Cramp in legs
Bernard_Doyle1
Posts: 67 Forum Member
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For the past week I've been getting terrible cramp in my calfs in both legs. What could possibly cause this? To much salt or not enough salt? And what is the best way to prevent it as it really is becoming unbearable.
Thank you
Thank you
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Have you started taking any medication recently OP? My dr said this was probably the cause for mine.
Then again, a non medical friend suggested a packet of plain crisps..
Sorry not to be of more help - cramp is really irritating, especially if it wakes you in the middle of the night!!
Calf cramp! AGONY.
I can never believe people who say, "get up and walk about." when I get calf cramp I literally can't move for pain. Twice I have passed out cold with the sheer pain. Afterwards it hurts for at least a week, with torn muscle fibres.
The only vaguely helpful things people have said are:
1. Stay hydrated. People sometimes get calf cramps after drinking a bit too much alcohol, which dehydrates them.
2. Try not to stay in a position for too long where your calf muscles are short. Keep 'em stretched out a bit, even though that might mean changing the position you sleep in, since if you sleep on your back your calf muscles will always be short.
3. Try putting on lots of deep heat and a double tubigauze bandage for a few days (this does work quite well in my experience).
4. Try drinking tonic water, since quinine is supposed to help.
When I've had calf cramp from leg disuse while being completely immobilised while on ketamine ( I mean not moving for 9 hours) I've never had it that bad, maybe you have some underlining problem?
I got these every other night when pregnant. They are actually easy to stop. Push down your heel and pull up your toe. If you manage to do this quickly you will completely avoid the cramp.
All the other tips did not work for me, but worth a try!
Regular stretching exercises can definitely help prevent cramp, but you may have to experiment to find the right ones that work for you.
Btw, I know it's not my thread, but is a nightmare when you are trying to sleep. No irony intended!!
This is so good, I read about this a solution a couple of years ago- it does work, it is not always easy to do, but if you can force your heel down and toes up, it will get rid of it- and pretty fast too!
Maybe you should try tackling each option at a time and see if they improve? Hope they do, I know they can be horrible.
I found this helps a lot, I have flat feet and tend to get cramps in my feet and calfs a lot, I had to cut down on salt a few years back for medical reasons and made no difference.
Solution: Calf stretching exercise: Takes 30 seconds and can be don't sitting or laying down. (My kinda exercise!)
Straighten your leg and point your toes up towards your head as far as you can. You will feel the stretching of the calf muscle behind your lower leg. Hold for about 10 seconds only, relax and then do it again. Max 3 times in all, then do the other leg.
It's very easy to actually over-do it and wake up tomorrow feeling like you have strained something. More is not better and not require.
Do it in bed every night before nodding off and the leg cramps will be no more.
Ah I didn't see your post before posting my but as in my post, if you do that exercise once a day before getting the cramps, you won't get them.
It really is one of those simple things that sounds crap but does actually work and works well.
It is basically lack of calf muscle exercise that makes it go into spasm when relaxed. And it is bloody painful.
I'm pretty sure it isn't for me. I have had night cramps after a hard day's hiking; or after an inactive day. They just seem to be random really.
I always seemed to wake up just as the cramp was starting for some reason. Probably because the cramps are so horrible. It gave me enough time to stop them in their tracks.
Just one of those strange pregnancy symptoms, never get them otherwise thank goodness. The stretching before bed sounds great as prevention though.
The pain is intense and I can imagine how it could cause one to pass out although I haven't done so. I also agree that once it strikes stretching is impossible.
My worst ever episode was a cramp in the sartorious muscle (a muscle that starts deep in the buttock and runs all the way down to the calf). It struck one Saturday morning and the cramp locked in and stayed for the weekend!. I couldn't sit down and couldn't lie down. I spent the whole weekend walking around my home until I was able to get to a doctor on the Monday. I was prescribed valium which relaxed the muscle and painkillers. It was a couple of weeks before the pain where the muscle had been tugging the tendons.
I now do stretches religiously. pretty well every day, It seems to keep the back of the leg cramps at bay (touch wood) but haven't found an exercise that effectively stretches that front muscle system. Keeping hydrated makes sense and I do that anyway. I have done lots of research on line and there doesn't seem to be an answer or even a cause. It seems one of those things that some people are just prone to.
I know when one is going to come on when I move my foot in a certain position to turn in bed and it doesn't quite sync with the muscle. I'll end up screaming and sobbing with pain. The only thing that helps is my partner soothing me and telling me to relax. I'll end up limping for a couple of days after.
Drinking water and stretching before and after exercise probably keeps it at bay.
Yes, me too.
I know it helps some people, but when people say "get up and walk about" or "have you tried stretching the muscle?" it makes me feel a bit terse. It is comparable to someone suggesting those things at just the most painful moment of labour. I have trained my husband to leap like a gazelle at my first cry and hold my calf very tightly in both hands. It doesn't stop the cramp, but it seems to stop it cramping even more ferociously. When he is away I just have to wait for it to pass and try not to hold my breath until I turn blue.
I'm the same, I'll be in tears of pain, crying out. It wakes me up from my sleep. Thankfully it's pretty rare now, the biggest change was restricting salt in my diet to none at all.
My OH stretches and massages mine for me, it really does help.
edit:
bit late