Take the expletive-deleted vitamin supplements!
Woke up yesterday with a bang…and a very loud whimper.
Normal morning. Warm kitteh on arm. Pale light and sound of the waterfall coming in through the window. A good stretch, clear down to the toes…
And BANG! the worst pain I’ve ever suffered consumed my left calf.
With thoughts of Alex and snapped Achilles tendons foremost in my sleep-hazed mind, all I could do was lie there and gasp while I tried to figure whether I could move the foot at all, and which direction it was pointed. I finally dared move enough to curl up to massage the afflicted area and it was the strangest knot of muscle I’ve ever encountered.
Finally, I decided it wasn’t going to relax any time soon, and I was as close to fainting from pain as I’ve ever been in my life. Besides, it being early morning…I really, really, really had to piddle!!!!! Only one thing left to do. I screamed for Carolyn. Talk about a rude awakening! I felt guilty, but didn’t see any choice. So I yelled. Many, many times. Fortunately, we both sleep with our doors open, so Carolyn, at the far end of the house and hallway, finally heard…or maybe Efanor went and jumped on her, I’m not sure, but she arrived and somehow, I made it to the necessary, before really miserable transformed into really embarrassing! Besides, my bro was coming and he gets my bed when he visits. Ahem…’nuf said.
Anyway, since the foot worked and wasn’t cramped upward, we decided it was just (JUST! HAH!) a muscle cramp. Likely induced by potassium shortage. You need to be really careful about vitamins and minerals on Atkins, and I’d let that slip. I walked (gimped) about for a while and, thank goodness, it was soon reduced to a dull ache. Didn’t stop me from getting the house cleaned up for Chip, and actually did pretty well all day…as long as I was moving.
Chip arrived (Hi, Chip!) and he looks great. Has lost 30lbs since retiring, and is still going. (Go, Chip!) We had a nice chat, a nice dinner, showed him the pond, then settled in to watch the new Sherlock Holmes movie, which he hadn’t seen. As the evening wore on, rest proved the worst thing for the calf. I put heat on it. I put ice on it. I kept it elevated. I took advil…and it just got worse. By the time I went to bed, it was a bad enough ache that every time I shifted around, I’d flash on the morning pain, and tired as I was, I just couldn’t go to sleep.
Tres annoying!
This morning it’s a bit tight, but I’m sure it’ll be fine. But it was definitely an early morning wakeup call in every sense of the word!
Moral of the story: Children…take your vitamins like your mommy says!!!!
Magnesium doesn’t hurt, either – it relaxes spasmodic muscles, or so my brother (MD) tells me. I tend to get muscle cramps at night, probably from dehydration … but magnesium helps out a bit.
Definitely! I kinda think of Potassium and magnesium in conjunction.
Yeah, when Tom and I did Atkins (we got very sick of meat; I didn’t think such a thing was possible!), we were very careful to take the multivitamins with lots of potassium for the exact same reason.
Hard way to find this out, though. Owie.
Sowwwwwwwry! Didn’t see this waiting for approval. Been busy with m’bro! I can’t even claim ignorance. I knew I s/b supplementing and just let it slip a few days. Between stuff for my joints, stuff for my cholesterol, stuff for my thyroid…seems like I do nothing but eat pills all day long!
Bad excuse, I know, and I’m being much more careful now. It can be taught!
Are you getting enough calcium?
I know several women in their menopause years and later who need to take calcium tablets every night to prevent ‘restless legs’ and cramping in the leg or foot muscles.
If mom forgets hers for 3 nights running she’s awake till 2 o’clock with cramps in her toes!
After a certain age, the body doesn’t absorb it as well from milk and such, and especially if you’re dieting it’s easy to get too little. Also, vitamin C and calcium bother each other, so if you get your milk in your oatmeal in the morning with a glass of orange juice (after you’ve finished the initial 2 weeks strict Atkins starting diet) you’ll not get as much benefit from it as you expect.
I’m not a doctor though, so don’t take my words for gospel: ask someone who really knows.
I’m pretty sure Ca’s OK. I eat lotsa cheese and take a Ca + D supplement (I like it cuz it’s a little chocolate chew with zero carbs. a way to get a little taste-o-choco.) but I’ll keep the cancellation in mind and take my C at a different time of day. Thanks for the headzzup
Jane, I’ve started getting charlie horses like these over the past few years. “Risk factors” seem to include: 1) very early morning stretching before I’m fully awake, & 2) extra physical exertion the previous day.
Excruciating, yes!
I assume at least part of the culprit is decreased circulation in the lower extremities as our “warranty expires” during the aging process. Yes, take the vitamins. Whenever Charlies happen, I always anticipate several days of tenderness in the affected muscle, until the lactic acid washes out & the muscle fully recovers. In this case, heat, massage, and vitamins / orange juice are probably your best friends, along with gentle activity. Also, sympathy!
Thanks! It was a shock, I can tell you! Still hurts from my heel to my hamstring! Yuckadoo. I’ve been doing so much outside and sweating like crazy and combined with the amount of water I drink, I think I really need to keep up the mineral supplements. I’ve got some of Kay’s funky water additive that’s basically Potassium, Magnesium and salt for when you’re working out, but I think maybe the additional supplement is going to be needed.
Do I remember correctly that these are the two that need to be kept in balance for proper heart muscle function?
Scared the daylights out of me! I thought she’d fallen and broken something!
Sowwwwwyyyyy
Was this not the exact same advice you gave me the night before we left Spokane in June? If you’re supposed to take them, take them! Especially if they help with the thyroid.
Yeah, yeah, yeah…rub it in.
But everyone should take vitamin supplements, and we all let them slip occasionally. I just think I haven’t kept up with the mineral loss from sweat. Whatever’s gone on with the weather, been sweating like crazy. 
Thanks for the concern. 
You bet I’m concerned.
My Mom was disappointed that her “boy” wasn’t the winner on “So You Think You Can Dance?”. He’s from just north of us, living between a small town called Botkins (OH), and Wapakoneta (Neil Armstrong’s hometown). Since I don’t watch, i can’t tell.
Anyway, my guilt feelings of a ruthless conscience have ensure that even when i don’t feel like sorting through all of the bottles, I still take my medications. I have them separated into morning pills and night pills, and they are in separate rooms, too.
Take care, don’t overwork yourself, especially if it’s hot.
How are the hands doing?
Hurts don’t it ?
The old early stretch followed by the horse biting some part of the leg.
Don’t forget the plain old table salt sprinkled on the palm of your hand
as a quick start towards recovery. It’s too bad somebody doesn’t make
an electrolyte checker that works without drawing blood.
You were probably dreaming about dancing all night with pretty TV boys
and worked up a sweat.
How’d you guess?