Note to self: Stretching legs while sleeping = HOLY FUCK! CHARLEY HORSE!

[Liberal Veteran]

Nature's way of saying "You forgot to buy bananas again."

[magical thyme]

1. it can also be due to dehydration (happened to me just last week)

or hypocalcemia (which happened to me in my 40s and was instantly fixed with a tums).

[Tobin S.]

2. Yeah, dehydration gets me that way sometimes.

If I drink some beer before I go to bed and don't load up on the water as well, I'll wake up in the middle of the night with leg cramps. Walking around and chugging down a couple of glasses of water usually fixes things up.

[RebelOne]

3. I have discovered that 2 Vitamin E capsules before bedtime keeps leg cramps from happening. n/t

[rurallib]

4. pinching your upper lip makes it go away

but dayummmm

[trackfan]

5. I hate when that happens.

It becomes a decision whether to get up and walk it off, which will ruin my sleep; or to try and ride it out and go back to sleep.

[MaggieD]

6. That happens to me too

Ugh. Sucks.

[Juicy_Bellows]

7. That warning. You get that short, short warning.

Then BLAMO! Night terror! Calve turns into a bacon wrapped 16oz ball of meat. Hurts like a bugger! Limpin' the next day and shit....

[smirkymonkey]

8. Oh, they are the worst!

Is potassium really the cure? I never eat bananas. Maybe I should start taking supplements. I get them too often.

[Liberal Veteran]

10. Anything containing lots of potassium is supposed to help.

Of course, they also say low calcium and dehydration are a cause as well.

It's definitely the world's cruelest alarm clock.

[PennyK]

9. Broccoli also works.

I go with that because bananas have too much sugar for me.

[WinkyDink]

15. I love broccoli! Maybe that's why no leg cramps!

[AtomicKitten]

11. Best advice I got, get up immediately and walk with full weight on it.

It stretches the muscle and stops the spasming. It works!

[Tom Kitten]

12. this happens to me more often as I get older...

It's a weird pain I'm not used to but it's excruciating! I find myself leaping out of bed and landing on the offending area and stomping around for a few seconds...thankfully it goes away but I don't like it! No sir, not at all!

[truegrit44]

13. Look up Magnesium for leg cramps

It sure worked for me!

[Laffy Kat]

14. I always heard magnesium, too. nt

[yellowdogintexas]

16. Orange juice really helps So does yellow mustard

Never point your toes when stretching, if you are awake enough to think of it
If you flex the foot and lead with the heel, you are far less likely to get the cramp

I had them badly when I was pregnant. My best remedy was a big glass of OJ with 1/2 tsp each of salt and sugar Sounds gross but it works - sort of an ersatz gatorade I could feel that cramp relax fairly quickly

Believe it or not, plain old yellow mustard works too, I have limped into the kitchen and slathered mustard on saltines just to get it down but it really works well It is the turmeric in the mustard that does it

If you get them in your feet, the kind that make your toes do weird things, get a wooden rolling pin, or other sturdy cylindrical object that will roll, put the arch of your foot on it and let your entire body weight rest on that arch, and roll the item slowly back and forth a couple of inches each way Works!!! We used to do this with those small Coke bottles but rolling pins are better