Help with leg cramp
June 3, 2018 11:35 AM Subscribe
My right calf has been cramping up all day? How do I make it stop?
Ever since I got up this morning, I've had frequent painful cramps in my right calf. When this has happened in the past, I've just stretched it out and it's gone away. But this has continued intermittently all day. I've tried numerous stretches, including standing on my toes on a step and letting my heels lower for sixty seconds. After doing some googling, I tried drinking more water and taking magnesium (which probably doesn't help immediately). I read to try tonic water, but I'm afraid to go to the store in case it cramps up while I'm driving. It seems to be getting worse, by which I mean it's cramping up more frequently, but I've gotten super tense about the whole thing, and that probably isn't helping. I am on chemo meds, but I've been on them for a year and a half without problems. My calf isn't discolored in any way, and there doesn't seem to be anything else weird about it. I went for a short walk yesterday, but nothing out of the ordinary for me.
Any ideas?
Ever since I got up this morning, I've had frequent painful cramps in my right calf. When this has happened in the past, I've just stretched it out and it's gone away. But this has continued intermittently all day. I've tried numerous stretches, including standing on my toes on a step and letting my heels lower for sixty seconds. After doing some googling, I tried drinking more water and taking magnesium (which probably doesn't help immediately). I read to try tonic water, but I'm afraid to go to the store in case it cramps up while I'm driving. It seems to be getting worse, by which I mean it's cramping up more frequently, but I've gotten super tense about the whole thing, and that probably isn't helping. I am on chemo meds, but I've been on them for a year and a half without problems. My calf isn't discolored in any way, and there doesn't seem to be anything else weird about it. I went for a short walk yesterday, but nothing out of the ordinary for me.
Any ideas?
“Leg Cramps” could be a number of things. Muscle cramps due to salt loss, dehydration, etc. can be associated with palpable muscle spasm or contraction, but not always. However, similar “crampy” pain can be reported with arterial occlusion or ischemia, venous thrombosis, radiculopathy (I have personally experienced this), medications, compression injury, heat injury, compartment syndrome, endocrine and electrolyte disorders, rhabdomyolysis, or after trauma. More info is needed such as age, smoking history, medical conditions, and so on.
Basic treatment for a cramp is salt, fluids, moving out of the heat, light massage, and leg elevation. Generally, these will resolve in a few hours. If the symptoms persist or progress, see your physician.
posted by sudogeek at 12:06 PM on June 3, 2018
Basic treatment for a cramp is salt, fluids, moving out of the heat, light massage, and leg elevation. Generally, these will resolve in a few hours. If the symptoms persist or progress, see your physician.
posted by sudogeek at 12:06 PM on June 3, 2018
Take an epsom salt bath, or make a concentrated soak - 1/4 cup of salt in a quart of water — wet a towel with this and wrap your calf in it for 20 minutes or so.
Also eat a banana. Potassium helps in addition to magnesium.
posted by ananci at 12:30 PM on June 3, 2018
Also eat a banana. Potassium helps in addition to magnesium.
posted by ananci at 12:30 PM on June 3, 2018
Can you reach your toes while keeping your leg straight, in a seated position? If so, try grabbing them and pulling them towards you. This always helps me in such cases.
posted by Too-Ticky at 12:36 PM on June 3, 2018
posted by Too-Ticky at 12:36 PM on June 3, 2018
Nthing potassium and magnesium. An electrolyte/sports drink will probably have the quickest-acting potassium. Magnesium you can get from epsom salts (even just soaking your feet for a few minutes will onboard enough to help), or a calcium-magnesium supplement.
posted by Lyn Never at 12:53 PM on June 3, 2018
posted by Lyn Never at 12:53 PM on June 3, 2018
Milk of magnesia (cheap, works, widely available) directly applied to the leg is what works for me. I am no major medical issues, though.
posted by aniola at 1:12 PM on June 3, 2018
posted by aniola at 1:12 PM on June 3, 2018
Came to add that potassium should help but if you don’t have bananas around, dates, orange juice, avocados, coconut water, and acorn squash have a decent amount of potassium. Feel better, leg cramps are so awful!
posted by corey flood at 3:59 PM on June 3, 2018
posted by corey flood at 3:59 PM on June 3, 2018
I started having camps pretty frequently, so I increased my magnesium with dried apricots, nuts, more leafy greens. Most people get plenty of salt. Potassium is helpful, and bananas and avocados are good sources.
posted by theora55 at 4:22 PM on June 3, 2018
posted by theora55 at 4:22 PM on June 3, 2018
Response by poster: Thanks everyone. I’ve tried a bunch of these things, and it seems a little better. Somehow I completely forgot that I went to the ER after a leg cramp that didn’t go away a year ago because I was worried about a blood clot, and the ER doctor told me that the cancer medications I was on made it a lot harder to recover from a muscle cramp. I’m still on the same medications. So I’m at least a little less worried now and will definitely take the advice here to try to avoid more muscle cramps in the future. And I will see a doctor if this doesn’t get better. You guys are the best.
posted by FencingGal at 5:48 PM on June 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by FencingGal at 5:48 PM on June 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
Just a couple thoughts on walking and stretching. Like Satchel Paige suggests walk lightly and 'jangle'. Also 'before' it kicks in if you can catch the twinge!
Heel stretches: keeping the heal on the ground and "pushing" against a wall are great but also notice that different angles of the torso stretch slightly different muscle groups in the leg. Calf has two large and several smaller muscles, all connected differently. A perfectly straight line from the heel to the top of the head is different than a lunge with the torso upright, try several angles. Good luck. (shhh..I also have a small stash of muscle relaxants that if it's allowed is a life saver, use about 3 a year)
posted by sammyo at 6:10 PM on June 3, 2018
Heel stretches: keeping the heal on the ground and "pushing" against a wall are great but also notice that different angles of the torso stretch slightly different muscle groups in the leg. Calf has two large and several smaller muscles, all connected differently. A perfectly straight line from the heel to the top of the head is different than a lunge with the torso upright, try several angles. Good luck. (shhh..I also have a small stash of muscle relaxants that if it's allowed is a life saver, use about 3 a year)
posted by sammyo at 6:10 PM on June 3, 2018
Drink a large coconut water and take a magnesium and potassium supplement. This has always helped me with cramps or twitches
posted by christiehawk at 10:20 PM on June 3, 2018
posted by christiehawk at 10:20 PM on June 3, 2018
I empathize! I started getting calf cramps when I was about 12, after a hospital experience and having issues with absorption of potassium and magnesium, so I've always watched that. I rarely had more than one calf cramp a year for another three decades until I was diagnosed with diabetes and it turned out I was severely dehydrated, and I was having multiple cramps each day and throughout the night. After treatment, I went back to rarely having them, maybe a few times a year.
One thing that really helps, in addition to all the other advice above, is something I learned from (of all things!) one of those informational interstitials ABC ran in the late early 80s called FYI with Hal Linden. When you get a calf cramp (even while you're trying to walk it off and flex your foot, probably) pinch your upper lip (not side to side, but put your thumb inside your lip, thumbnail toward your teeth, and your index finger under your nose, and squeeze). It looks ridiculous, but in 35+ years, I've never had a calf cramp not go away in under three seconds when doing this maneuver. I'm woo-averse, and no other placebos work for me, so assume this is accupressure.
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 10:06 PM on June 4, 2018
One thing that really helps, in addition to all the other advice above, is something I learned from (of all things!) one of those informational interstitials ABC ran in the late early 80s called FYI with Hal Linden. When you get a calf cramp (even while you're trying to walk it off and flex your foot, probably) pinch your upper lip (not side to side, but put your thumb inside your lip, thumbnail toward your teeth, and your index finger under your nose, and squeeze). It looks ridiculous, but in 35+ years, I've never had a calf cramp not go away in under three seconds when doing this maneuver. I'm woo-averse, and no other placebos work for me, so assume this is accupressure.
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 10:06 PM on June 4, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by KMoney at 11:51 AM on June 3, 2018