Old Wives' Tales wanted

[venta]

(Or I suppose sensible medical advice will do)

The past three nights I've woken up repeatedly with really bad cramp in my legs. The sort where your muscles twist into an odd shape, and nothing you do will untwist them. This is painful, and has also left me with increasingly badly pulled muscles in my legs. I'm used to this happening occasionally, but three nights running is pushing it in my book.

Now. I would expect that my high evil-on-toast consumption rate would take care of the lack-of-salt problem. And I've been munching crisps just in case. I've also been drinking a lot of water recently.

What else... ?

Comments

[smiorgan.livejournal.com]

Stop doing what you were doing before bed. We know exactly what it is, and if you keep it up you'll go blind.

[nevecat.livejournal.com]

How's your calcium intake?

I seem to remember exercise-based cramps are caused by evilness of anaerobic respiration or something - whilst when you're alseep you're not pushing your muscles faster than your oxygen-intake can keep up with (which is what the exercise ones are from), you could well be sleeping awkwardly and cutting off blood supply, therefore forcing the anaerobic mechanism to be used.

I can't remember the exact mechanism or why I asked about calcium, because it was on the A-level biology syllabus and I only picked up bits from helping friends revise it - but lactic acid is produced, IIRC (it's what causes the pain)...

If it /is/ because you're sleeping funny & cutting off circulation, I'd blame the weather: try leaving the window ajar so you're getting more air circulating, try swapping to cooler bedding, etc.

If it continues to be a problem, it might be worth getting yourself checked out at the doctors - it could (she says, making a logical guess) be related to blood pressure of clotting or some such evilness?

[lathany.livejournal.com]

I find I get unpleasant cramps if I've been drinking heavily (or, these days, at all) the night before. I would have expected lots of water to sort that out though.

[beckyc.livejournal.com]

Even standing on tiptoes doesn't work?

Quinine is supposed to be good for this kind of thing - drink some bitter lemon or tonic water.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_yakumo_/]

I was discussing this the other week with shihan paul, I can only remember having cramp once when i was a kid, but since i've been training heavilly i've oken up on 3 occasions with screamingly bad cramp in one leg that feels as if my muscles are so contracted they're about to shatter the bone..

anyway, he said it's a small misconception that the primary cause is a lack of salt, it tends to be sodium and potasium deficiency, this article seems pretty good ( http://health.discovery.com/diseasesandcond/encyclopedia/554.html ) and mentions a few more things.. including

"In the past, salt tablets were recommended to prevent muscle cramps. However, salt tablets are not useful and should be avoided"


but basically it seems like you need careful excersise & stretching, and more tomatoes/bananas/squash in your diet =)

Old Wives Tales

[peejayuk.livejournal.com]

As others have quite rightly noted elemental salts have a large role to play in leg muscle cramping.

Once upon a time in a galaxy far,far away when I played sports I had similar problems. I found the following quite useful;

1. An hour or so before bed have a hot bath with 3 heaped tablespoons of mustard powder dissolved in it. Soak in bath until water cools. Please note you do not smell of mustard when you get out !!! (This is also good for clearing airway congestion also)

2. Make up a mixture of massage oil. I find using apricot oil base and a 3:2:1 mix of lavender:mandarin:pine works well for me. Rub into affected muscle area in a circle motion kneading with the tips of your thumbs. This one also smells nice and can lead to some interesting things if you have a 'friend' to help.

3. Get your circulation checked out by your G.P. This is not to freak you out but if you have circulatory problems which mean the muscles in your legs are not recieving the necessary nutrients it may be indicative of Reynauds disease which is most commonly found in females (particularly smokers). The fact that it happens mainly (always) at night may be because when your horizontal gravity isn't helping your blood flow to your legs.

Number three is the most unlikely but ...

Hope this is of some help.

Peejay

Eat bananas.

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

Mmmm, taste that potassiumy goodness...

[floralaetifica.livejournal.com]

What's evil on toast? (Since I assume you're not eating toast soaked in Sunny Delight)