Got stroon?

[mdlbear]

Woke up at 5am this morning with a cramp in my left leg. Calcium and potassium seem to be helping a little.

This whole "getting old" thing is, um, getting old.

I can haz stroon nao pls?

Comments

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I am all out of sick sheep, cobber.

Still and all... it's better than the alternative. [sad smile]

[lapislaz.livejournal.com]

I have the same problem. I seem to have solved it by wearing slippers to bed.

This may sound odd, but they're not hard sole slippers - they're basically down filled baby booties in adult sizes. They have a soft foam sole. And they tend to keep my feet in a 90-degree position from my ankle, which prevents the calf muscle cramps to a great degree.

It also keeps my feet toasty warm, and let me tell you, happiness is waking up with warm feet.

Anyway, they're called "foot duvets". You can get them from Restoration Hardware's web site, or on eBay.

[mdlbear]

Hmm. I think this one started yesterday evening, so I'm not sure it's the same thing, but it's worth a look.

Cramps

[harmonyheifer.livejournal.com]

Yeah, aging sucks. I had a lot of edema yesterday from the 28 hours of transit getting here in New Zealand and did as my doctor had suggested, take a mild diuretic when I landed. I totally forgot how low my blood pressure was on my last office visit and my doctor's offhand comment that if it continued to be low that he would have to start and weaning me off my medication for hypertension.

So last night, after a very long trip, a lovely reunion, a frenzy of unpacking, lunch and intensive rehydration at the local pub with the kids, a trip to the local indoor pool for a therapeutic swim and soak in the hot tub, I came back to my daughter's house feeling pretty proud of how well my body was adjusting to the journey. Then I started feeling oddly dizzy. Orange juice, fruit and cheese were provided, eaten with no real improvement. My daughter was in the kitchen making a lovely salad for our dinner.

I got Patrick to walk me to the bathroom because I was so lightheaded and dizzy and only realized once I was on the toilet that I had stupidly wiped out my blood pressure by taking the diuretic. I skipped dinner, had an early night, got up three more times to pee during the night and woke up about four am feeling a whole lot better. I had experienced some cramping in the pool while I was doing laps earlier, and thought it was from the long-haul flight immobility. No, it was simply a fluid and electrolyte imbalance. Dumb mistake, no real harm done, except for the missed salad, which looked divine, by the way. I will be topping off with extra vitamins and mineral supplements today and for the next few days.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Stroon and stroon. What is stroon.

Definitely with the potassium, though. "Have *two* bananas." -- King Louie, Disney's the Jungle Books

[mdlbear]

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norstrilia

A gram of prevention

[hvideo.livejournal.com]

While some people get the best results from calcium and potassium, I find that FOR ME those are of secondary importance behind magnesium. So if you aren't taking any at the moment you might want to try it and see what works best FOR YOU. I take 500 mg/day of magnesium oxide.

For me, this is not a "take it if you start cramping" thing. If I stop taking supplements I won't notice anything for two days, I will get twitches by the third day and cramps by the 4th or 5th. Just about 100% certain. So magnesium, calcium and potassium (the latter in the form of Salt Substitute - you can't get enough from non-prescription pills to make much of a difference) is a daily routine, and likely will be for life. Fortunately, these things are not expensive. Prevention is far better than trying to get the cramps to stop once they've started.

Now, some people don't care for the taste of Lite Salt (50% potassium chloride, 50% sodium chloride) or Salt Substitute (100% potassium chloride). Some describe it as having a metallic taste. But I don't get that. It has a slightly different "warmth" or mouth feel, but I find it essentially the same as regular salt. If you are one of the people sensitive to sodium then this can also help keep blood pressure down. (But of course, not everyone is sensitive to sodium vis-a-vis blood pressure.) But since non-prescription potassium pills are limited to 99 mg of elemental potassium (roughly 3% or the RDA), those pills won't help you much. Some pills may seem to have more - but if it says 650 mg potassium gluconate, that's 99 mg potassium and 551mg gluconate.

As someone mentioned, bananas are a good source too, as are some other foods.

[madfilkentist]

I've always been prone to occasional morning leg cramps. I've found that wiggling the ankle back and forth steadily as soon as the cramp hits helps it to go away quickly.

[mdlbear]

I've had those: the kind where I can feel it tightening up and it's clearly a muscle spasm. This one seems different: more of an ache than a spasm. Don't know.