Agonising leg cramp - is it just a night time thing?

[LadyCressida]

I am 30 weeks and woke up with horrendous cramp in my calf in the middle of the night. It was really really painful and the muscles are still achey 4 hours later. Seems like a relatively normal thing to get, doing a quick search online, but I'm worried about getting in the car in case it comes back when I'm driving.

Does anyone else get this - is it just a night time thing?

thanks

Yes I had it. I drank tonic water at night - apparently the quinine helps. I did notice a difference.

Oh, and I only had it at night!

I've only had it at night. Bananas are supposed to help becuase the contain potassium(?), but I've not really noticed any difference ...

... oh, I should say that once it's happening, I can improve matters really quickly by sitting up on the side of the bed and putting my feet flat on the floor. Sometimes my feet won't cooperate which is a bit scary, but then it seems to be a case of breathing and trying to be calm. YMMV!

eat bananas. They really do help.

Yep. night time thing

My (pre pregnancy) yoga teacher said that if you get leg cramps never to point your toe when you stretch your leg, you need to lift your toes up and try to point your heel away from you IYSWIM. This works for me and toe pointing does seem to make it worse.I'm 24 weeks and only seem to get night time cramps.

Agree with everyone - putting feet flat on floor and/or pulling toes towards you rather than pointing them helps. It does only happen to me at night. I find taking a supp containing calcium, magnesium and vit D also helps (not sure what exactly in it helps, but it seems to help a lot!).

Bananas worked for me too. And I only had cramps at night in my first PG so you should be safe driving. I sympathise - it hurts like hell though!!

yep night time thing I get them nearly every night now!

Thanks a lot guys! That's reassuring (kinda!) that it's only a night time thing but bad news it might happen a lot!

Weird with the bananas though because I have actually eaten a few of them this week for the first time in ages!! We've defo got lots of tonic water around though so will give that a go this evening too...

finger's crossed it does the trick!

I wake up yelling like a banchee with mine; my poor hubby thinks I'm being murdered.x

Pointing the toes is the cause I am almost certain of it. It always happens at night when I've had a good ole stretch and then comes the agonising pain. I writh around in bed yelling for my hubby to grab my foot and bend it back towards me because I'm so fat I cant reach my own feet...most distressing.

I eat a banana a day so cant say thats helped me much but I will defo be trying the tonic water...xxxx

Got carried away waffling...yes it has only happened at night time never ever in the day.xx