Charlie horse

[Jupiter]

I woke up from a dead sleep streaming in pain from a Charlie horse. I'm in my 27th week, is there anything you can do to prevent them? Or are they just inevitable?

[karstmama]

make sure you're drinking your water. lots & lots!

are you getting potassium? maybe add a banana every other day.

my mama's md told her to drink some tonic water every evening before bed...something about the quinine. ask your doc about that, though - they may prefer you not.

but for me the biggest part was stretching. when you're waking up, *stretch with your toes toward your head, not by pointing your toes!* so stretch your heels away from you and your toes towards you. it's a habit to do it the other way, but that starts the knotting, and if you can break that habit it's a huge step to stopping those cramps.

i also remember seeing a thing years ago on tv about a pressure point in your upper lip. you grab your upper lip under your nose and pinch it very hard, side to side, to get your calf to relax. dunno, it might just hurt enough to distract you, but it seems to work for me.

best of luck! they hurt so bad!

[123LuckyMom]

Yes, water, water, water, and then have just a little more water!!! Also boost your magnesium and potassium. I hope they stop soon.

[AnnieW625]

I had these almost the entire time I was pregnant with DD1. It didn't help me that I can't stand bananas so I was probably potassium deficient, but the only thing that helped me was pinching my upper lip. It sounds crazy, but it really works. My gave me the advice and it was great. You have to pinch your upper lip until the pain starts to stop.

Hope you are able to control them soon.

[buddyleebaby]

Eat a banana every day.

I got a horrible Charlie Horse at about 3am a few nights ago, bad enough that no stretching helped. Dh woke up and asked me if I wanted him to go get me a banana. I told him thanks, but I didn't think I picked up "fast-acting" bananas. :rotflmao:

[hellokitty]

Make sure you are taking a calcium, magnesium, zinc supplement. This pretty much solved my leg cramps from pregnancy.

[cookiemonster80]

same advice as all other posts- so sorry- those hurt SO bad.

[ArizonaGirl]

make sure you're drinking your water. lots & lots!

but for me the biggest part was stretching. when you're waking up, *stretch with your toes toward your head, not by pointing your toes!* so stretch your heels away from you and your toes towards you. it's a habit to do it the other way, but that starts the knotting, and if you can break that habit it's a huge step to stopping those cramps.


:yeahthat:

Especially about the stretching, they do suck tho

[barkley1]

I just couldn't drink any more water when I was pg...ugh. My dr told me Tums worked better than anything he had seen....two before bed each night. It worked for me!

[teresah00]

Ugh. I got them too. Then they got worse and were in my upper inner thigh too. Magnesium helped the most. I used calm in my wAter. Bought a supplement as well. Ate bananas. Drank tons of water. Took calcium too.


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[Jupiter]

I'm going to try the Tums, I haven't gotten any bananas yet. But my calf still is tight! Thanks for everyone's input!

[123LuckyMom]

Be careful with the Tums, though. My OB once recommended I use Tums as a calcium supplement (before I had children), and taking lots of Tums actually GAVE me heartburn! A friend clued me in that the Tums might be causing it, and, sure enough, I cut out the Tums, and the heartburn went away-- but it took a while. You don't want to increase heartburn in pregnancy! I'd look for supplements for calcium, potassium, and magnesium and not increase your use of Tums.

[MamaMolly]

I had relief with Gatorade. Hope they go away!