cramp in legs

[daimbardiva]

I'm 6+2 and have woken up today with cramp in both calves - one is not too bad, but the other is really painful, it's making me limp. Is this a normal pregnancy thing? I think I got cramp at night during my first pregnancy but I don't remember ever having it a)this early on b) during the day or c) for such a long time

I'm 7+5 and have noticed my circulation is terrible. I get pins and needles and almost cramp in my legs no matter how I sit/lie. Hoping I don't start waking up with full on cramp now, that is really painful .

Would elevating your legs while you sleep help?

Bananas are good for cramp as are avacados, so you could try including more of these in your diet.

Water ... could be sign of dehydration

A colleague has also advised me to put a bar of soap in my bed for some reason!!

Thanks for suggestions - my leg is still really sore. I'll try the bananas and elevating it!

I drink quite a lot of water anyway, but a bit more won't hurt!

Well, last night was terrible! I woke up with EXCRUCIATING cramp in my right leg and could barely put any weight on my leg at all. It was also agony to touch my calf. Elevating it did help a bit, and the pain lessened by about 9am, but it's still sore now - I'm dreading tonight. I spoke to my Dr who said that it was probably just circulatory changes due to pregnancy and recommended taking paracetamol, and massaging it if I can stand it.

Oh dear, I hope it doesn't continue like this!

I thankfully haven't started getting cramp till later in pregnancy, but since I was about 24 weeks have been taking a magnesium supplement for leg cramp. I discovered it when pregnant with DD1 when I started getting really bad cramps - like you, excruciating and made my leg hurt for days afterwards. There's some research that supports its use so it's not totally wacky. I get a powder called Calma-C (it contains calcium too) from www.highernature.co.uk that you make into a tea, tastes vile but it's ok with Ribena. Holland and Barrett also do various magnesium supplements but they're all in tablet form which I struggle with.

Also try doing a lot of massage on your calves, it will probably hurt as the muscles will be very tight (I don't mean while you've actually got cramp) but be quite vigorous if you can, I find that helps too, as well as stretching them out several times a day and before bed.

Hope some of the suggestions help, cramp is horrible I really sympathise, I was afraid to go to sleep after a really bad attack as it was agony!

If it's in both legs I think leg cramp is quite common, and as Zimbah said magnesium is reported to help. Also, don't panic at all, but if you ever have terriple cramp in leg and if your leg feels swollen at all visit your dr to rule out a dvt. Easily treatable, unlikely to occur, but sometimes features in pregnancy. As I say though, don't worry, just be aware .