Weekend!
So how do you keep from getting cramps.
I’ve heard that you have to eat periodic bananas. I’ve heard that you have to stay hydrated. I figured that I should google this thing and see if WebMD tells me that it’s a symptom of lupus or something but, instead, I found this:
“The most common form of nocturnal leg cramps are considered idiopathic, meaning that there is no known cause,” says Dr. Jaffee.
So I’m going to eat more bananas. And drink more water.
This is the weekend that we swap out the winter and summer clothes. Move all of the short sleeve stuff from the back of the closet to the front and put all of the flannel shirts and hoodies (well, except maybe one or two) to the back. We are probably also going to do that culling thing where we take out EVERY SHIRT WE OWN and say “I wear this!”, “I should donate this”, or “I should throw this away”. And then marvel at how we actually have space again.
But, other than that? This weekend doesn’t have anything in it at all. And we did the “get freaking *EVERYTHING* from Costco” trip last weekend, so we don’t even have to do much more than just get the weeklies at King Soopers. Oh, and bananas.
So… what’s on your docket?
(Image is “Play” by Clare Briggs. Used with permission of the Briggs estate.)
The ending of the azaleas season is finally arriving, so that means time for pollen abatement procedures; plenty of cleaning, scrubbing, and pressure washing on the agenda down here in the pines.Report
If you get one, get out of bed and stand up. In my experience this immediately resolves the problem.Report
I get them a couple times a month, and I’ve never tried that. So I might.
Usually they go away (at least for me) in less than 20 seconds, but it’s a long 20 seconds, so I end up doing what Jaybird does and eat bananas and drink water. I’m not sure it helps but I’m not sure it doesn’t.Report
Seconded. Only thing that works for me.
I get them very infrequently, usually after I’ve walked long distances over uneven ground, like, hiking or extended fieldwork.
I had been having a problem with general muscle fatigue/pain/seemed like I pulled muscles easier after working out (I had been trying to increase the intensity). My doctor suggested drinking more water as a first pass (something about getting out by products of metabolic processes) and that seems to have helped. (I am allergic to bananas but I eat a lot of other fruits and vegetables, and most of them have at least some potassium in them)Report
I get them every night when sitting and reading. A version of this is what works for me. I go downstairs to my shop and putter around for a bit, as the standing and the mental distraction work wonders.
As for this weekend, taking off the storm windows, getting a yard of mulch for the wife and taking her out to find her birthday present on Saturday. (I already know what I am getting her, but I want her to make the final decision for design.Report
I’ll try that next time.Report
I have 2 appointments on Saturday (one a lunch for a high schooler we know to interview me about what my perspectives on the American dream were like as a child in another country, one to close the library so my student worker can go do his thing that starts right before he would normally close the library) and my sister wants to call Saturday instead of Sunday, if we can find time for that.
I swear, I try to empty ONE Saturday to purge the closets…
But other than that, what Jaybird said.Report
My dad is recovering well and able to get around the house effectively, including going up and down stairs with a crutch.
I’ll do a few more things around the house – put up a grab bar in their bathroom, pre-make a few meals – and then go back home this weekend.Report
@dragonfrog That’s excellent news. Glad you’ll be able to go home soon.Report
Right now my plan is to stay home (rainy crappy day on tap for Saturday) and try to recover from the **third** upper-respiratory infection I have had in six months. (This is alarming to me because normally I get two a year at most. I am hoping it’s just being confronted with a lot of new viruses I’ve not seen before and not some new aging thing I will have to get used to, or worse, a symptom that something is badly wrong in my body. I am not worried enough to bump up my routine annual bloodwork from this summer).
I will say I was only sick-sick for about three days this time instead of a week.
But I have started trying taking vitamin D again in case that helps.
Other than that, maybe some research reading, if I’m disciplined enough.Report
Ugh, that sucks.Report
I bought a concentrated electrolyte (what plants crave) solution online. I don’t have any actual data, but it seems to help, at least when switching to low carb (which is when I have the most cramping) or after drinking a bit too much.Report
They had essays about pickle juice online and I remembered hearing stories in high school about how the cross country coach kept a thermos of pickle juice in his backpack.
I didn’t want to keep a small container of pickle juice next to the bed but worried that I might have to do that.
Maybe concentrated electrolytes would be better. We’re probably not talking about something that they’d put in the gatorade aisle at the Whole Foods, though, are we?Report
The semi-local natural-foods store had a large display of pickle juice when I was there last weekend and I was wondering what was up with that. (I am not a fan of pickles so if I needed electrolytes I would go elsewhere for them).
I like coconut water, but I don’t know if that has too many carbohydrates for someone trying to do lo-carb.
I remember my dad talking about how the summer in college when he worked in a foundry, he used to take salt tablets to replace what he sweated out. He also drank a gallon of water every shift…Report
Pickle juice has worked for me but it needs to be real pickle brine, not that neon stuff that the Vlasic is in. I’m not trying to be a pickle snob, I just don’t think the neon stuff actually has the right mix of things in it.
I’m curious about the concentrated electrolytes. I’ve seen CVS selling what seems to be “Adult Pedialyte”. @hoowgow-flask is that what you’re referring to?Report
“real pickle brine”
So, like, the pickles you get at Whole Foods or something?
If I’m going to get this stuff, I want to get the right stuff.Report
If you read the labels of most commercial pickles, you will see that they use vinegar… that’s not what you want…you want salted brine of pickle. Lacto-fermented is probably the key. Try Bubbies. I mean, you should get Bubbies anyway even if the juice does nothin.
Gatorade is basically sugar water with salt.
I have no opinion on the efficacy of pickle juice…just know how to make pickles. Be assured…you can pickle that.Report
Bubbies Pickles. Got it.
Thank you all.Report
I don’t know all the science but my understanding is similar to March Maine’s.
I can’t drink many fluids before I run or I get a stomach stitch. But I’m usually up at 5:30 to get their on time. So a large black coffee and a bottle of pickle juice are in order. A bad flavor combo BUT I’ve run half-marathons without cramping using that combo so I assume the pickle juice is doing something magical.Report
I have been told (I work on a college campus) that “adult pedialyte” is the hangover cure of choice these days.Report
Not a lot of plans. Some relaxing and reading. We might finish season 6 of Homeland. Maybe start another series.Report
Out running trains in the rain all day yesterday pretty cappy weather. Camped on the couch binge watching the Expanse…boy is it goodReport
The stretching/stand for the leg crap works..until it doesn’t. I’ve had cramps so severe that they aren’t effected by using the muscle. God forbid you get a crap in an unstreachable place, like the chest. I’ve had some really bad ones after jujitsu class.
Water, vitamins, bananas, stretching, keep moving….Report
We finally finished the season transition of the clothing and Did The Purge. The Full Purge. Evreything went on the bed and we chose whether it was a Summer Article, a Winter Article to be archived, an Article To Be Donated, or an Article to be lovingly thrown away.
The only shirt that I was allowed to leave in the closet without first throwing it on the bed was my American Flag Shirt. (“This is the shirt that I *WILL* be wearing on the 4th of July. No Ifs, Ands, or Butts about it!” “Fine, keep it in the closet if it means that much to you.”)
We threw away a bag of undonatable clothing and have two boxes of donatables.
And, I’m pleased to say, a number of shirts that didn’t fit this time two years ago now fit grrrreat.Report
yeah, about the cramps – good suggestions above. also try compression. for a long time wearing an ankle sleeve really helped my calf cramps. also worth trying, compression calf length socks, shorts and tights. Biofreeze or something similar to it can really help. topical arnica also can be helpful.
in the past year my leg cramps got bad enough to go to a dr about. medication has really helped. cramps as you noted, can be pretty mysterious medically. certainly balancing your electrolytes is a good route to try, stretching and compression can help, but all that will take you only so far if other neuro issues are involved (ie a lot of idiopathic). for example the med I take works well, but how it works is unknown.
what I do know is that life without cramps is better than life with them. I didn’t realize how traumatized I had gotten from them until I got something that really worked.Report