Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for January 12, 2012

hahahahahaa, god I hate those middle of the night leg cramps… but how on earth did she sleep through that?

My husband is the same way when I get a cramp in my legs!! Onlyh if I’m quiet about it will he wake up :)

q-vel

Goes to show that Arlo is a sound sleeper.

Hate that. I usually have to get up and walk around.

Here’s a tip for all you leg cramp people. Or some of you anyway. If they happen more that occasionally, take a magnesium supplement daily. They’re cheap at the grocery store or pharmacy and should get rid of them. (available in just magnesium pills or calcium, magnesium and zinc form, but the plain magnesium ones also have calcium because it helps the magnesium get absorbed)Magnesium is somewhat of a muscle relaxant and it’s also necessary for muscles to work. It’s also one of the active ingredients in Doan’s Pills, a backache medicine here in the US.One pill a day should do the trick unless you run/bike/work out an awful lot and/or drink a heck of a lot of fluid (for the fluid part, I’ve not researched that, but anecdotal evidence suggests that it might be excreted in sufficient quantities to cause cramps if you drink enough fluids).

Another leg cramp trick: keep a cane or something similar next to the bed. When leg cramp happens, grab tip of cane with hand, put hook of cane under ball of foot and pull, keeping leg straight – stretches out leg muscles & stops cramp.

Try a bar of soap (unwrapped) beneath the sheets. I’ve done that for a while and don’t get leg/foot cramps nearly as often.

I always try to fight a cramp, trying not to let it cramp up all the way. What would happen if you just let it cramp completely?

Many people are deficient in magnesium these days because of water treatment. Take 100% of the RDA of magnesium as long as it doesn’t contain magnesium oxide, it gives a lot of people the runs and it’s in most supplements you find in drug and grocery stores or discount stores. Look in a health food store or online for it.

I have MS and nothing really helps the cramping. Strong muscle relaxers which I hate taking cuz they make me goofy. Have tried the magnesium supplements but that didnt help either. My neurologist says that eventually the cramps will remain and I will be all twisted up. If you keep cramping, mention it to your Dr. and see if you need to be tested for MS.

I have doubts about magnesium. Our tap water is so full of it that we have a problem of boiler scale without boiling, and I still get the occasional leg cramp.

Vitamin D supplements help with leg cramps too.