Severe leg cramps anyone?

rommelea · May 2009

3 times now I've woken up in the middle of the night with World's most intense pain in my left leg. It's only the bottom half of my leg, but it's horrible. The first time I was so shocked that I woke DH up with my groans, but now I've learned to just stay quiet and wait a minute or two and it will go away. It feels almost like a charlie horse, but about 100 times stronger. I am literally paralyzed from the knee down because of the pain, and the top half of my body spends an excruciating couple minutes writhing in pain. I plan to talk to the Dr. about this when I see them on Thursday, but does anyone else get these and/or know what to do about it?

chingpei · May 2009

yep - wait till it happens to both legs at once! just flex your feet towards your head and it'll help it go away - i wake my poor husband every time i get them from my screeching "ouch" - and he helps me pull my feet back b/c sometimes it's so bad, i can't even flex my feet!

keep drinking lots of water (though that means middle of the night trips to the bathroom) b/c it's supposed to help...also make sure you have enough potassium in your diet

mlb0604 · May 2009

I get them often and my midwife said they are completely normal. The best way to get them to go away in the middle of the night like that is pull your foot in (towards you), this usually stops the cramp quickly. I've been having them so much at night lately that my calves are actually sore throughout the day..like they would had I done lots of calf exercises at the gym

alicia023 · May 2009

I used to get them all the time and they used to say that if you can get up and put pressure on it or if you want to lay down and press your foot on a wall that it will help it go away, it will hurt though. Everyone always says eat more bananas but here lately I have been drinking pickle juice and I think it is really helping.

davis0905 · May 2009

Yep, I went through a "leg cramp" phase...thankfully, it has been several weeks since I've had one...I've heard from others that this can pass as you get further along in your pregnancy. I hope the same goes for you!

The only remedy that worked for me was to relax my body as much as possible and to massage the leg that was in pain...if DH was awake, I would have him massage it. It was always at like 5:00 am...so weird!

jmkirste · May 2009

Ugh, yep, right there with ya! My favorite was the time I woke up to a cramp in my calf muscle so stretched it out by flexing my foot, only to end up with a cramp in my shin muscle at the same time. How the hell do you stretch both at the same time?! I also get them in my feet, ankles and butt muscles. Good times.

cookimonstar · May 2009

I had the worst one ever last night, it felt like someone was breaking my leg. It took all that i could to stand up, i was leaning against the wall trying to use all my body weight to flatten my foot out but the cramp was so tight it wouldnt budge. DH woke up in a panic thinking something was wrong with the LO. All day my leg has been sore from just below my knee, through my cafe and through my foot to just about my toes.

I've tried everything out there to prevent them, i drink so much water, and have bananas every morning. nothing seems to touch mine

sosat01 · May 2009

They are extremely common amongst pregnant women, but they aren't "normal" (is it ever normal for your leg to seize up in pain?) ?It means you have a calcium deficiency and should increase your intake of calcium supplements and eat some more leafy greens. ?You can do all the stretches suggested here, but that's not going to prevent them from coming back and they don't tend to just "go away" unless you address what's causing them.

Want a personalized experience?

Severe leg cramps anyone?

Re: Severe leg cramps anyone?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards