandmother had told him about and I thought no way would that work….
Although I’m all about homeopathic and home remedies, I’ve never heard of this one before so I researched a little about it on the web, saw that it worked for many people, and I decided to try it. Last night was the first night in two weeks that I slept soundly, and I didn’t wake up with a cramp in the middle of the night! When I woke up this morning my legs felt a little tingley, but other than that I felt like I had had a refreshing rest. So I’m pretty excited about that – I think I will keep a bar of soap between the sheets from now on!
Tiza
My husband sometimes keeps a bar of soap in his truck. His neck and shoulder gets really stiff, so he sticks the soap on him while he’s driving. A person can do this at any time of the day if they get a cramp. So it doesn’t have to be at bedtime.
Janice A.
I am an engineer. Not quite as skeptical as David C., but excessively analytical. I have not only had leg cramps for years, but my neck and shoulders hurt nearly all the time. I have severe problems with certain “societal” chemicals: formaldehyde, perfumes, room fresheners. Because of that, I make my own soap from olive oil or beef fat (lots of fried foods in my household, so lots of leftover beef fat).
With that as my background, I read about using soap for cramps. I use my own good homemade soap (made the old-fashioned way with lye and heat and no added perfumes or colors). I have managed to accumulate enough homemade soap, that I can use some that is about two years old (like wine, it gets better with age).
1) My first thought was of the glycerin, because nitroglycerin tablets are used when people have chest pains from a heart condition (helps to dilate blood vessels). In that case, a glycerin soap (normal soap has just a small amount of glycerin) would work best. That is something that could be experimented with (regular soap vs. glycerin soap). An alternative to that would be to just rub some liquid glycerin near the muscle that normally cramps (some people have tried this successfully).
2) Then I thought about electrolyte imbalance, however most soaps are made with sodium hydroxide and would have very little potassium. An experiment could be to sprinkle a “lite salt” which contains both sodium and hydrogen chloride, or use regular salt, on the mattress, and then put bedding on the mattress. Since many people have gone to low-salt diets, it is possible that some people are not getting enough sodium.
3) Another possibility is that the pH of the soap is somehow responsible, or perhaps acting in conjunction with some other substance. Most body-cleaning products have a basic pH, which means the pH is somewhat over 7 (7 being neutral, under 7 is acidic). It is not unusual for soaps to be from pH 9 up to pH 10.
The biggest roadblock to figuring out the real cause/effect is that we don’t know what exactly is causing the leg cramps, on a person-to-person basis. That is, everyone could be having them for different reasons. And we don’t know the real numbers for who is helped by this, as most of the people posting have experienced relief, and we don’t know how many have had no change at all.
In my case, putting small pieces of old homemade soap near my legs and in my pillowcase has helped with leg cramps and the pain in my neck and shoulders. It has not eliminated all leg cramps, but has reduced both the severity and number of them. I have noticed a change in the nature of my neck and shoulder pain, which has also reduced in severity. I have started putting a small piece of soap in the pocket of my T-shirt (which is worn under a regular button-up shirt). I have noticed some flare-ups of pain when I forget to move the soap in the morning as I put a clean T-shirt on. And, in addition, an annoying left-sided chest pain is not as bad as it used to be.
So, still seeking for Truth, but willing to blindly accept pain relief at such a small cost.
MKM
I wrote in Aug. of 2013 and talked about starting using the soap between the mattress pad and bottom sheet. I am happy to say, although I was a complete skeptic at the time I started doing this, it has saved me from getting out of bed 4-5 times per night with leg cramps. I also told another person who later admitted he thought I had lost my mind, but his wife talked him into trying it and to this day he has no more disturbing cramping of feet & legs at night.
NOTE: 1. I had heard NOT to use Irish Spring as the aroma of that soap will attract bugs, including bed bugs. Not sure of the validity of this, but I am not taking a chance. 2. I find that I must have 3-4 small bars of soap (Hotel-Motel soap)near my legs for the greatest effectiveness. If it gets to far away, leg cramps will start. This may certainly not be the case with others, but thought it was worth mentioning. 3. I change a couple of the bars about every 6 wks.
Don
I’ve heard of this soap thing before but sounded more like a myth. Lately have been having night cramps at least several times a night and have been going on for months. Have had leg cramps for some time but frequency has been getting worse as I get older. Tried Potassium and calcium with no affect. Tried an over the counter Cramp medicine that didn’t work. Tried wearing socks since I read cold feet can cause cramps that didn’t work. Tried really hot baths and that didn’t work and several other remedies and nothing worked.
I was taking advil at night which helped a little. Maybe got 2 to 3 cramps instead of 3 to 4 cramps a night. So what the heck will try the soap. Opened a brand new bar of Jergens. Smelled great but didn’t work. In fact I had more cramps but none of them major just small annoying cramps. I often have to get out of bed and walk and it goes away pretty quickly. I then tried two bars of Jergens with no result. I then tried a Bar of Olay since the scent was a lot stronger, again no result. Pretty much thought it was just placebo people were getting with maybe some people getting an actual result.
The next night my wife said she bought some more soap. She bought Ivory since I mentioned when I first stated this that some people used Ivory. She also had one bar that said Lavender and I remember one post that said Dr OZ either used it or recommended it. So I tried the lavender soap. I was pretty much surprised to wake up the next morning not experiencing a single cramp and the same the next night. So for me it was not any bar of soap but one with Lavender. I might try getting some lavender oil and try that but a bar of soap works just fine.
David C.
I consider myself a level headed skeptic. I’m an Atheist, I don’t filter my water, I love gluten, wifi is not frying my brain, most alternative medicine is snake oil, 9/11 was not a conspiracy, but I haven’t had a damn leg cramp since I foolishly put a bar of Irish Spring, box and all, in my bed where I can kick it around. It’s been 7 weeks now. I used to get a leg cramp at least twice a week that wouldn’t go away until I walked it off for about 5 minutes. This kind of scares me a little. If this works with no rhyme or reason, then what else Is possible? Kudos to Dr. Derek and Hugh for stating the phenomenon.
Kala K.
I read ALL your comments 2 middle-of-the-nights ago. I needed a cure for these screaming cramps as they had come back suddenly without warning. I use baby soap, but that did not work. The comments reminded me of the potato remedy and I am relieved to say I slept right through the night for the first time in a week! I haven’t been to the shops to buy lavender soap, but that will definitely be my next experiment as my doggies sleep on my bed and I’m sure the lavender will also chase away the odd flea that roams around on my bed. Thank you for the article, It served me well. :)
Therese V.
I started using the soap cause I suffer from night leg cramps and I have to say I have not had any at all!! Last week when we changed our sheets I forgot to put the soap back and last night the leg cramps were back so I took the soap out and rubbed it on my leg and to my surprise the cramps went away! So if it’s only in my mind that’s ok cause it truly works for me.
jm
Could the electrochemical polarity of the soap have anything to do with it?
People’s Pharmacy response: We honestly don’t know.
ND
Really! I am very close to sugar free, have not touched coffee or tea for a long time (or even many of their replacements such as dandelion that also have diurectic effects), keep well hydrated, eat a wide range of vegetables and some fruit regularly (less fruit due to the sugar levels), intentionally eat foods with potassium and magnesium daily, have a very balanced diet, do not touch soda at all, exercise regularly, use rock salts, take all the advised supplements, including natural ‘cramp bark’, still have debilitating cramps EVERY night and often during the day. Am going to find soap in the bathroom right now! Willing to try anything at this point!
Lomick
Just tried placing a bar of Zest soap by my feet, under the fitted sheet last night for the first time. I’ve only been dealing with RLS for a very short time. You guys are right, it really does work. My husband is suffering with a burning, numb feeling in his feet. Just placed another bar of Zest by his feet on his side of the bed. I truly hope this will help relieve his symptoms. I’ll keep you posted. Thanks!
Patricia S.
I have been suffering with extreme leg cramps due to new medications. My husband experiences leg cramps occasionally. We both tried a wrapped bar of Ivory soap on each side of our bed. It really, really works for both of us. Thanks to reading your article, I will now refresh each bar, as they have been under our bottom sheet for the past couple of months.
I woke up last weak with severe cramps and discovered my bar of soap had slipped down along the side of the mattress. I put it back under my legs and I haven’t had any more cramps. It is amazing that something this simple and inexpensive can work so well for some.
sgf
Have had night leg cramps for years and have been taking quinine sulphate. On discovering that this should not really be used for more than four weeks at a time because of the danger of reducing your blood platelets (which sounds fairly serious)I have been trying to do without over the last few weeks. I heard about soap in the Daily Telegraph last week and since having a bar of soap in my bed for four nights I have so far been free of cramp! Strangely, I have been away over the last month and in two different beds suffered no cramps but on returning to my own bed the cramps started immediately! The soap feels like a life saver – long may the relief continue.
Karen
For years and years my husband suffered from severe leg cramps at night. They were so bad he would wake me to try to help massage the cramping out. Then somewhere (the Gradeons’ column? ) we heard about the ivory soap, bar of soap remedy. Nothing to lose and oh my gosh, we now BOTH slept because no more cramps.
Here is the interesting part to the placebo theory. What happened yesterday had NEVER, EVER happened before.. Yesterday I changed the sheets and our dog got a hold of the soap and chewed it up. I did not replace it. Around 2 am my husband woke up with leg cramps. He asked if I had forgotten to put soap back after changing the sheets. Brought in a new bar for him.
I now totally believe it is NOT placebo at all. Thanks for trying to validate this. My hope for leg cramp suffers (and their spouses that are affected by the pain that their spouse/partner in) is for goodness sakes, TRY it! On a last note. We have never shaved our soaps, don’t think we have ever replaced either. Except when my dog got it and chewed it up yesterday!
Tiza
I tell people this, but did you know that you can actually use the soap at any time of day on anyplace that’s hurting? I don’t know if it will work on knee problems, but when my low back has hurt, I place the soap behind my back when I’m sitting up watching TV or whatever, or working at the computer. And I’ve even used it while we’re traveling in a car.
Yvette
A friend told us to try this out. I didn’t believe it…….but I really does work. I change the soap about every 2-3 months.
L A Snyder
Ivory soaped works like a miracle for me!!! Pregnancy leg cramps, Charlie horses… In feet and legs- completely and immediately soothed by touching the soap. Frequency has decreased tremendously since bar of ivory was placed in my sheets.
Ibt
My family has known about a similar remedy using corks tied up in a linen bag and placed under the bottom sheet. I am in my 80’s and suffered from cramp. I used this with instant relief. So this may change the investigation of how the relief is effected. Not he soap but the object used.
Tina Maynard
I had suffered from leg cramps for over a year. They had gotten so bad that I was having to get up and soak in hot water several times a night. A friend had mentioned putting soap under sheet, and of course I laughed. But, I had gotten so desperate that I was willing to try anything, and the minute I put the soap under my sheet, the leg cramps went away. I few weeks later, they came back I was miserable again.I was curious to why the soap had worked in the first place, and found this article.
I tried replacing the old bar of soap, and sure enough, instant relief.
I don’t believe in old wives tales, but the soap certainly works for me.
Mclaudette Sandecki
Saturday night, September 21, 2013 I tried two bars of Jergens soap between my sheets. Believe it or not, I had a sound, restful sleep, my first in at least two years. My legs were not restless, my feet did not feel numb. As a rule any time I return to bed after getting up during the night my legs and feet keep me awake for an hour or more and require vigorous massage.
The next night, September 22, again I had quiet legs though coffee kept me awake for three hours and I read a book until 4 a.m. But my feet and legs were comfortable, bothered me not one whit.
This has to be more than a placebo effect.
jmc
Having read about this “soap therapy” on this site and having suffered from nightime leg cramps for years…so severe that the cramps would awaken me almost nightly in the middle of the night with excruciating pain in my toes, feet and legs…..I tried your soap idea some 2 months ago…and I have not had a single cramp again…not once, not one night…I’ve been able to sleep and I am very grateful. It works for my wife as well, one single bar of aromatic soap “protects” the whole bed, just laid between the sheets by our feet. Amazing. Thank you!
l m
Irish Spring soap has helped greatly reduce my aches and discomfort from arthritis in my hip. The pain radiates down my legs making it difficult to sleep at night, even with sleep aids. However, when I put the soap in the bed it is much easier to sleep, due to less pain. It works even better when I lay the soap against my hip or leg.
This has worked for me over many months.
Tiza
I read about this Ivory soap in the bed for foot/leg cramps several years ago. Nothing was said about not having a scent. I just just regular Ivory soap bars. But I have read other folks using different kinds of soap. I even read that Dr. Oz knows about this, and he uses a bar of lavender soap. You can use it on any ache that you have during the day. My husband’s neck hurts sometimes driving, so he places a bar on his neck for a while. It stops it from hurting.
Also, it’s my understanding that you have to replace the soap monthly, however, if you shave it, then that probably keeps it working good, as well.
No one really knows why or how this works. Some doctors have thrown out that it’s the magnesium in it, but in my opinion, it could be that along with a combination of whatever is in it.
J.D. Bryant
I too have suffered from very painful nocturnal leg cramps for years. I tried many different remedies, including medical treatment by a physician (e.g., prescription strength potassium).
Nothing worked until I finally tried a bar of Ivory soap under the bottom sheet at the foot of my bed. It has worked every night, without fail, for the past 3 years. Like others who have commented above, an essential part of my luggage when I travel is a soap box with my Ivory soap.
My understanding is that the “fragrance free” Ivory is supposed to work the best. Not sure how that fits with the explanation above that the fragrance molecules are responsible for the effect. I also have used the same bar of soap for three years and have never scored it or shaved it down. My friends laugh at me, but I don’t care. Those who have tried Ivory soap for nocturnal leg cramps on my advice have thanked me over and over.
I’m not a scientist, but I am in the medical care-giver field. I don’t believe it is a placebo effect because, for me, nothing else works, and when I have accidentally pushed the bar of soap off the foot of the bed, I start getting “crampy”. I wake up, retrieve the soap, replace it under the sheet, and continue sleeping pain free. I don’t know how or why it works. I just know that it works for me.
MKM
When I first made a comment, regarding leg cramps–Aug. 8th, I had used the soap bars for about 5 wks. I am now on week 9 and am currently trying an experiment. I removed the 3 small(travel size) Soap bars from my bed before retiring last night. My legs were uncomfortable, but no actual calf or foot cramps. I am going to do this for 3 nights, unless I get REALLY bad CRAMPS and then will probably put them right back in the bed. I had been taking Gabapentin, which did not really work & I suffered side-effects. After one month of using the Soap between mattress pad and bottom sheet and not having nightly cramps, I was convinced that it was NOT a placebo effect, and stopped taking medication.
NOTE: Be sure that you use a vegetable peeler to peel off layers on the bars at least every 2 wks. At least I have found them more effective that way. Our daughter, a scientist, believes it is the Esters–I’m more thinking it is the glycerin. No matter what it is–IT WORKS!
APW
I have had terrible leg cramps which have been increasing in intensity for several years and associated it with The menopause and driving as it was my left leg (clutch leg) which was the most affected. The severity of the cramp was waking me up to 6 times a night and I would have to get out of bed to relieve it. I eat an extremely healthy diet, drink water and always eat fresh fruit and vegetables a day.
Tried soap tonight after talking with my mum, who had heard about it on the radio. I would have expected a lot of cramp tonight as I had driven for a long time today (job requirements) and guess what, no cramps! Very strange, in fact so strange that I am up reading sites trying to work out why it worked! will keep a log now.
Karen T.
Hi I have just been reading all these useful comments, I suffer with terrible cramps in my calves and toes at night and sometimes during the day when I am out. Last night the pain was awful and just wouldn’t subside, so guess what I am going to put a fresh bar of soap in my bed tonight and give it a go, I expect by partner will think I have lost the plot but he will suggest it’s worth a try.
Will let you know what happens!
Tiza
Hi, Susie,
Glad that the soap works for you. It does for me, as well. About the magnesium, my husband and I have been taking magnesium w/SRT for about 6 or so years right now. You can google magnesium w/SRT, which the “SRT” means sustained release technology. It’s not the brand name, but I don’t know if I can type the brand here. Anyway, it’s magnesium malate. It’s the best kind that we have ever found, and you don’t have the poo problems because this releases over time.
Susie
About 3 years ago, I started having SEVERE PAIN at 3:00 AM – so bad my husband took me to the ER – so much fun and so expensive – in my left thigh. Doctor couldn’t find anything wrong. When this happens the pain usually lasts for 45 minutes (for each episode.) I can hardly talk at times it’s so painful.
Doctors decided it wasn’t serious but to me it was. I’ve been to the doctor about this 5 times because the pain is so INTENSE it scares me!! Still no answers. So, fast forward 3 years – the pain was starting to increase and the right thigh started to join in and have started to feel “something” in the thighs during the day.
I remembered a friend telling me about the soap in the bed and I tried it and IT WORKS. Be sure to take a magnesium supplement- no more than 400 mg (will cause the runs) along with calcium at bedtime (this did not stop the ATTACKS but magnesium is VERY IMPORTANT for a lot of things – check it out.) One of these fine days I am going to take a bar of soap to my doctor and I’m gunna ……….!! Well, I think I’m going too. This is just an unbelievable CURE.
Laura and Mike H
my 83 yr old aunt told me several years back to put the soap in my socks… problem with that is I can not sleep with socks on… I have restless leg syndrome and husband has had leg cramps off and on all of his life.
My cousin said she just put a bar of soap in her bed and has not had cramps since so we tossed a bar of original dial soap in the bed and have not had cramps since. We wondered WHY this would work and found this page …
MAKES PERFECT SENCE TO US and we are glad to have the scoring advice as I wondered if after a time we would need to put a new bar in the bed :)
Another cousin will be adding soap to her bed to test this out as well and we cant wait to see if it helps her too!
JER
When I started taking Tamoxifen my knees became very stiff. The stiffness only happened when the legs were straightened and was particularly bad during the night.
Quite by chance I came across “soap in bed” on the internet. Feeling a bit foolish, but thinking I had nothing to lose, I put a bar of Simple Soap in the bed. Result – no pain or stiffness that night. Next night the stiffness was as bad as ever. When I got out of bed I found the soap on the floor!
Since then the soap has been imprisoned beneath the fitted bottom sheet. I scrape the sides of the soap each week and the benefit continues with the original bar. Interestingly Simple Soap works, even though it doesn’t contain perfumes.
ROBERT CARTER
I have been slowly dreading for night fall to come knowing the foot and leg cramps are on the way, I started reading the comments made here and thought to my self, without telling my wife I would try the dove in the bed (the brand she uses) I will show her this comment in a few days whether it works or not. She will know because I wake her with the screams and a few (bad words none with the word god) I will be honest with you’ll.
thanks and good night in a few hours from now. Wish me luck…
heres hoping.
Tiza
So glad that it works for you, too. I works for me. You can put it on any cramp at any time of day and it works, as well. At least for 80+ percent of the folks. Don’t know why, but it does work.
Dee
I was having foot and leg cramps so bad for over a year nothing helped! Saw the artice and said what can it hurt. Within 2 days I noticed a little cramping and then gone after that nothing no cramps! I don’t know what it does but I am keeping that bar of Ivory Soap under my bottom sheet for life!
Even my doctor said there was nothing he could recommend that would help. Maybe it’s a fluke but I don’t know, I had them horrible as soon as I would about fall asleep they started in top of my foot my toes would look deformed. I swear I thought now I know how people that had polio must have felt when you see your foot and toes pulling to the side awful pain. That has been 3 weeks now and only a couple of nights I feel just a tiny bit start in “a” toe and immediately rub my foot on the soap under sheet it would stop and that was it. My entire leg feels better the calfs of legs more relaxed which I think probably causes all of it. Try it what do have to lose and couple for Ivory soap bar!
Thanks for the info! Dee
lch
I left a comment on how wonderful this works…what I forgot to mention was this…the day I tried this I had been having terrible fluttering in my ear… The ENT doctor told me it was a sm. muscle causing this…and would have to live with it…for the rest of my life…it was so annoying…
The only other thing to do was to have it cut…which is a drastic way of getting rid of this fluttering… I had put the soap in the bed to try for the leg and foot cramps… after a couple of leg cramp free nights… I realized the flutter was gone… gone… and has not returned…I am guessing it works for any king of muscle disorder… I hope it does… anyone who thinks it’s nuts like I did…I am telling you…try it… just try it…
lch
I agree with the above comment from Ted… It works so well that I really want to know why…what is in the soap that does this…
I have always had leg cramps…some so bad it climbs up my leg and locks my hip in horrible pain. I asked my othro doc what to do… he suggested muscle relaxers…that is not for me…A friend of my swore by this…I thought it was a crazy idea and wouldn’t try it…until now…It is unbelievable…
When I have a cramp in my foot my first thought is to jump up and apply pressure on my foot to stop it… I grabbed the bar of soap off the chest by my bed…I held it to my ankle just to see what would happen…within seconds it subsided… No lie… Unreal…it really does…
I keep a bar near my chair where I watch tv..because I have gotten the cramp when standing up after watching tv…NOT any more…I have old soap…I have only used as a decoration…I began to wonder if there was something strong in this becuse its old soap…After reading the comments…I guess not…
I still want to know why…but don’t have any plans of removing the soap from my bed any time soon…
It truely works… it really does… Now I tell everyone to at least try it…place against the cramp and watch it relax… amazing…is all I can say…
MKM
I have had severe leg cramps, starting with RLS (restless leg syndrome) & then developing in horrific cramps in legs and feet for a couple of years. Several prescription drugs have been tried, with no lasting effect on the leg and foot cramps. On a recent trip to Spokane, WA a client of my daughter’s Pilates class told me to place a bar of soap–unwrapped–between the mattress pad and the sheet between my knees and feet. I thought it was a bit odd, but thought “hey it costs nothing and I am not putting medication into my body”. I have used the method for a month and my cramps have completely subsided. It is really quite unbelievable. I am not one that gets placebo effects on anything, so know it is a WINNER! Wish that more people knew about this, it might save many from taking medications that do NOT work.
Linda
The first time I tried this 2 months ago, I used Ivory soap and have had absolutely NO leg or toe cramps since. I’m sticking with what works for me.
deb
I heard about this from a friend…I have suffered from foot and leg cramps for years, every night. No matter how much potassium and calcium I took, didn’t make a difference.
I need my feet and legs for my job, and I would actually get up with bruises and could barely walk the next day because my feet and legs hurt so bad from the cramps the night before. She told me that a friend of hers did the bar of soap underneath the bed sheet. It sounded so dumb that I just blew it off.
A few days later, I was so sore I decided to try it, and I thought “I’ll try anything”, Haven’t had a leg or foot cramp since!! Sounds stupid, but it really worked for me.
Sybil
I am, by nature, skeptical of anything that is illogical. But night leg cramps are painful and disrupt sleep, so I tried it…IT WORKS. I can tell, when I’ve lost my Ivory off the edge of the bed; leg cramps return.
The effects do wear off as the soap ages, but when it falls and hits the floor, chips break off and voila!, works again splendidly. There must be more to it than fragrance; why doesn’t fabric softener fragrance work?
Rachel
I have severe Restless Leg and have been using a bar of Zest under my sheet for about a week now. I want to shout from the rooftops how well this works! I’m still just so excited every night when I go to bed and have absolutely no pain!
I keep my bar at about knee level, under the fitted sheet. Sure, it has the wanderlust, but it’s worth it. most of the time I don’t even notice it.
skeptic
My aunt just had hip pinning surgery 3 weeks ago and is suffering from hip and knee pain. I am desperate for answers. I tried this tonight without her knowing. I am hoping she will be able to sleep tonight. I will report the results tomorrow. Thank you for sharing this. I hope it works for her. Cheers!
Josephine
I was very skeptical of this old wives tale, but with nothing else happening, and a bar of soap is cheap and already had a few different brands in the house, I figured I’d give it shot. There was absolutely nothing to loose if it didn’t work. I have not had any RLS symptoms since using the soap. I swear by it and will never go without it! I don’t know how or why it works, or who came up with the idea, but it works for me and I couldn’t be happier!
Cathy E
Sure this seems kooky, but it made me laugh and it also truly works!
Barbara C
It worked with my feet and legs. Still hard to believe that something so simple could work such a miracle, but it did. I put 3 bars of green Dove soap in a sock near my feet. First few nights when the pain would start, then it would subside. For the past 2 weeks there has been no pain at all. Neuropathy, yes. I have had Chemotherapy. Doctor seemed to
think the Neuropathy started from that.
rleed
I haven’t had coffee, sugar, soda, etc for YEARS–eat lots of fruit and drink lots of water–so much so that I have to get up several times a night to use the bathroom. Still have horrendously painful foot cramps. Now I’ll try the soap idea.
Barbara Carter
I put 3 bars of unwrapped, new Dove, green soap in a sock and secured the end – Placed the sock near the foot of the bed between the sheets, and close to my feet and legs.
The cramps in my feet and legs had been almost unbearable until I tried this. The first night I could feel the cramp begin to start and would reach for the sock with my foot and pull it up next to the foot/leg that was beginning to cramp. THE
CRAMP WOULD STOP IMMEDIATELY. I did this for about three weeks. The cramps begin to get further and further apart. It has been two weeks now and I have not felt a cramp even start. The soap is still in my bed and will stay from now on. If the cramps begin again, I will get new soap. Reason for three bars – king sized bed.
My husband has not complained of his legs cramping since the bars were placed in the bed, and they are completely on MY side of the bed.
MM
A doctor friend told me about this several years ago and I have a bar of soap in our motorhome and our home as I won’t sleep without ‘my soap’…….people laugh at me, tell me I believe in snake oil, etc. but I do NOT HAVE LEG CRAMPS anymore as long as my soap is in place.
The doctor said they do not know why it works but the explanation above is really helpful.
HEJ
I experienced the skeptical looks when I mentioned the soap solution for cramps. Tried it and am a believer . Shared it with my cardiologist and am anxious to hear his comment at my next visit. I’m not really interested so much in ‘how’ but just that IT WORKS
NEP
I took a fresh bar of soap and shaved it with a cheese grater on top of my mattress but under the mattress cover so the flakes are not everywhere. This seems to work for about 1 month and then I have to replace the shavings. They clean up easily with the vacuum. So this would support your theory about the oils and the soap drying up.
TLS
I have been plagued w/foot cramps for months due to vitamin deficiencies. Up several times per night to walk them out. Not good for sleep pattern! Mom told me about this soap thing. I was reluctant to try it. Sounds ridiculous. It worked.
I used Dial soap which stinks to high heaven! I have chemical allergies and was so afraid to even put it in our bed due to my migraine issues w/perfumes etc. But I was desperate.
Now that I have read your article, I see that maybe the Dial soap is a good choice w/all that fragrance.
Thanks for compiling the info, it’s very interesting and helpful.
Angela J
I must say, my mother was having restless legs for weeks. The doctors were trying every kind of medicine to help her. She has kidney problems and the medicines that they were prescribing had side effects of the kidney’s.
Two years ago her family doctor told her to put soap under her sheets for restless legs. We laughed, the doctor laughed and we just went on thinking that it was funny. A month ago, my mom was placed on hospice and began to have problems again with restless legs. One of the hospice nurse mentioned that many of her patients used soap to help with the restless legs; again we laughed and then said what the heck lets try it.
Guess What? It WORKED. It has been two months and she has not complained about restless legs since. She is forever checking to make sure that the soap is still in place underneath her sheets.
If you have not tried it I suggest that you do. WE USE DOVE SOAP.
Now we are having problems with her sleeping at night. We have tried all kinds of prescribed meds, nothing works. Any home remedies that will not effect the heart or kidneys?
C. M. B.
I was getting bad cramps read about bed soap tried it haven’t had any cramp since. It really works.
Tiza
Yes, it works on tons of stuff. It helps my husband’s neck soreness that he gets when driving.
LGS
A friend told me about the soap in the sheets and I don’t actually have leg cramps, but one night my hip was hurting so bad I couldn’t sleep. I hurt bad enough to cry, so I put a bar of soap under my bottom sheet near my hip and the next morning I couldn’t believe, I was totally pain free. I tell everyone that complains about any kind of pain, back, neck, shoulders and of course leg cramps. I say what have you got to lose, just try it. If it doesn’t work just use the soap to wash your hands.
Dennis
I have ONLY tried unscented Ivory and I’ve been befuddled as to HOW this works but will not sleep in a bed w/o it now . My calves looked like writhing pythons in the midst of those horrible cramps but not for the last 2 months friend.
mw
I was introduced to the bed soap idea from an elderly woman in a nursing home who sped past me with her walker as I was limping my way along the hallway to visit a friend. She took pity on me and started to tell me about the soap that she slept with each night and that I should try it.
I could not believe the instantaneous results I received and have been telling everyone that I hear of that is suffering of any nighttime pains. Many have thanked me, others think I am loony but I don’t care because it works for me and I know many people who depend upon this to stay mobile.
It doesn’t seem to work for everyone but there are enough people that I know that swear by this and if it is in my head so be it. I have done a number of searches trying to find out the same thing “what is the science behind this.” Your idea is intriguing and I have also read about the possibility of soap being derived in some way from potash and that the “potassium” component is in there somewhere.
Nice to know there are many others out there and I just know that I am thankful to that elderly lady who stopped and cared enough to share her secret.
DRU
Freek’in unbelievable, started having really bad night feet and leg cramps for about 3 months now. I have been so sleep deprived that I feel sick during the day. My leg muscles stay very sore during the day, from all of the night cramping. Just put a bar of soap in my bed, and yep, you guys are right, it works, and all most instantly. My brother suffers with RLS, going to tell him in the morning. The very thought of a good nights sleeps makes me nearly cry. wooooooo hoooooo!!!!
PO
This is so funny. I put soap in my bed about two months ago because I was having terrible foot and leg cramps. I totally forgot about the soap and the cramps until I read this. It must be working miracles for me. I can’t remember going this long between cramps before. I also have acute pain on the top of my feet at times and it is also gone. Wow, what a simple cure.
Tiza
It’s interesting that I heard Dr. Oz says that he uses a soap in the bed that is lavender. I bet that smells good, and the fragrance such as lavender is supposed to aid sleep. If I can find some, I may try that instead of Ivory soap.
Gilly D.
I had been suffering from bad cramp on and off for years. Like others, I tried potassium, tonic water (quinine ) calcium tablets, even a cork in the bed, but none of these worked for very long, if at all.
We went on a cruise in March 2013 and the yoga teacher on board recommended using soap in the bed. She said, as pure as possible with as little fragrance as possible. I had with me a bar of soap purchased from a soap factory in Aleppo (Syria) when we were on holiday there just before their tragic revolution. IT WORKED, AND I HAVE BEEN CRAMP FREE EVER SINCE.
It has changed my life. I will probably experiment with soap brands suggested by other people on this site, just to see if pure, or scented makes any difference for me.
Sometimes things work when there isn’t a scientific explanation, this is such a harmless thing to try, so I urge anyone with painful cramp to give it a go.
GerryJ
LEG CRAMPS; Working in the retail business I am on a concrete floor with work boots 8 hours a day. When a double shift needs to be done, at 2am… in the past I have had 20 minutes of cramps that scares the dog and wife!
My INJURED Siatica nerve in my left leg was the start of bad leg CRAMPS TWO YEARS ago, until till last year when I started to use PURE WHITE IVORY SOAP opened bar without the wrapping in a cotton track suit I started to wear with comfort fitting elastic angle bindings for my night ware, I included a bar of IVORY SOAP in each leg….WHOE GRANDPA! you say forget that… Well SONNY 10 months later once in that time frame have I had a slight hint of a leg cramp.
I take half the amount of milk at 57 years that I did 20 years ago, do take calcium pills a few times a the week for the last 15 years…but also have had cramps during that period of my life….while taking the calcium pill!
NOW the wife sleeps having not to be worrying if I am having a heart attack and the dog thanks me too. So is it an old wives tale maybe…but if I do not have my PURE WHITE IVORY NAKED SOAP in my leggings night ware…I say H-E- DOUBLE HOCKEY sticks!
TJ
Several years ago, my Mother who was 84 years young shared with me this “cure” for night time leg cramps. I respectfully asked, “And just what kind of scientific principle do we have working here?” She just said, “Go ahead and laugh, it works!” I’m a type II diabetic and have long suffered from occasional cramps that were excruciatingly painful, especially one that affects the front of the shin, that literally brings tears, I still didn’t give it much thought.
Arriving back home, almost two months went by and it suddenly dawned on me that I hadn’t had a cramp for a long time. I mentioned it to my wife who smiled and asked, “Was it about the time when we came back from your Mom’s and I put the soap under the bottom sheet?” Sure enough, she had placed a sliver of “used” soap under the sheet and viola, no cramps. That was six years ago and the only cramps I’ve had are when the soap dries out and I replace it doggone fast!
Nothing had changed in my diet, lifestyle or bedroom, except the soap. To you skeptics, it may not work for you, so don’t do it, no need to rain on someone else’s parade unless you’re just plain mean-spirtited.
Tiza
Hi, Nancy,
So glad that it works for you. It for works for me, too! I can’t understand why someone would gripe about it anyway. Looks like they’d want to at least try it. And if it didn’t work, then fine. It’s not going to work for everyone. Works for most people, though. I read about 80 percent or a little bit more.
Nancy
I have been using soap under my fitted sheet for about 4 years now, with blessed relief from leg cramps which I suffered from almost every night for years. I tried quinine, potassium, ate bananas(a lot), tried drinking a full bottle of water just before bed (all that did was increase my bathroom runs) and nothing helped. Thanks to my brother-in-law who told me about under the soap under the sheet. I have been leg cramp free ever since.
I didn’t know about changing the soap but I have always just changed it every time my shower needed a new bar I put my bed soap in the shower and the new soap in my bed and have never had a recurrence of leg cramps in bed. I still sometimes get them during the day and, guess what, If I’m hone I crawl in bed and they go away. Thanks for the lavender soap tip, I love lavender, but I always kept with the standard brands afraid of trying any off brands not wanting to chance it. But since it could be the fragrance I will buy my lavender soap.
And for you skeptics, what do you have to lose? Just listen to all the commercials for different medicines and the list of side affects they list at the end of the commercial (including death for some of them, NO SIDE AFFECTS WITH SOAP and like someone else said, if it doesn’t work for you you don’t even have to throw it out, just go wash.
Tiza
Hello,
So glad that this works for you. It works for me, as well! May I ask what kind of lavender soap that you buy? I love lavender.
Thanks
Debie
A friend told me about using the soap and I tried it right away as I was having cramps every night. From the time I put the open soap under the fitted sheet I only had one night of waking up with cramps and I think the bar of soap I used was old, so the next night I shaved it and put it back. Not one cramp. I’m sold, don’t know how it works but I don’t care…it works, Now I buy a lavender scented soap so my sheets smell good and it’s also a relaxing smell. win win!
KH
Wow! This really works! I have done something to my leg, either pulled muscle or pinched nerve. I have been hobbling around for three days. The pain worsened when resting and especially at night. Last night I researched leg pain at night and stumbled onto this site. Thought I would give it a try, nothing to lose. My nineteen year old son thought I was crazy. But he was wrong. I slept great, with only a tiny bit of pain when lying in one certain position. I will keep the bar of soap in my bed. Prayers for all that are in pain.
MrsSmith
The bar of soap is definitely not a placebo. My husband had severe leg cramps at night until, without his knowledge, I put small slices of a bar of soap under the bottom bed sheet. No more leg cramps, until I forgot to put them back while changing sheets. That night he had excruciating leg cramps. I put the soap back next day – no more cramps. I finally told him about the “cure” and he’s a believer.
Mel VK
Hi just want to say I had aching legs and was told about the soap and in desperation I threw a bar of oatmeal soap in my bed about 3 weeks ago. The pains in my legs were gone but my shoulder that is starting to freeze up IS MOVING !!!. I can stretch my arm back behind me without pain OMG I will keep a cake of soap in my bed for the rest of my life just in case it’s that that’s helping. I am not on any medication I will save all that for when I am old and also my bed has a strong smell of oatmeal. Also one more thing…. I spring out of bed now like when I was young and don’t know why or how… could it be “The Soap”
Rhiannon H.
I have had night cramps for several years and was taking quinine, which was the only thing that helped. Very skeptical about the claims of soap in the bed, but wanting to find an alternative to the tablets, as I had read health warnings about the continued use of quinine, I tried it.
The first quinine-free night I got into bed, feeling the first signs of cramp in my foot, telling myself I was crazy, this would never work – and had a good night’s sleep, that incipient cramp did not develop. That was about three weeks ago and the soap is still in the bed and I have had only one bad night with the cramp since but sometimes I would get cramp even when I took the quinine.
So, crazy at it seems this idea does, is, working, it cannot be a placebo effect, not in my case, because I was fully convinced it would never work, it could not work – but it does.
Tracey
I was having horrible calf cramps that would wake me out of a deep sleep, and had me leaping out of the bed in hideous pain at least three times a week. I get plenty of calcium, and had tried several other vitamins and supplements to stop the cramps, though nothing seemed to work.
I really didn’t believe in the mysterious soap bar remedy at all, but a friend swore that it worked for her, so I thought “What do I have to loose? If it doesn’t work, I can still use the soap.” I didn’t think to ask my friend where to put the soap in the bed, so I grabbed a bar and put it between the sheet and the side of the mattress pad at the top of the bed.
That was at least 2 months ago, and I swear that I have not had one leg cramp since!
I’m not sure on the speculation that this amazing remedy comes from the fragrance though, because I use Dove unscented soap for sensitive skin. Whatever it is, this remedy has made a believer out of me, and I’d highly recommend using a bar of soap if you are having leg cramps when you sleep.
Tiza
It’s funny to the people that say eat healthy, and you won’t have leg cramps, etc. Well, guess what? I eat healthy, drink plenty of water, take an excellent magnesium supplement on a regular basis, and still occasionally get cramps. The soap works better than most anything to stop the pain quickly or the charley horse or the RLS.
Plus, what is the problem with some people being negative about the soap anyway? Doesn’t make sense to me.
Ted
Instead of leg cramps, I have been troubled for years by pain in my left hip, the result of an old injury. I like to sleep on my side, but am awakened every night after two or three hours by pain in the left hip, forcing me to turn over on my right side. I decided to place a bar of soap in the bed, on top of the sheets so that I was in contact with it. I was quite skeptical about it doing any good, but to my surprise there was almost no pain at all in my hip, the very first night and every night since then. I’m sold! The first night I used a piece of soap that was very flat and placed it directly under my hip.
Kathryn
Two nights ago I tried this AND IT WORKS!!! No cramps and no restless legs. I have had cramp for years at night and just recently, restless legs. I’m a convert!
Same and simple Explanation you do not eat right
Most leg cramp issues can be associated with dehydration and depletion of potassium.
Most bar soaps also contain sodium chloride. During sleep, sodium chloride is absorbed through the skin from the bar of soap.
Stop eating soda, sugar/corn syrup, and coffee as replacements for fresh fruit and water and you won’t need pills or soap (expect to keep clean) :D
CM
I have been using the bar soap rememdy for about 2 years. And I have found that it does work for me.. It has been quite awhile since I have had leg cramps.
I unwrapped my soap bar and put it between the mattress and the sheet and found that it did work. If my leg cramps should start up again I will go back to the bar of soap and this time try it unwrapped.. For me this worked
maleficent evileva
I have been using a bar of soap for about 2 years now, under the sheets. I have not woken to cramps once. 3 times while sleeping in the spare room for one reason or the other I forgot to place soap in bed and got a good charlie that was as bad as they ever were before. I also used many kinds of soap bars, some full size and they have all worked. I change it every time I buy a new bar of soap for the bathroom sink. They can also be smelled in my room.
WHIZZZ
I found this some years ago and like most thought NO WAY. But it truly does work. Sometimes simple is best… no drugs.
linda
It works for me…with no rhyme or reason I can think of…
garyj
How about arthritic pain????
Sharon A.
A Facebook and personal friend of mine, posted about the soap relieving leg cramps on her home page and swears by it. And since I have suffered from what around here, we call “charley horses” every single night since I was a teenager, I decided that I didn’t have anything to lose. Guess what? It worked like a charm. I haven’t had a cramp for about a month (since I put the bar of Dial under my bottom sheet). My opinion is: You have nothing to lose by trying it. I don’t really care about the why’s….only that it worked! Thank You to whoever first discovered this!!!
Sydney
I have been a chronic and nightly cramper for many years (possibly because of my age (86) and type 2 diabetes). By chance, I happened upon the soap suggestion on the Internet.
With a nothing-to-lose attitude and a very large dose of skepticism, I threw a bar of soap under the covers three nights ago and, to my complete amazement, I have enjoyed three nights of cramp free sleep. I AM A VERY HAPPY BELIEVER !
There is a scary twist to this story. The soap in question was a bar that my wife had placed in a drawer where I kept my underwear, more than 16 years ago and might have been ineffective because of drying out, if we accept the premise that it has something to do with the scent. If that had been the case, I would have concluded that the concept was a load of baloney.
It scares me to think that I might, therefore, have missed out on a very good thing!
Re the scent, after reading your most erudite article, I checked the soap and it still had a strong scent. I have to credit my wife’s penchant for quality — It was by Pierre Cardin !
JOHN R.
I recently stopped taking a potassium supplement, for reasons not necessary to explain here. Almost immediately my occasional low/medium calf cramps were occurring nightly. And were severe. I decided to try the soap in bed suggestion and because I was having very cold feet when I get into bed these cold nights, I wear bed socks. I put a half worn bar of soap inside both socks. INSTANT SUCCESS AND CONTINUES THROUGH THE WEEK THAT I’VE DONE IT.
mj
Has anyone had sciatic leg pain and found it too to be relieved by the bar of soap?
Carol R
It works for my husband and me and has for the last three years since I’ve heard about it. We use Irish Spring.
Robyn
It worked on my insomnia. I had the best sleep I had in years with soap in bed!
JLee
My Mother-in-Law heard about this remedy from a volunteer at an ER last year. She suffers from leg cramps. I too suffer from severe leg cramps and have been to doctors and have had PT both only offered limited and temporary improvement.
I paid no attention to what the volunteer said- “Old wives tale” I called it. I just found out recently my MIL tried it and has had a bar of soap at the foot of her bed- swears by it. My wife and I recently spent the night at her parents vacation home and I found the soap at the foot of the bed and was going to remove it. My wife convinced to leave it there.
No cramps that night. Still a skeptic, as every once in a while I don’t get them for a night or two. The next night, no cramps. It has been five nights now (I placed a bar of soap at the foot of out bed when we returned home) with no cramps! I haven’t slept this well in years! I have a glycerin-based soap in my bed.
To the skeptics out there: Don’t knock it until you try it. Seriously, what have you got to loose? You aren’t trying a new pill or getting a new prescription- its a bar of soap-no prescription needed-and you probably have a bar in your pantry.
JLG
I don’t know if it’s the fragrance that does it, but I can definitely say that putting soap under the bottom sheet has worked for me. Several years ago my mother told me that she had relieved my father’s frequent and painful leg cramps using the bar of soap method, so I tried it. I had also had frequent and very painful foot and leg cramps for years, and I had immediate and complete relief. Since I prefer unscented products of all kinds, I use Ivory (which has very little scent.) When the bar is getting worn down, I move it to the shower and replace it with a fresh one. I even carry a bar with me when we travel. I, too, have wondered if direct contact would take care of a cramp; it appears that it does. Good to know!
Darin S
I must say, I can understand where the skepticism comes from, but I can attest to this working. Since February I have been having incredibly painful cramping-like sensations at night, but after recently putting a bar of soap under the covers at the foot of the bed they have all vanished.
It sounds like a crazy solution, but it works…
Miss Lori
YES it works. I agree that it seemed rdiculous when my physical therapist told me about it…she did not know why it works but I took her on faith (what could it hurt to try?) and found immediate relief. Tonight I woke with first cramps in three years, and after reading the comments I have replaced my bar of soap. Miracle cure! I had not heard the theory about the perfume molecules, but now it begins to make sense. PLEASE TRY THIS. IT CANNOT HURT YOU AND WILL INDEED HELP.
KDA
Had to start taking a thyroid medication that gave me horrible leg/foot cramps. I stopped taking the medication due to this side effect. Fast forward a year and a new Dr. prescribed the same medication to me and the cramps started right up again. My endocrinologist suggested I try the bar of soap in my bed and it has been amazing. Seems so crazy, but I don’t care. It works!
bea
I was having severe foot and calf cramps, waking me up around 3 a.m. every morning, making me crazy! I read a lot of different cures, but when I read about the soap, I thought-what the heck-I’ll try it. That was over a year ago.
In the last couple of months they’ve started to come back, but just a hint, all I have to do is touch the soap- and they’re gone! Other than that, they are no more! I will try scoring the surface of my soap, I use Irish Spring. My doctor laughed when I told him about it- but I have the last laugh- I have no more leg cramps!!
PB
My aunt told me about putting a bar of soap under my fitted sheet near my calves, which is where most of my leg pain is at. After doing this for a week, I haven’t had leg pain one single night. Psychological or physiological–I don’t care. It works. I wished I had heard of this sooner.
Richard A
I heard about this from another source, tried it, and it worked, not every day but perhaps my bar of Ivory Soap may be drying out (must look).
As to the intensity of the fragrances, the soap called Irish Spring(?) smells so strong that I used it once years ago and never again. So, it might be the ideal soap.
Dave D.
The soap method does work for me. I have been plagued with mussel spasams for years and would have severe leg pain at least 3 or 4 times a week.
Since i started using the bar of soap about a month ago i havn’t had the slightes cramp. I just want to thank the person that told me about the soap,
i can’t remember his name, But Thank You.
Doc bob
After suffering severe night cramps in my left leg in addition to the relentless pain from RSD/CRPS, I tried a bar of Dove soap in the area around my feet in bed. Lo and behold, for the first time in many years I’ve now had several nights of cramp and pain-free sleep even without using the neurostimulating device implanted in my spine.
Doc Bob, Retired physician.
PEOPLE’S PHARMACY RESPONSE:
Dear Doc Bob. Thanks for keeping an open mind. We know that the soap probably challenges your training and belief system. Sure glad that it worked for you.
Low cost…low risk and you can stop at any time and see whether the problem returns.
By the way…should you wish People’s Pharmacy Bed Soap (flatter and less intrusive) it is available here:
https://www.peoplespharmacy.com/bed-soap/
Frank in FL
The soap really works. I have in the past been to the ER because of severe cramps. Soap prevents both the pre-onset feeling and the cramps themselves. Before I heard of the soap I used an Amish remedy which stopped most cramps within a minute. It’s primary ingredient is vinegar which relates to the yellow mustard also used as a remedy. Personally I prefer to not get them as opposed to stopping the onset.
Frank
LMB
Recently over heard a conversation about soap and leg cramps but didn’t know the application. That very night in my hotel room both my legs cramped- one after the other. I grabbed a bar of soap, lathered with cold water and rubbed the backs of my legs; then rubbed the bar directly on my muscles ~~relief within minutes and sleep well. I WILL try it again and perhaps even keep a bar of soap in my bed now that I know the procedure!!
DHP
Where did the idea come from that Ivory soap is scent free? Not so, according to the wrapper which lists “fragrance” among its ingredients. Scent-free soaps are sold in specialist stores but I suspect that almost all soaps sold in regular stores contain scents. That is why they all work. DHP.
Cindy B.
Now if we could only find a substance to slip between the sheets that worked for depression or anxiety — or insomnia! — the way soap works for leg cramps.
EL
Last year my husband and I were vacationing in Florida and the first night in the hotel I got toe cramps so bad I could not work them out. I remembered that I had packed a bar of Ivory soap and because I did not know what else to do, I got the bar and put it between the sheets. I was totally amazed that within 2-3 minutes my cramps disappeared and I was able to sleep through the entire night without getting any more cramps in my feet.
I am truly a believer!
a.s.
how about Fels Naptha? definitely no scent there? prolly just a chip off the rather large bar would do the trick.
I very rarely have these cramps, but when I do they’re serial as well as serious. When I lived in Iran I used “Nakhlozeitun.” translates roughly as “palmolive.”
CgD
I have been using a bar of soap under my bottom sheet for several years now — no particular brand. Previously I had foot and calf cramps several times a week so painful that I had to get up and walk them off. Haven’t had a cramp since. And it also controls my nighttime restless legs as well. I even carry my own bar of soap when I travel.
Somewhere I read that someone specifically recommended Ivory, but I have never worried about the brand. I do recognize that “pre-crampy” feeling mentioned by Rick B and have always just replaced the bar – never thought of shaving or scoring the old bar.
When I mentioned this to my new podiatrist, he poo-pooed me. However, he proudly admitted that he never has tried it either. I can handle disagreement based on proven facts or personal experience, but not a condescending poo-poo. I will be finding a new podiatrist this year for my annual diabetic checkup. The soap works for me, and everyone to whom I have recommended it. Cheap, easy and works. Would that all of life’s uncomfortable problems were so easily solved.
Lee W
We have had the same 2 bars of soap under the queen mattress cover for years. One is Dial and the other Dove. They are in the middle about 2 feet from the foot. Still keep yellow mustard close, but have only needed it once.
ebm
BE DARING! Be the first to try it, what-cha-got to loose? a bar of soap? If it does
not work, you can still shower with it.
david
have used ivory with great success for several years. Spent weekend night in hotel and didn’t think of soap until after bad night of leg cramps not sleeping.
SWG
Regarding my earlier post on Benfotiamine (above) for neuropathy in the feet. When beginning the supplement it is recommended to take 300 mg in the AM and 300 mg in the PM. As time goes on you may be able to take a smaller ‘maintenance’ dosage, i.e. 150 mg AM and PM. If symptoms return, go back to the 300 mg AM and PM dosages.
MJW
If the fragrance is responsible for the therapeutic effect, then it should be the case that an unscented soap (e.g., Ivory) will produce no effect. Has anyone observed this?
Florence M.
This article about using soap in bed for leg cramps has been a boon for both my husband and me. I was convinced when, one night at my daughter’s house, I woke up with leg cramps and couldn’t get back to sleep. I was desperate as I take along a bar of soap when I visit. I went to get soap in the bathroom, no soap except a bar in receptacle. Took it and went back to sleep. Next morning found my bar on the floor, fell out of the bed. Also, one time that I got bad cramps in both hands, I thought of the soap. Got some, rubbed it on my hands, no more cramps. Only time in my life of 96 years that I had cramps in my hands. No more since.
Florence
PP
My husband’s night time leg cramps almost disappeared when he started taking 99 mg of Potassium daily.
CCD
My feet cramp, not my legs. I keep the soap in the paper wrapper under the bottom sheet. A lot of the time it slips just over the edge of the bed and is caught by the bed frame but it still seems to help. The effect dissipates after time so I put that bar in the shower and get a new bar. I bought a package of Castile soap when I started because I thought it might have to be “pure” soap to work, but Dial soap works, too.
Although I have perfume allergies so I usually buy “fragrance free” products! We normally use Dove in the shower, I read that others have had success with that. My husband is an engineer and generally skeptical about such things but now keeps a bar of soap (in a plastic ziploc bag to keep it “fresh” longer) in his bedside table. He holds it directly next to his skin when he gets a bad leg cramp.
SWG
I have Short-Fiber Neuropathy–soles of feet slightly numb and tops of the feet very sensitive, or even painful, to touch. I have found that “YES”, soap between the sheets does help me. It also helps with restless leg syndrome.
More importantly, what I have further found is that the B1 vitamin, Benfotiamine, has helped extrordinarily with the neuropathy…much more than any pain creams have helped. I take 150 mg. in the AM and 150 mg in the PM. After just a few days I had relief.
You will still have the neuropathy but the pain and tenderness is gone or greatly diminished. Benfotiamine is now a supplement I take regularly. I hope it also helps others.
Rick B
My family and myself have suffered for years from leg cramps. My wife and I put a bar of Dove in an old sock and put it at the bottom of the bed between the sheets about a year ago. Works great. We both eliminated the cramps we suffered with for many years.
Told my father about doing this and it also works for him and my mother. We all used to suffer from the cramps. After a considerable amount of time I noticed we felt like we were about to experience cramps – just that crampy feeling in the lower leg muscles. Both my wife and I felt that way. This happened about 10 to 11 months after we started using the soap. We decided to replace the old bar and use a new bar and overnight that crampy feeling disappeared. That was a month or so ago that we replaced the soap and we are both cramp free and do not feel that crampy feeling anymore.
The bar of soap in bed has been a miracle for all of us as the cramps were a bad part of our life. Even if it is placebo effect that might be taking place it works for us 100%.
Ned H.
The simple aspect of…object in the bed…keeping the feet and legs moving as you sleep….slight but moving.
drjabeles
The fragrance hypothesis could be further tested by using fragrant oils eg lavender oil or other fragrant esters used un soaps in small quantities on the sheets — or infused in a small pad — instead of soap.
Les
Will this work for foot neuropathy? Has anyone ever tried it for that? Is this just for leg cramps, or will it work for foot cramp?
PEOPLE’S PHARMACY RESPONSE: It works for toe and foot cramps. We don’t know about neuropathy.