Medicine Cabinet Journal

Everyday life with daily pills

Reader stories · Acid reflux & leg cramps

9 years of acid reflux relief. Then my night leg cramps led me to magnesium.

I kept my omeprazole. What changed was the way I looked at the mineral my muscles need.

Linda Morris, reader-story narrator
Linda Morris, 66. Nine years on omeprazole.

The omeprazole stayed in my morning pill box. I knew why I wanted it there. It had given me back nights without acid reflux.

Then my legs became the part of bedtime I kept thinking about.

I’m Linda Morris. I’m 66, and I’ve taken omeprazole for nine years. I remember the burning after supper, the pillows behind my back and the relief when I could finally lie down.

I wasn’t giving up that relief. But I was tired of the calf cramp that kept getting me out of bed.

The cramp ended. The tired morning stayed.

A cramp can be hard to explain once it has passed. By breakfast, the room is light and your leg has let go. You have a day to get on with.

In the middle of the night, it is different. You are sitting at the edge of the bed, trying to put your foot down, waiting for the muscle to soften.

A woman holding her calf at the edge of her bed
Slippers within reach. A clear bit of floor. The small things I arranged around another broken night.

I had the small routine worked out. Water nearby. Slippers where I could reach them. A clear bit of floor beside the bed.

By morning, I was tired before the day had even begun. Going to bed had started to feel like waiting for the next cramp.

Three things I kept trying

I started with the ordinary suggestions. More water. A calf stretch before bed. Walking until the cramp let go.

They gave me something to do in the moment. They also left me going over the previous day after another bad night. Had I drunk enough? Had I stretched long enough? Had I spent too much time on my feet?

Water and medicine on a bedside table
A glass of water was always within reach. The daily-pill link was the part I had missed.
Crossed-out list of the familiar night-time attempts
The things I kept reaching for before I went back to my daily pill.
More water

I kept a glass nearby. Another cramp still left me going over what I had drunk that day.

A calf stretch

It became part of getting ready for bed. I was still waking with my calf in a knot.

Walking it off

It helped me get through the moment. I was losing sleep again the next night.

I had put plenty of thought into the night. I had barely looked at the pill I took in the morning.

My refill was so familiar I stopped looking at it

Nine years is a lot of mornings. Take the pill. Make breakfast. Get the next refill. Carry on.

The part I could feel was working: the acid reflux stayed quiet. I had not put magnesium beside that familiar pill in my mind.

A weekly pill organizer with medicines and vitamins
The refill went in the same place each month. The magnesium line had never been part of that routine.

At my next refill, I sat down with the medicine information. This time, I read past the part I already knew.

The line on the omeprazole label I went back to read

Omeprazole is in a group of acid reflux medicines called proton pump inhibitors, or PPIs.

The label has a section about low magnesium. It reports cases after at least three months of PPI use, most often after a year. Serious muscle spasms are among the reactions it lists with low magnesium. 2

Omeprazole label summary: low magnesium reported after three months or more, most often after a year; serious muscle spasms are among the reactions listed.
The medicine information gave me a place to check the link. [2]

The FDA had warned about that long-term PPI link back in 2011. I had been counting nights. The medicine information was talking about years of a daily routine.

Then I read what magnesium does. The NIH explains that the body uses it for normal muscle and nerve function. When magnesium gets too low, cramps and spasms can be among the signs. 1

For the first time, the morning pill and the night-cramp question belonged in the same picture.

This was more than one person’s story

I found a 2019 review that brought together 16 studies and 131,507 people. Low magnesium was more common among PPI users than among people who were not taking them. 3

2019 observational review: low magnesium in 19.4 percent of PPI users versus 13.5 percent of non-users.
Published in Medicine, 2019. [3]

This was the part I had been missing. I had treated the cramp as a problem that began at bedtime. The magnesium link went back to a pill I took each morning.

I could value what omeprazole did for my acid reflux and learn what magnesium meant for my muscles.

I started turning the magnesium bottles around

Now I had a reason to read the magnesium labels.

I used to think the big number on the front was the useful part. Then I started reading the form and the full serving together.

Magnesium glycinate is gentle on the stomach. After years of dealing with acid reflux, that mattered to me.

I also checked the magnesium amount and the full serving. I wanted a bottle I could read without having to guess what the big number meant.

Three things to check on a magnesium label: form, magnesium amount and capsules per serving.
I read these three lines together before choosing a bottle.

The bottle I chose

Steadia Muscle Comfort put the details I was looking for in one place: 275 mg of magnesium from magnesium glycinate, in three capsules.

One bottle has 30 daily servings. The form is on the label, along with the full serving and the magnesium amount.

Steadia Muscle Comfort, forest-green label

Muscle Comfort

Magnesium glycinate

275 mg

Magnesium per full serving

3 capsules a day
30 daily servings

Actual Supplement Facts: 3 capsules, 30 servings, 275 mg magnesium from 2,500 mg magnesium glycinateOpen the full label
The Supplement Facts panel is shown above. Open it to see the complete wraparound label.

The reason for looking at it followed the same link I had been reading about. Long-term omeprazole can lower magnesium. Magnesium supports normal muscle and nerve function. Muscle Comfort supplies a measured amount of that mineral each day.

See the Muscle Comfort formula and full label

The three numbers I wrote down

Three capsules. 275 mg magnesium. Thirty daily servings in a bottle.

The label also says 2,500 mg of magnesium glycinate. That is the weight of the whole compound, including the glycine. The magnesium part is 275 mg.

That was the serving I added to my day. My omeprazole stayed where it belonged in the morning pill box.

Muscle Comfort bottle beside a book, lamp and glass of water
Capsules rather than a powder to mix at bedtime.

After about three weeks

The cramps were coming less often. I was sleeping through more nights instead of getting out of bed to wait for my calf to let go.

That was the change I noticed most: a morning that started after a proper night’s sleep. I kept my omeprazole and the acid reflux relief I had relied on for years.

I read what other buyers said

I was especially interested in the people who mentioned the same night-cramp routine, or the things they had tried before looking at magnesium.

These are two of the buyer reviews on the Muscle Comfort page.

Judy W. holding a Muscle Comfort bottle
★★★★★

Judy W., 69 · On omeprazole and a water pill

Tried everything, this is the one I kept

Bananas, pickle juice, tonic water and soap under the sheet. Each one helped for a night. After a month on this, the cramps come less often. I still keep the pickle juice by the bed, just in case.

Verified buyer · Sep 24, 2026

Gary S. holding a Muscle Comfort bottle
★★★★★

Gary S., 72 · On lisinopril-HCTZ

My wife bought it, now I take it too

My charley horses woke me up about once a week. I didn't know my blood pressure pill had a water pill in it until my wife read the label. Three capsules with dinner, and the bad nights come less often now.

Verified buyer · Sep 27, 2026

Reviews from the Muscle Comfort product page.

Something useful to keep beside the pill box

The Muscle Comfort guide comes with two or more bottles. It includes a printable card about timing magnesium around other pills.

Muscle Comfort guide page one: timing magnesium around other pills
Guide page 1. Tap to open the full card; print a copy to keep with your pill box.

That is the sort of information I want to be able to find again. My pill routine already has its place in the day. The serving and timing notes belong beside the rest of it.

The current two-bottle offer

Two bottles give you 60 daily servings for $68, with the Muscle Comfort guide included. Shipping to the lower 48 states is free. The offer includes 30-day money back.

My acid reflux relief still matters

My omeprazole still has its place. So does magnesium.

I wish I had put the morning pill and the night cramps in the same picture sooner. I had spent so much time on the water, the stretches and the floor beside my bed. Magnesium finally gave me a daily step to take.

If you have taken omeprazole for years and leg cramps keep breaking up your nights, take a look at the formula and the two-bottle offer below.

View Muscle Comfort and choose your supply
Sources & research
  1. NIH Office of Dietary Supplements: magnesium
  2. DailyMed: omeprazole label, section 5.9
  3. 2019 review: PPIs and low magnesium
Photo credits

Bedside water: Tima Miroshnichenko / Pexels. Pill organizer: Stevepb / Wikimedia Commons (CC0). Portrait: Andrey K / Unsplash. Other images supplied by Steadia.