dreaming4ever Posted September 27, 2006 Posted September 27, 2006 About once a month or so I get woken up to these horrible pains in one of my calf muscles. It goes all tight and I think it's muscle spasms or something but I end up having to massage it really hard and I just try to get through the sudden intense pain that just happened out of the blue. After I have one of these incidents I am usually limping for about 4 days because my calf is so tender and since I'm an active person it really sucks to be hobbling around when I want to be working out or something. Anyways....my question is does anyone know WHY this happens? and is there a way to prevent it? cuz I seem to get them a lot more than anyone else I know. I just want them to stop. Not exactly a friendly wake-up call when I get them
SoCalCatman72 Posted September 27, 2006 Posted September 27, 2006 I have the same problems sometimes with muscle cramps in my calves. The remedy is quinine, which is found in tonic water (seltzer).
Author dreaming4ever Posted September 27, 2006 Author Posted September 27, 2006 Wow...thanks. I didn't think there would actually be something that could stop them since I've been having them for years. One problem......tonic water is disgusting. Is there anything else this quinine is in?
SoCalCatman72 Posted September 27, 2006 Posted September 27, 2006 Aside from chewing the bark of a Cinchona tree, I don't know of any other source of quinine, but if you mix the tonic water with a fruit juice or something, it's not that bad. Or try a Gin and tonic before bed
whichwayisup Posted September 28, 2006 Posted September 28, 2006 Have you had some blood tests done? Sometimes cramps in the legs, feet etc., mean something. Get that checked out with your Dr!
josie54 Posted September 28, 2006 Posted September 28, 2006 To me, it sounds like it could be a good old-fashioned "charlie horse." I used to get them all the time. You wake up with a severe almost unbearable pain in your calf muscle, and then it's sore for days. I'm not saying that what I had and what you have is the same thing, but that they sound similar. What I learned from mine--the SECOND you feel it coming on, even if you're coming out of a dead sleep, get up and WALK ON IT. Walk on it, put weight on it, move on it until the pain subsides. If you do that (if it is a charlie horse), you don't deal with the pain for days later. It works itself out on the spot and stops the spasms, lasts for much less time, and gets the muscle relaxed so you won't be in pain. Anyway, that's what's worked for me. I now get them only every once in a long while, but I still force myself up and on it, no matter how tired I am, because I know that the consequences of lying there and waiting it out are more intense pain and days of limping, as you say.
Author dreaming4ever Posted September 28, 2006 Author Posted September 28, 2006 Thanks josie54, I'll definitely try that. And yes, it sounds like the exact same thing you had. Still hurts
molimo140 Posted September 30, 2006 Posted September 30, 2006 Lack of Potassium is a cause for "charlie horses". It has to do with the membrane potential of the cells in your muscles. Eat some bananas or something dude.
bab Posted October 1, 2006 Posted October 1, 2006 Lack of Potassium is a cause for "charlie horses". It has to do with the membrane potential of the cells in your muscles. Eat some bananas or something dude. I second this. I used to get them all the time, but eating bananas always seemed to keep them away.
Jizzosh Posted October 1, 2006 Posted October 1, 2006 Hmm, never heard of this. Glad I eat bananas! Anyways, if it persists just go see the doctor.
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