Ouch! Leg Cramps Again

It has been several months since I experienced leg cramps, but yesterday, they struck with a vengeance.  Actually, I don't know what they were seeking vengeance for, but it sure felt like that was their purpose.

I had decided, earlier this week, to get back to exercising more. You know how that is. The pounds creep on until you just can't stand to get on the scale any more, and then you vow to exercise faithfully until you get back to your ideal weight, whatever that may be in your case. ( The picture above is what I imagined doing, but not quite what I ended up doing.)

You also probably know, as I do, that vowing to exercise more, and actually doing it---especially the last part about sticking with it---are two different things.

Anyway, I had walked and biked every day for about ten days and then, out of the blue, the cramps hit. I jumped out of my chair, and tried massaging them, walking, standing on my tiptoes, etc. to no avail. Ooh, oow. It was a good ten minutes, before I remembered that I had tonic water with quinine in it in the refrigerator. That had worked in the past; how could I have forgotten?

I dashed (hobbled) to the kitchen, grabbed the tonic water bottle, and gulped half of it down. In less than a minute, the cramps were gone. (I should mention that I am talking about the 10 ounce bottles of tonic water, not those giant super-sized ones.)

Believe me, when you have leg cramps and they disappear in less than a minute, you feel like you have just experienced a real miracle.

Why not grab a few bottles at your local grocery store and have them on hand for your next attack. It is pretty bitter tasting so you don't have to worry that the kids will drink it up before you need it. It comes in diet or non-diet form so you don't have to worry about adding unwanted calories to your diet, either.

Leg Cramps Are a Common Complaint

So many people suffer from leg cramps, you would think medical science would have come up with a simple solution by now.

Unfortunately, the causes of leg cramps vary in different people and that makes the remedy for one person's leg cramps not always suitable for the next person.

Finding the cause of a particular person's leg cramps is extremely important in treating them, but all too frequently, no exact cause can be found so a hit-or-miss system of treatment is applied in hopes that some relief from the often excruciating pain can be found.

Some of the most common causes of leg cramps are, poor circulation, too much exercise, mineral or vitamin deficiencies, exposure to extreme temperatures, or dehydration.

The  causes of leg cramps listed above can usually be determined and treated with a little bit of testing, but what about those cramps that hit with little or no warning, and that don't seem to fit into any of the above categories.  Is there anything we can do about them?

In future posts, we will look into each of these common causes of  leg cramps and also make some suggestions for trying to get some relief from those that seem to have no identifiable cause.