I woke up at 2 a.m. with one HORRIBLE cramp in my upper inside leg. A doozy that lasted five minutes and had me yelling out loud and plenty scared. These are ten times worse than those calf cramps that come now and then, and I've probably experienced this particular cramp pain half a dozen times. You never forget them as they're worse than labor.
I attempted the usual....trying to walk, massage, and prayer. When it finally eased enough to let me move, I was sweating to beat the band. Figured going back to bed wasn't going to work for me so I got up and turned on the computer. I googled "upper inside leg cramps" and much to my surprise, I had a multiple list to choose from. The one I picked was a website where other people logged in describing their pain and frustration about what to do about it. As I read the dozens of entries, I was comforted as my fears were put into the exact same words I would use--over and over again. Many were also thankful to see they weren't alone.
When I was in the middle of this attack, my first thought was that I've got to bite the bullet and start visiting doctors who can get to the bottom of this whole ordeal. I was sick and tired of not being able to do simple yard chores or walk around shopping. I was a little surprised (yet not) that several people had been to doctors and had several tests--MRIs, Xrays, chiropractor adjustments, etc. Nothing was ever verified and most of the time, the patient left with pain pills that didn't solve a thing or muscle relaxants which also didn't address the problem.
A few thought it was sciatia-nerve related (I've thought that too) and a few had been diagnosed with some L3-L5? spinal problems. What got even more interesting was that while some suggested heat pads, other felt ice helped them more. Also suggested was drinking more water, taking calcium, taking potassium & magnesium, drinking tonic water, stretching exercises, avoiding salt, and losing weight---there were just as many OTHER folks suffering who were yoga enthusiasts, physically fit and active, drinking a ton of water as well as taking magnesium, were not overweight and watched their salt intake.
Their frustration at not being able to do basic household and yard chores was echoed throughout. They also commented on how hard it was getting in and out of cars. An area I deal with. Most of all, though, was their fear the pain would return and the frustration of not being able to find a solution to fix it. While mine have mostly (not always) occurred while sleeping, many folks suffered in public and were unable to walk or fell down. Horrors! That's all I need!
I remember this happening to my sister a year or two ago when she was exiting the back seat of a car. She got a horrible cramp in the top part of her back leg and was crying from pain. I knew exactly what was going on with her as I'd experienced it myself---once while on the floor doing stretching exercises-- for crying out loud!
One gal said her symptoms improved with VitB complex. I'm going down to buy some today. I also intend to drink a lot more water than I do. That will probably mean multiple trips to the bathroom during the night but so be it. I think I'll make an effort to eat a banana daily too. I sometimes let that go by the wayside.
Course if this is spine or neck related, all the bananas and water drinking in the world won't fix a thing. You have to be careful reading some of these websites online as you can get all kinds of opinions. One woman thought people should be checked out for MS and Lupus. That's probably one of the downsides of relying on computers to understand health issues. You have to study and weed out the information by using your own common sense. I use Dr. Google a lot but at least I'm at the point now where I don't think I've got everything I see online. Ha!
I know my blogs may sound like I have everything under the sun but it helps me to write these things down. If nothing else, if my kids find me dead one morning, they can refer back to whatever I was complaining about on recent blogs and say: Oh yeah...she did say her back was killing her. ha ha ha
Well, that's it for this gray April morning. I'm heading to the library in an hour and think I might pick up a movie at Red Box too. Otherwise, it's sewing projects and family history project. And maybe....just maybe....some bike riding around the neighborhood. I'll show these legs who's in charge around here!
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