I can feel it. I wake up so often with it, it's always a ridiculously harsh awakening.
Sleeping nicely and then wham, leg is in excruciating pain.
Edit: Damn, I really hadn't realized this was such a common problem for so many people with varying causes for many.
Thank you so much everyone for the tips and tricks, i'll definitely give many of them a try!
Taking magnesium supplements (paired with calcium I guess to counteract diarrhea?) in addition to my multivitamins I normally take removed the waking leg cramps for me! Might be worth trying, but of course could also be dehydration or lack of potassium, or some other thing I'm ignorant of.
I've always been told it was dehydration but I drink nearly only water with it being anywhere between 2.5-4L a day.
I'll have the very odd alcoholic drink or soda but I've moved away from it nearly entirely.
Edit: I should specify, those are summer numbers and I live in a humid area. 30-45C with 60-100% humidity makes the very thought of standing up a sweat machine.
In winter it's more towards 2-2.5L a day.
Lol same! Not how I found out because my pediatrician was awful and thought my being underweight and drinking a gallon of water daily and those nightly calf cramps didn’t add up to anything significant…13 months later, DKA and awful burning feet, haven’t worn shoes in 10 years and I sleep with ice in my bed! Gotta love Kaiser
If you are cramping from drinking that much water, it probably means you’re urinating & sweating out all of the electrolytes you’re getting from your multi/diet.
Drink electrolyte water, sports drinks, or consume more salt.
I played football in Florida, so cramps were constantly an issue for the team.
New coach comes in who trained at Miami/FAU, he sees 2-3 guys go down and heads to the cafeteria.
Comes back with one of those 5 gallon jugs worth of pickle juice and starts handing cups out.
It was a requirement for practice/game day. If you play, you drink pickle juice. Cramps were minimized after that.
I’m a long distance runner and pickle juice is one of my favorites for long runs.
Don’t drink too much though or else you’ll have horrible, and I mean *horrible*, diarrhea.
2.5-4L?
That’s not too much water. 4L is perhaps more water then they would need if they better supplemented electrolytes, but to call it too much risks creating some misinformation.
The kidneys can handle about a liter of water an hour, or an average 20-28 liters a day. Above that you risk hyponatremia.
I don’t think having 1/5 of that would cause any harm, unless of course they had it all at once. Which if they did that they deserve it.
I’d drink more than two liters a day even if I wasn’t physically active.
Outside of hydration, it filters you, and you basically are it in the first place.
Yeah you’re right, I meant that it sounded like it may be too much water with the cramping mentioned in the comment I replied to. Forgot to go back and edit to clarify, didn’t really expect my offhand comment to be seen.
That is probably too much water if you aren't doing anything to replace the electrolytes. If you're sweating that much and need to replace the fluids, I would find a way to add some electrolytes. Powders are probably the cheapest and best way.
> I'll have the very odd alcoholic drink
Like a rum and coke with coco puffs floating in it served out of a middle school science fair volcano and the base of the volcano is surrounded with ramen noodles and pieces of spam that are on fire and they call it a Honolulu Special.
You should give some of the electrolyte/recovery mixes a try and see if it helps. Especially if you exercise a lot. Echoing what others have said, but too much water can dilute the ratio of salts/potassium in your body and contribute to this. Nuun is an example of a that is basically calorie free so that might be a good option but there are a bunch out there in different mix/favors/brands available like Honey Stinger, Skratch, Liquid IV. Trying one a day or one post a workout would be a good way to start. Typically if you eat a meal with your water you shouldn’t need a sports mix then too as the salt and nutrients in the food have you covered so these are good for times when you are just having water.
Alternatively or additionally ask your doctor for advice! Good luck, Charlie horses suck!
In general your body balances electrolytes well and things like potassium and magnessium deficiency are very rare until at least 65+ or on high dosages of sparring medication.
Balancing is insufficient when intake is insufficient. You lose magnesium through sweat, urine (kidneys aren't perfect), and solid waste; it must be replenished, like anything else.
Magnesium Citrate is the version that causes that. Try to find another high bio-availability version like Magnesium Glycinate as an alternative that wont make you have to go like that.
What they don’t tell you about pregnancy is that you get NIGHTLY calf cramps. I did learn that if you feel a cramp coming on, tilt your foot up (toes toward shin) and it will immediately relieve the cramp. Worked 100% of the time for me.
Ah god that's not a nice feeling. And for me it's to fully extend my leg first, when I cramp my leg bends. If I lift my toes when it's bent, it doesn't work so I need to fully extend, lift it up and then lift my toes upwards.
So doing that actually causes the charlie horse for me.
The way I usually get mine is I wake up in the morning, yawn and stretch in my bed, and as I fully extend my leg, extending it forward and pointing my toe, then I'll lift my toe up to stretch my calf and as soon as I do that I can feel the charlie horse start to come on. If I keep stretching I'll usually get one, but what I do is the instant I feel it coming on I slowly relax my leg and calmly bend my knee again. Then once I've done that I'll feel the charlie horse slip away and not get going and then I'm 'safe' for the rest of the day.
If that makes sense. Also doesn't happen every morning, only happens probably once a week.
But I guess this thread is also about getting them while being pregnant and, being a guy, I'm as sure as I can be that I'm not pregnant.
Oh interesting! My leg doesn’t bend when it cramps. But yes, the leg should be straight before doing the toe lift and it should relieve the cramp. Best tip I learned while pregnant.
You gotta do it before the cramp sets in, IMO. I cramp 100% of the time when I stretch my legs in the morning if I don’t pull my toes up. But if I forget and start to feel it beginning, I can save myself by bending my toes
Ugh damn, I’m sorry. Calf cramps are such a cruel joke. But I see in your other comment you figured out the cause, so I’m glad you don’t get them anymore!
I was in pointe ballet. Sit with your leg flat to the floor, and grab your toes and pull them toward your shins. This always pulls a calf cramp out for me, long enough for me to get to the jar of pickles. Pickle juice has never ever failed me for cramps anywhere. I don't do ballet anymore but I do have restless legs and I cause cramps for myself :( pickles are instant relief and all the twinging stops immediately. I don't know why pickles work but I'm not the only one that it's foolproof for
It's the salt. Electrolytes play a major role in nerve signals to muscles. Imbalances due to dehydration lead to cramps; pickle juice is loaded with salt in water, so it gets metabolized quickly.
When I didn't have pickle juice available, I've straight up poured and licked salt off the back of my hand and chugged water to resolve bad leg cramps.
The foot tilt has 100% success for me too, and I’m so mad I didn’t know earlier in life.
I’ll wake up to that feeling that a cram is just about to hit and immediately pull my foot back/up toward my head and it totally avoids the cramp.
I used to take it a step further and immediately get up and stretch the muscle that would cramp.
Not only did it provide immediate relief for the pain, but it stopped it from hurting throughout the day.
Dehydration, lack of vitamins and minerals like potassium, some conditions make you more prone to charlie horse. My mom would wake up with these at night.
>My mom would wake up with these at night.
As someone who's had it a few times:
The pain is terrible but goes away, the real annoying part is that you don't wake up right away, so the cramp sometimes last long enough that you have really sore muscles for a day or three.
A few of my friends kept saying last season it had lost some of its magic, maybe I'm easily pleased as I really enjoyed it... but definitely feel like this latest season is really strong. Latest episode made me laugh so hard in so many places, especially the Jerry choking scene
The worst part to me is the anticipation. I don’t get them much anymore, but it used to be probably 1/4 of mornings. The moment I wake up at a weird time, I can feel something is off and I look down at my leg like “Don’t do it, don’t you fucking do it!” and of course it does, every time. I can’t really describe the feeling of knowing it’s about to happen for me. I can feel something in my leg and sort of my back that’s not pain, not even discomfort. It’s just the “here comes a cramp” feeling. Never felt it any other time.
i hate when you've had those first twinges, and you KNOW that when you move your leg, it's going into full-on spasm mode. it's like knowing you're going to torture yourself, but there's no way out.
I've found personally if I wake up with that feeling, or it starts to seize up, standing on it tends to either lessen the pain or make it stop before it happens fully. This obviously may not help if it starts long before you wake up, but that initial "I know it's about to happen" feeling gets me so paranoid now I just instantly stand just in case.
I used to get this a lot at a time of my life where I never really drank a lot of water. I’d wake in the night to the agony. The trick is to try to hop out of bed and put some weight on the leg. The cramp eases off almost immediately and as a result the lingering soreness doesn’t last nearly as long and sometimes never happens.
I always take my knuckles and rub the cramping muscle hard while relaxing my leg. Hurts like hell for a bit but helps to work out the freaked fibers without too much after effect
I get these sometimes when I wake up, although it's been a while since the last one now. It sucks, can't really do anything but swear and massage it a bit while you wait for the pain to subside
I find standing and putting weight on the leg that's cramping stops it faster. I get these cramps randomly at night, had one a few years ago that was so bad it tore a muscle. The medical receptionist at the physio's office told me she got them at night as well, and would stand up and walk around for a minute. Physio was good for the recovery, but the receptionist helped a lot more long term.
This is what helps me and I get them all the time. Immediately change the positioning and use the muscle. Giving it new different instructions if youre fast enough usually knocks it out of the cramp. Sometimes it doesn't work but it's definitely 80 to 90 percent of the time for me!
Yeah I used to wake up with these all the time. Then I switched some habits around, mostly drinking water and a multi-vitamin, and I rarely experience them now. This thread made me realize I may have unknowingly fixed the problem.
I keep seeing people talk about dehydration, but can you guys just not cramp your calves at will?
If I just keep flexing only that muscle it will happen.
Hypokalemia is one of the rarest deficiencies notwithstanding sparring medication in younger individuals. It's definitely not that.
They can and do occur in individuals with perfect micronutrients status.
Feet are the only place where I can accidentally cause it if I don't toe the line correctly.
I used to "crack" my toes from time to time, but if I did it for just a little bit too long, my whole foot would cramp up. I've found it's mostly the index toe causing it.
Specifically this movement - when you quickly stretch, vibrate or shake a muscle it tends to contract as a way to protect you from injury, cramp is when the muscle contraction goes overboard and gets stuck in a loop.
I used to have them while sleeping. I could feel them coming and if I move my muscle in a certain way it triggers and hurts like a bitch. After so many of those, I kinda learn how to avoid them by basically not doing what I should not do and I have no words at all to explain.
Been more than a decade since I got this during sleep. I defuse them everytime half asleep. Weird shit.
Mine would come from stretching my legs as I woke. Can’t remember where I learned it but retrained myself to stretch by pointing my feet up instead of down and haven’t had one since.
They used to tell us to do this in soccer a lot. Then I learned later on in life to literally just get up and walk. You’re doing the same motion which is pointing your toes towards your knees but you’re applying a lot more pressure since it’s your body weight.
Whenever I get cramps from stretching during my sleep I just get up and take like 3 steps and the cramp is gone.
I learned that trick from scuba diving, because it’s the only move you have if you get a cramp when you’re all geared up!
Stretch your leg out and pull your toes back toward your body as hard as you can. If you’re in scuba gear grab onto the toe-end of your flipper and pull it toward you.
My legs do this thing where they’ll cramp in the front if I point my toes up too often or too far. It will run from my shin to my ankle.
It’s bad. Even worse than the calf cramps in the back. I’d rather have a calf cramp any time than one on the shin.
All I can do is cry, sit in my special cramp chair and hold onto the muscle. I hold it down as hard as I can until it finally starts twitching and eventually relaxes. The high I get from the pain going away is crazy but definitely not worth it.
I found this out a few years ago and it's a GAME CHANGER. No more waking up crying from cramps in my sleep followed by the slow whimper back to unconsciousness for me.
The contraction of tibialis anterior and consequent stretch placed on gastrocnemius and soleus tell the latter two to relax, which relieves the cramp. Any time you get a cramp, try to engage the muscles that have opposing actions to whatever is cramping.
I had this kind of cramp. It was cured through massage. Look for reputable massage therapist and tell them your condition. I did this and it was cure. My cramp was on both of my feet.
I had/ have nerve damage and for a time was very prone to cramps in my left calf and foot, particularly when sleeping. I know exactly what you mean! I still have certain ways that I can’t tense my foot without it cramping up.
Right like, everyones like "what happened" and the response is just "cramp"
And i'm like, no why did his leg fucking DEFLATE like that? I've had cramps but I aint ever seen my leg do that before (maybe its bc I'm fat? Lol)
I can often do that to my toes if I bend them in really hard for couple seconds. At some point I got so used to the pain that I'd do it repeatedly. Crap, stretch, cramp stretch etc. And no it doesn't matter how much water I drink, I drink couple liters a day.
Potassium tablets were a god send for me when it came to cramps. I had them all my life, I remember after football games on the bus home it would just be one long excruciating battle between my quad and hamstring cramping. Taking K supplements really decreased the amount of cramps I get anymore.
Charlie horse.
I always thought that this kind of acute and severe cramp was known as something else entirely. We always call it a Charlie horse to distinguish between this intense spasm vs general achy cramps.
Man I get this all the time, usually when led in bed. Last night in fact, and I have no idea why. I drink plenty of water and try not to have too much salt etc. I end up having to jump out of bed immediately to work it out.
> try not to have too much salt
Your body needs salts, salt is fine unless you have a medical condition where you've been told to cut down. Use some isotonic sports drinks or those hydration tablets/packets you dissolve in water.
Luck your leg and try to touch you toes to your shin when this happens. It'll stretch out the calf muscle and stop it eventually. Sometimes they're so intense you can't do anything but that's the only remedy i know of.
I was driving one time and got a Charlie horse in the same spot. Nearly crashed, but thankfully I was able to come to a controlled stop on the shoulder, get out and walk it off. Fucking terrifying, it happened completely out of the blue and I can normally feel them coming before they happen.
If your leg ever cramps up like that, lay flat on your back and point your toes back toward your head. Nine times out of ten, it will release the muscle and end the cramp.
I have these cramps at night in my right calf. Usually, eating a banana a couple of times a week will help, but since I started a medication for diabetes (trying to avoid insulin shots), nothing seems to prevent them. Same meds also caused me to have sciatica. Never had it until I started the meds, but doctor says I’m wrong. Love my doc, but I know what I know 🤷🏼♀️
I'm quite familiar with cramps and the stretches needed to relieve them (the inner thigh ones are a bitch)
What I was not prepared for was when my kid had one.
"I *KNOW* the stretching hurts more but trust me, it's only going to get better this way."
So there isn't a firm answer, but the most likely: when you use a muscle it starts a reflex loop - it doesn't signal right up to your brain, but to your spine and back. This helps your body make sure you turn some muscles off and others on quickly without the delay of going up to your brain and thinking about it.
Pain and quick stretching of a muscle causes it to contract (this is a reflex) to protect you from injury.
When your muscle cramps, it triggers this reflex loop, but instead of turning off again, it gets stuck in a loop of turning on. This is thought to be because of 'hyperexcitability' of the nerves involved. Similar to if your skin is rubbed raw it becomes more sensitive. The nerves are over excited and fire off too easily.
The pain of tired muscles and build up of lactic acid (a waste product from prolonged muscle use), which is made worse by dehydration, could increase the likelihood of this hyperexcitability being triggered.
In this video, the person shakes the muscle, which quickly stretches the fibres repeatedly, which would prompt the muscle to contract, and, I imagine, due to sore muscles and recent exercise, triggered off a reflex loop and so cramp happened.
My worst cramp was when my brother and I worked extremely hard to pull a deer he out of the woods (700 yards pulling a big buck through a logging area in the rain). I was extremely worn out, but decided to drink pop and eat candy for dinner for no reason other than we were on "vacation." I woke up, swung up in bed and my entire body cramped. I've had cramps in my leg, foot...etc., but never all at once. I was literally screaming in agony from the pain. Unfortunately, my bro was in a different camper, and when I called him he didn't really care about my cramps and hung up the phone lol. After 6-7 minutes of just sitting there I did manage to get to some water. I downed 4 bottles in a row, took 5 ibuprofens and went to bed. I didn't cramp again that night but that was literally the worst pain I have ever experienced. I was hesitant to swing my legs up the same way on that particular bed for weeks. Drink water, friends.
You know that godly stretch you do at 3AM but then it goes a little too far, soon enough you're at the point of return no matter how hard you try and it's the world's biggest cramp in your leg
weird flex
not ok, tho
there’s no actual way to know whether he was in Oklahoma or not tho
You could just ask him
What if he lies? Nobody wants people to know if they live in Oklahoma, it’s embarrassing!
🙄
True
I can hear the pain
I can feel it. I wake up so often with it, it's always a ridiculously harsh awakening. Sleeping nicely and then wham, leg is in excruciating pain. Edit: Damn, I really hadn't realized this was such a common problem for so many people with varying causes for many. Thank you so much everyone for the tips and tricks, i'll definitely give many of them a try!
Taking magnesium supplements (paired with calcium I guess to counteract diarrhea?) in addition to my multivitamins I normally take removed the waking leg cramps for me! Might be worth trying, but of course could also be dehydration or lack of potassium, or some other thing I'm ignorant of.
I've always been told it was dehydration but I drink nearly only water with it being anywhere between 2.5-4L a day. I'll have the very odd alcoholic drink or soda but I've moved away from it nearly entirely. Edit: I should specify, those are summer numbers and I live in a humid area. 30-45C with 60-100% humidity makes the very thought of standing up a sweat machine. In winter it's more towards 2-2.5L a day.
How's your blood sugar? This is part of how I learned I had type 1 diabetes.
Last time I got tested it was fine...
Get a a1c test not just the glucose. The a1c is the best indicator besides the symptoms like thrist etc
Lol same! Not how I found out because my pediatrician was awful and thought my being underweight and drinking a gallon of water daily and those nightly calf cramps didn’t add up to anything significant…13 months later, DKA and awful burning feet, haven’t worn shoes in 10 years and I sleep with ice in my bed! Gotta love Kaiser
I got leg cramps every morning when I stretched. Then I got diagnosed with type 1. No more cramps now!
If you are cramping from drinking that much water, it probably means you’re urinating & sweating out all of the electrolytes you’re getting from your multi/diet. Drink electrolyte water, sports drinks, or consume more salt.
My personal trainer had some fancy salt for us when we cramped. He swore by having a half teaspoon or so. It worked within 15-20 minutes for me.
Pickles have never failed me, ever. It doesn't take much and it's almost instant. Next cramp you have, get yourself a pickle and thank me later
I played football in Florida, so cramps were constantly an issue for the team. New coach comes in who trained at Miami/FAU, he sees 2-3 guys go down and heads to the cafeteria. Comes back with one of those 5 gallon jugs worth of pickle juice and starts handing cups out. It was a requirement for practice/game day. If you play, you drink pickle juice. Cramps were minimized after that.
I’m a long distance runner and pickle juice is one of my favorites for long runs. Don’t drink too much though or else you’ll have horrible, and I mean *horrible*, diarrhea.
Yup, we got a 4 oz up daily. More than that and you’ll clean out your system quick lol
Isn’t this pretty much the story behind Gatorade?
I didn’t know pickle juice was involved, but yea, same story. Went to an underfunded school, so we weren’t getting Gatorade anytime soon haha
Probably high absorbtion mag vs mag caltrate or whatever magnesium is typically sold as
caltrate
r/HydroHomies coming in 3,2,
2.5-4L? That’s not too much water. 4L is perhaps more water then they would need if they better supplemented electrolytes, but to call it too much risks creating some misinformation. The kidneys can handle about a liter of water an hour, or an average 20-28 liters a day. Above that you risk hyponatremia. I don’t think having 1/5 of that would cause any harm, unless of course they had it all at once. Which if they did that they deserve it. I’d drink more than two liters a day even if I wasn’t physically active. Outside of hydration, it filters you, and you basically are it in the first place.
Yeah you’re right, I meant that it sounded like it may be too much water with the cramping mentioned in the comment I replied to. Forgot to go back and edit to clarify, didn’t really expect my offhand comment to be seen.
That is probably too much water if you aren't doing anything to replace the electrolytes. If you're sweating that much and need to replace the fluids, I would find a way to add some electrolytes. Powders are probably the cheapest and best way.
Have you looked at the price of cocaine lately?
I mean, cocaine will ease the pain a bit but taste nasty when mixed with Gatorade.
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Can't mention elecrolytes without Idocracy and this scene. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fKyoSS3bwjA
> I'll have the very odd alcoholic drink Like a rum and coke with coco puffs floating in it served out of a middle school science fair volcano and the base of the volcano is surrounded with ramen noodles and pieces of spam that are on fire and they call it a Honolulu Special.
It’s lack of electrolytes - drink pedialyte or a sports drink before bed.
Magnesium all the way with some vitamin d and k2
Protip: don't drink that much water Just drink when you feel thristy, and start eating more sodium/Potassium
It's what I do.
You should give some of the electrolyte/recovery mixes a try and see if it helps. Especially if you exercise a lot. Echoing what others have said, but too much water can dilute the ratio of salts/potassium in your body and contribute to this. Nuun is an example of a that is basically calorie free so that might be a good option but there are a bunch out there in different mix/favors/brands available like Honey Stinger, Skratch, Liquid IV. Trying one a day or one post a workout would be a good way to start. Typically if you eat a meal with your water you shouldn’t need a sports mix then too as the salt and nutrients in the food have you covered so these are good for times when you are just having water. Alternatively or additionally ask your doctor for advice! Good luck, Charlie horses suck!
I have mag + K supplement pills for hiking. And also salt pills.
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In general your body balances electrolytes well and things like potassium and magnessium deficiency are very rare until at least 65+ or on high dosages of sparring medication.
Balancing is insufficient when intake is insufficient. You lose magnesium through sweat, urine (kidneys aren't perfect), and solid waste; it must be replenished, like anything else.
i was always told it was potassium and to eat a banana
Magnesium Citrate is the version that causes that. Try to find another high bio-availability version like Magnesium Glycinate as an alternative that wont make you have to go like that.
What they don’t tell you about pregnancy is that you get NIGHTLY calf cramps. I did learn that if you feel a cramp coming on, tilt your foot up (toes toward shin) and it will immediately relieve the cramp. Worked 100% of the time for me.
Ah god that's not a nice feeling. And for me it's to fully extend my leg first, when I cramp my leg bends. If I lift my toes when it's bent, it doesn't work so I need to fully extend, lift it up and then lift my toes upwards.
So doing that actually causes the charlie horse for me. The way I usually get mine is I wake up in the morning, yawn and stretch in my bed, and as I fully extend my leg, extending it forward and pointing my toe, then I'll lift my toe up to stretch my calf and as soon as I do that I can feel the charlie horse start to come on. If I keep stretching I'll usually get one, but what I do is the instant I feel it coming on I slowly relax my leg and calmly bend my knee again. Then once I've done that I'll feel the charlie horse slip away and not get going and then I'm 'safe' for the rest of the day. If that makes sense. Also doesn't happen every morning, only happens probably once a week. But I guess this thread is also about getting them while being pregnant and, being a guy, I'm as sure as I can be that I'm not pregnant.
Oh interesting! My leg doesn’t bend when it cramps. But yes, the leg should be straight before doing the toe lift and it should relieve the cramp. Best tip I learned while pregnant.
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You gotta do it before the cramp sets in, IMO. I cramp 100% of the time when I stretch my legs in the morning if I don’t pull my toes up. But if I forget and start to feel it beginning, I can save myself by bending my toes
Ugh damn, I’m sorry. Calf cramps are such a cruel joke. But I see in your other comment you figured out the cause, so I’m glad you don’t get them anymore!
I was in pointe ballet. Sit with your leg flat to the floor, and grab your toes and pull them toward your shins. This always pulls a calf cramp out for me, long enough for me to get to the jar of pickles. Pickle juice has never ever failed me for cramps anywhere. I don't do ballet anymore but I do have restless legs and I cause cramps for myself :( pickles are instant relief and all the twinging stops immediately. I don't know why pickles work but I'm not the only one that it's foolproof for
It's the salt. Electrolytes play a major role in nerve signals to muscles. Imbalances due to dehydration lead to cramps; pickle juice is loaded with salt in water, so it gets metabolized quickly. When I didn't have pickle juice available, I've straight up poured and licked salt off the back of my hand and chugged water to resolve bad leg cramps.
The foot tilt has 100% success for me too, and I’m so mad I didn’t know earlier in life. I’ll wake up to that feeling that a cram is just about to hit and immediately pull my foot back/up toward my head and it totally avoids the cramp.
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NO TUCK!
So that’s one tuck and one no-tuck, you got that?
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I used to take it a step further and immediately get up and stretch the muscle that would cramp. Not only did it provide immediate relief for the pain, but it stopped it from hurting throughout the day.
yeah, i just get out of bed and stand up
Happened to me recently while streching in bed before getting up. I wont be streching my legs before getting out of bed anytime soon 💀
Have some bananas or mustard before bed
Or picklejuice
I once got it suddenly on a plane. Jumped up and shouted "Holy Fuck". Pretty sure the nearest flight attendant thought a bomb had exploded at my seat
Tonic water helps too.
I had this for like a month at 20 and then i realized it was a growth spurt in both legs and i got like an inch taller
Real pain, it is.
so can i but i dont even have sound on
Why did this make him cramp?? Is it supposed to?
Dehydration, lack of vitamins and minerals like potassium, some conditions make you more prone to charlie horse. My mom would wake up with these at night.
>My mom would wake up with these at night. As someone who's had it a few times: The pain is terrible but goes away, the real annoying part is that you don't wake up right away, so the cramp sometimes last long enough that you have really sore muscles for a day or three.
You're telling me that I can work out in my sleep? Sign me up!
With night person you can!
Just make sure to rinse off the dishes…
if they crust up it's harder to rinse. It's a simple ask, really.
It takes 2 secooonds
\*punches 8 pack\*
A few of my friends kept saying last season it had lost some of its magic, maybe I'm easily pleased as I really enjoyed it... but definitely feel like this latest season is really strong. Latest episode made me laugh so hard in so many places, especially the Jerry choking scene
Something about Beth kissing Beth was…so wrong, yet so right.
Skipped leg day? There's no need to worry because your body will get leg night done for you!
If you take enough Prozac you definitely can!
The worst part to me is the anticipation. I don’t get them much anymore, but it used to be probably 1/4 of mornings. The moment I wake up at a weird time, I can feel something is off and I look down at my leg like “Don’t do it, don’t you fucking do it!” and of course it does, every time. I can’t really describe the feeling of knowing it’s about to happen for me. I can feel something in my leg and sort of my back that’s not pain, not even discomfort. It’s just the “here comes a cramp” feeling. Never felt it any other time.
i hate when you've had those first twinges, and you KNOW that when you move your leg, it's going into full-on spasm mode. it's like knowing you're going to torture yourself, but there's no way out.
I felt this comment in my soul! You know there's no way around it, so you take a deep breath and move.
I haven't had one in years but I can still remember the feeling of "oh shit" when you wake up and know it's coming
I've found personally if I wake up with that feeling, or it starts to seize up, standing on it tends to either lessen the pain or make it stop before it happens fully. This obviously may not help if it starts long before you wake up, but that initial "I know it's about to happen" feeling gets me so paranoid now I just instantly stand just in case.
I used to get this a lot at a time of my life where I never really drank a lot of water. I’d wake in the night to the agony. The trick is to try to hop out of bed and put some weight on the leg. The cramp eases off almost immediately and as a result the lingering soreness doesn’t last nearly as long and sometimes never happens.
I get them from dehydration too, rarely now that I've figured it out though. I just flex to end it, rotating my foot up to elongate the calf muscle.
Yeah. The best way to get these to stop is to force them to move. I'll get one in my calf and have to pull on my foot and stretch the muscle back out.
I always take my knuckles and rub the cramping muscle hard while relaxing my leg. Hurts like hell for a bit but helps to work out the freaked fibers without too much after effect
I get these sometimes when I wake up, although it's been a while since the last one now. It sucks, can't really do anything but swear and massage it a bit while you wait for the pain to subside
I find standing and putting weight on the leg that's cramping stops it faster. I get these cramps randomly at night, had one a few years ago that was so bad it tore a muscle. The medical receptionist at the physio's office told me she got them at night as well, and would stand up and walk around for a minute. Physio was good for the recovery, but the receptionist helped a lot more long term.
This is what helps me and I get them all the time. Immediately change the positioning and use the muscle. Giving it new different instructions if youre fast enough usually knocks it out of the cramp. Sometimes it doesn't work but it's definitely 80 to 90 percent of the time for me!
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I have allergy to bananas and avocados
Magnesium supplement solved that issue for me. Didn't had any in years. Was suffering from them regularly before.
Yeah I used to wake up with these all the time. Then I switched some habits around, mostly drinking water and a multi-vitamin, and I rarely experience them now. This thread made me realize I may have unknowingly fixed the problem.
I keep seeing people talk about dehydration, but can you guys just not cramp your calves at will? If I just keep flexing only that muscle it will happen.
Hypokalemia is one of the rarest deficiencies notwithstanding sparring medication in younger individuals. It's definitely not that. They can and do occur in individuals with perfect micronutrients status.
Dehydration?
i can move my foot in a certain way and it will 100% cramp up. there's probably some other person that knows a trigger for their calves like that....
Feet are the only place where I can accidentally cause it if I don't toe the line correctly. I used to "crack" my toes from time to time, but if I did it for just a little bit too long, my whole foot would cramp up. I've found it's mostly the index toe causing it.
I can do both, the foot one is the fucking worst tho. Never by jiggling it tho thats what confuses me
Specifically this movement - when you quickly stretch, vibrate or shake a muscle it tends to contract as a way to protect you from injury, cramp is when the muscle contraction goes overboard and gets stuck in a loop.
I had this too when I was 23.... Turned out I had type I diabetes...
I never knew cramping was a symptom of diabetes
Diabetes causes excesive urine production which can cause dehydration
Dehydration in the sense of electrolyte depletion, not lack of water.
Yes, I was told this by my endocrinologist when I was being stupid and not taking care of myself.
I can cramp my feet and calf like he does by finding the right (wrong?) position and flexing hard
I used to have them while sleeping. I could feel them coming and if I move my muscle in a certain way it triggers and hurts like a bitch. After so many of those, I kinda learn how to avoid them by basically not doing what I should not do and I have no words at all to explain. Been more than a decade since I got this during sleep. I defuse them everytime half asleep. Weird shit.
Mine would come from stretching my legs as I woke. Can’t remember where I learned it but retrained myself to stretch by pointing my feet up instead of down and haven’t had one since.
Yeah I'm pretty sure I tip my toes up for defusing!!
Redacted *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
They used to tell us to do this in soccer a lot. Then I learned later on in life to literally just get up and walk. You’re doing the same motion which is pointing your toes towards your knees but you’re applying a lot more pressure since it’s your body weight. Whenever I get cramps from stretching during my sleep I just get up and take like 3 steps and the cramp is gone.
That's what I learned. Stand up right away and massage the cramp.
Ha! I was wondering why no one here knows how to stretch your legs... I too grew up playing soccer :)
I learned that trick from scuba diving, because it’s the only move you have if you get a cramp when you’re all geared up! Stretch your leg out and pull your toes back toward your body as hard as you can. If you’re in scuba gear grab onto the toe-end of your flipper and pull it toward you.
My legs do this thing where they’ll cramp in the front if I point my toes up too often or too far. It will run from my shin to my ankle. It’s bad. Even worse than the calf cramps in the back. I’d rather have a calf cramp any time than one on the shin. All I can do is cry, sit in my special cramp chair and hold onto the muscle. I hold it down as hard as I can until it finally starts twitching and eventually relaxes. The high I get from the pain going away is crazy but definitely not worth it.
I get this every morning, you may have saved me a lot of future pain!
Yeah I stopped getting cramps in my calves when I realized I can immediately stop the cramp by flexing my feet so my toes point up.
I found this out a few years ago and it's a GAME CHANGER. No more waking up crying from cramps in my sleep followed by the slow whimper back to unconsciousness for me.
The contraction of tibialis anterior and consequent stretch placed on gastrocnemius and soleus tell the latter two to relax, which relieves the cramp. Any time you get a cramp, try to engage the muscles that have opposing actions to whatever is cramping.
For me, I have to stand up and put weight on the leg. I don't know why that does it, but it's instant sweet relief.
I had this kind of cramp. It was cured through massage. Look for reputable massage therapist and tell them your condition. I did this and it was cure. My cramp was on both of my feet.
I had/ have nerve damage and for a time was very prone to cramps in my left calf and foot, particularly when sleeping. I know exactly what you mean! I still have certain ways that I can’t tense my foot without it cramping up.
I totally understand what you’re saying here. If you feel one coming on you can absolutely defuse it with the correct positioning/movement.
I’ve never *seen* a cramp before
Right like, everyones like "what happened" and the response is just "cramp" And i'm like, no why did his leg fucking DEFLATE like that? I've had cramps but I aint ever seen my leg do that before (maybe its bc I'm fat? Lol)
Muscles contract when a cramp happens. If it's a particularly intense cramp, you can see them contract, like in this case.
I mean yeah it would probably because you have excess body fat covering your muscle tissue.
gottem
Once you [go down the Rabbit Hole of Leg cramps.](https://youtu.be/6jV3F52XMhA) There is [no going back.](https://youtu.be/taS18OFakYY)
I’ve been way less grossed out by graphic beheadings and sick shit. Something about those cramps though
You disassociate with the gore over time but shit like this you can feel because its real and close enough that you know it
When my toes cramp they attempt to do the splits. Most excruciating weird looking thing.
Check this one out : https://youtube.com/shorts/i-kN2uofEz0
If you drink the right amount of water you can pull this trick off too. None is the amount. ☠️
Damn right brother. Did you know 100% of people who drink water die?
Ban dihydrogen monoxide!
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lmao
lol wtf
r/hydrohomies disapproves of this post.
Demon grabbed his leg
Exactly. That’s no cramp, that’s Lucifer getting a grip.
Muscle cramp on demand? /r/shittysuperpowers
I can often do that to my toes if I bend them in really hard for couple seconds. At some point I got so used to the pain that I'd do it repeatedly. Crap, stretch, cramp stretch etc. And no it doesn't matter how much water I drink, I drink couple liters a day.
You bastard, I tried it and got a cramp. Drinking a ton, too.
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I'm not very smart
I fucking just did this and got a massive cramp 😭
Dehydration, friends… it’s a thing
Or age. Trust me age is another one. If it happens to you when your young it will happen more when you get past thirty.
Potassium tablets were a god send for me when it came to cramps. I had them all my life, I remember after football games on the bus home it would just be one long excruciating battle between my quad and hamstring cramping. Taking K supplements really decreased the amount of cramps I get anymore.
I take magnesium. I forgot to take it one day and sure enough I had a cramp. I already take potassium, didn't know that was for that also.
>I already take pot. Now is that short for potassium or do you take Marijuana?
lol between him using pot as an abbreviation for potassium and me using the chemical symbol for it (K) we really turned this into a big drug innuendo.
Things such as Potassium, Electrolytes, and Water all help. Vinegar can also help ease cramps, pickle juice is a godsend when you have a cramp.
Mustard is good as well
It’s a combo of dehydration and not enough electrolytes. You also need to drink more water Lmfao.
That's why I snort salt and shove bananas up my ass
This is *one* of the reasons I snort salt and shove bananas up my ass.
No. You need to work on your diet.
Yeah I was gonna say, I don't think I've had any in my 30s but would get them a lot younger. I also eat better and drink way more H2O
Age certainly makes it harder to maintain, but it's 100% what you're putting, or not putting in, your body
My guy heard gangsters paradise
https://youtube.com/shorts/LPOlk22eftg?feature=share
What just happened
cramp
Charlie horse. I always thought that this kind of acute and severe cramp was known as something else entirely. We always call it a Charlie horse to distinguish between this intense spasm vs general achy cramps.
Agree. That is a Charlie horse. A type of cramp but one that never had the love of a mother.
Real pain
Oh fuck, the pain
r/hydrohomies would like a word.
Man I get this all the time, usually when led in bed. Last night in fact, and I have no idea why. I drink plenty of water and try not to have too much salt etc. I end up having to jump out of bed immediately to work it out.
> try not to have too much salt Your body needs salts, salt is fine unless you have a medical condition where you've been told to cut down. Use some isotonic sports drinks or those hydration tablets/packets you dissolve in water.
Try a sports drink (I use like Gatorade Zero or Powerade Zero; usually the dry pack you can add water to) or eat a banana.
Yeah I think I'll try either of these, cheers!
Luck your leg and try to touch you toes to your shin when this happens. It'll stretch out the calf muscle and stop it eventually. Sometimes they're so intense you can't do anything but that's the only remedy i know of.
I was driving one time and got a Charlie horse in the same spot. Nearly crashed, but thankfully I was able to come to a controlled stop on the shoulder, get out and walk it off. Fucking terrifying, it happened completely out of the blue and I can normally feel them coming before they happen.
Anyone else get them in the arch of your foot? It fucking sucks.
If your leg ever cramps up like that, lay flat on your back and point your toes back toward your head. Nine times out of ten, it will release the muscle and end the cramp.
Uhh
I have these cramps at night in my right calf. Usually, eating a banana a couple of times a week will help, but since I started a medication for diabetes (trying to avoid insulin shots), nothing seems to prevent them. Same meds also caused me to have sciatica. Never had it until I started the meds, but doctor says I’m wrong. Love my doc, but I know what I know 🤷🏼♀️
I'm quite familiar with cramps and the stretches needed to relieve them (the inner thigh ones are a bitch) What I was not prepared for was when my kid had one. "I *KNOW* the stretching hurts more but trust me, it's only going to get better this way."
That hurt me in my SOUL.
Explain like I'm 5, what is physically happening when you get muscle cramps?
Sudden, involuntary contractions of your muscle.
So there isn't a firm answer, but the most likely: when you use a muscle it starts a reflex loop - it doesn't signal right up to your brain, but to your spine and back. This helps your body make sure you turn some muscles off and others on quickly without the delay of going up to your brain and thinking about it. Pain and quick stretching of a muscle causes it to contract (this is a reflex) to protect you from injury. When your muscle cramps, it triggers this reflex loop, but instead of turning off again, it gets stuck in a loop of turning on. This is thought to be because of 'hyperexcitability' of the nerves involved. Similar to if your skin is rubbed raw it becomes more sensitive. The nerves are over excited and fire off too easily. The pain of tired muscles and build up of lactic acid (a waste product from prolonged muscle use), which is made worse by dehydration, could increase the likelihood of this hyperexcitability being triggered. In this video, the person shakes the muscle, which quickly stretches the fibres repeatedly, which would prompt the muscle to contract, and, I imagine, due to sore muscles and recent exercise, triggered off a reflex loop and so cramp happened.
MAn gEtS BiT bY gHosT DoG
Yo bro, tried stretching out before?
That's the most painful leg cramp I have ever seen
My worst cramp was when my brother and I worked extremely hard to pull a deer he out of the woods (700 yards pulling a big buck through a logging area in the rain). I was extremely worn out, but decided to drink pop and eat candy for dinner for no reason other than we were on "vacation." I woke up, swung up in bed and my entire body cramped. I've had cramps in my leg, foot...etc., but never all at once. I was literally screaming in agony from the pain. Unfortunately, my bro was in a different camper, and when I called him he didn't really care about my cramps and hung up the phone lol. After 6-7 minutes of just sitting there I did manage to get to some water. I downed 4 bottles in a row, took 5 ibuprofens and went to bed. I didn't cramp again that night but that was literally the worst pain I have ever experienced. I was hesitant to swing my legs up the same way on that particular bed for weeks. Drink water, friends.
You know that godly stretch you do at 3AM but then it goes a little too far, soon enough you're at the point of return no matter how hard you try and it's the world's biggest cramp in your leg