I should have worn heels -- life at 5'3" - More crazy, weird stuff

Perhaps an off-the-wall thought, but try adding some stretching and strengthening for your legs to whatever exercise you're doing. Get some kind of elastic band to do ankle flexes against. Do toe-raises. I think your legs are cramping at night because you're carrying more weight around than you're used to, and it's not evenly distributed, so you're off balance a lot.

Not a quick solution, I'm afraid.

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It actually does work pretty fast in my experience. My mom had chronic leg cramps and when I learned about stretching, I showed her how to do it and it really helped and nearly right away.

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Yeah. That was one of the reasons I decided to be more diligent about going to prenatal yoga. I think I have a lot of downward facing dog in my future.

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Do stretches for your calves -- one way is by standing, feet together, and then bending very slowly at the knees while keeping your feet flat. Don't force it. I'd recommend doing a few stretches before you go to bed instead of waiting for the cramp to hit -- see if you can cut them off at the pass.

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I have some non-weird advice, if you want it -- I wrote an article on leg cramps in March for that Health blog I do. ;)

http://health.families.com/blog/nocturnal-leg-cramps

A calcium deficiency can actually make muscle cramps worse... not sure of the mechanics, but I could look it up if you really wanna know.

Also, raspberry leaf is more for PMS cramps, I think -- not sure how well it works on rest-of-the-body cramps. It's a traditional PMS remedy... though modern research says it's more useful for treating diarrhea than PMS. Wow. Aren't you glad I joined in the conversation? I wrote an article about raspberry leaf, too. Because I'm a nerd. :D

http://health.families.com/blog/red-raspberry-leaf

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I looked into the raspberry tea, and it's a trip. It's like a scooby snack for your uterus or something - entices it to do really hard scary things like carry and deliver a child. :)

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I love raspberry leaf tea more than anything else in the world. If I get to it a few days before hand it totally does away with my monumentally awful cramps. It smooths the uterine lining out so helps with the pain, but not if you have endrometriousis. It is also a stomach and diarrhea soother. I heard some rumors it wasn't good for pregnant women, but I think they were disproved.

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Calcium and liquid. Tums is okay, calcium citrate is better. Lots of just plain water. More than you think necessary.

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Oh. My. Gosh. The water consumption while pregnant is staggering. The reason pregos have go so often is only partly due to babies using her bladder as a fun trampoline/water bed. I'm supposed to drink something like 128 oz of water a day. And the funny thing is, even when drinking that much water, I'm still thirsty!!!

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I told you, it works. And eat more bananas. And just stand up.

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Your voice was in my head the other morning when it happened for the second morning in a row. You were saying, "Stand up! Stand up!" So I did, and it helped. Thanks!

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It happens when you arch your foot or point your toes. The trick is to keep your foot as right angle to your calf as possible.

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What's frustrating is that I've done dance for so many years that I just unconsciously point my toes. When I'm awake. When I sleep. It's just a habit that I'm starting to get beaten out of me. Because sometimes I also get those weird toe cramps where my second toe suddenly bends at right angles to my big toe. It's kind of gross.

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I agree with the standing up and the stretching more in general. Also, ask Ken to massage your calves sometimes - if your muscles are being overworked due to pregnancy weight, they're cramping because they're tight and tired. stretching will help, but a massage will ease the tension as well, and maybe prevent the cramps from waking you up. It might have to be a deep massage to really get rid of the building tension. Hot towels on your legs before bed might work, too.

How's that for weird? :)

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Ooh, forgot to add heat pad to the list. And yes, the extra weight plus my weeble-y-ness (I wobble but I don't fall down) is probably putting undo pressure on them. As soon as the tenderness goes away, I think I'm signing up for a Ken massage. At least I know if this book thing doesn't work out, he would make a great masseur. :)

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OUCH!! I'm so sorry!

You've already got my best answers: #1 and #3. Of course, if you don't mind waking your partner, a leg massage works wonders. (Hard to do on yourself during normal times...nearly impossible during a twin pregnancy *sigh*)

{{{Hugs}}}

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Yeah, I'm starting to miss my lower extremities. I tried clipping my toe nails the other day. That was an experience!

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I ditto the bananas option.

I'm not, never have been, and never will be pregnant, but I appear prone to those shrieking charlie horses anyway (I didn't even know they were a pregnancy thing). I chow on bananas to keep them at bay, and I can always tell when I haven't been eating enough because voila, I wake up in serious pain exactly forty-five minutes before I MEANT to get up in the morning >:(

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A few years ago I experienced night cramps in my calves so bad that the muscles were knotted for days. Even pillows could not stop me from screaming myself awake.

I went to a local massage therapist who specializes in sports injuries. He rubbed out the worst of the cramp and told me to do some runner's and dancer's leg stretches before bed, take magnesium and potassium supplements, drink more water. Obviously, since you're pregnant, check with your doctor on the supplements and amounts, but my experience with this treatment was amazing. You can do the stretches while lying down if you have a wall to brace your foot on--not quite as good as if standing and bearing weight, but doable for a pregnant lady by scrunching down so you can't straighten your legs while your feet are on the wall.

Don't forget to try a stretch for the psoas--it's a tiny muscle that connects your calf to your achilles tendon--that's like a really short-distance version of the classic calf stretch: Facing forward with feet at normal standing position, move one foot back about the length of a shoe and a half, then bend your knees slightly while keeping your heels on the ground. The trick is to take your foot back no further than you can comfortably keep both feet totally flat on the ground. You should feel a mild but obvious stretch right above the back of your ankle on the rearmost leg. Hold for about 20 seconds and do the other leg. It's an especially important muscle to stretch if you wear heeled shoes and contributes a lot to calf and planar fascia flexibility.

Or say to hell with it and have a leg and foot massage once a week.

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Turn the cramping leg / foot inward. It worked for me and I didn't have to get up!

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And...if you get sick of bannanas, orange juice is also high in potassium! Be well Jen^3, and let us know when you need a painting army...we're up for it. Hugs, Julie of the WordWomen

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