Leg cramp! Why, Darwin, why?!

[Verso]

That's all really. What on earth is the evolutionary advantage of these excruciating leg cramps?!

I know it's common in the third trimester. I had it badly with DD and now I'm getting it with this pregnancy too. I know to try: bananas, calcium, magnesium, put foot down on cold floor etc etc.

Nothing makes any difference - the pain comes, it wakes me up, makes me cry, then goes away.

OW OW OW OW OW

Anything else to try? Anything that actually works? I've Googled and read some medical papers that suggest magnesium supplements are slightly better than placebo - but it seems the medical world finds it baffling too!

I had these as a teenager, too, and found out by fluke that instantly getting up and putting all your weight on the affected leg resets the muscle. Pain goes at once, miracle. So when it hits, stand on that one leg, see if it works for you? It's been a lifesaver for me.(Problem is that it can make SPD worse, and scrambling out of bed is bloody hard when this pregnant, but faced with a serious cramp nothing else matters at the time.)

Good luck. Hope it fixes yours as well.

Oh - I only get cramps either in my foot or, more commonly, calf. I don't know if this fix would work for anywhere else.

try eating a bit more salt in your food

Agree with Qally. I had them baaad as a teenager, nover got them through 1st PG, but get them every night now at the end of 2nd PG. Seems like they hit me whenever I go to turn over (ten point turn already required)! Jump up (sort of jump as best as you can anyway) and stand on the affected leg with all your weight.

someone told me to eat bananas. i eat 1-2 a day and haven't gotten cramps since....

i've always got these poxy calf cramps and I get them more than ever now. BUT what I never knew before is that if you turn your toes up (i.e. heel down, toes stretching upwards in the direction of your head) at the very first SECOND that you feel a cramp coming on, it can stop it from happening altogether.

Hope this works for you. I had multiple calf cramps in the swimming pool a month ago. Made me seriously doubt my ability to cope with the pain of contractions, especially as I'd been planning to use water as pain relief. It was agony... yerk!

There's no evolutionary advantage, I think this is just a side effect of suddenly being 2-3 stone heavier on the same puny muscles. Mine are particularly puny. I do the heel down thing the second they come around too, and it mostly works. I'm also getting insane pins and needles - this is not a very serious or painful condition in normal life so I feel like an idiot complaining about them to people I know, but they're so painful I want to cry!