Did you know that I once was the Horseman of Famine?

That being said, do you have any idea what’s causing this horsing around?

try drinking some milk. like NOW. that's probably your body telling you that you are in dire need of calcium.

luv,
stina

Dude, I'm drinking a milk-based protein shake right now! Yay me! Maybe
I need to eat some of those womany-chocolate fudge Viactiv things I
have around somewhere. They've got calcium and potassium and shit.

War, Pestilence, Death, Famine . . . and Charley. I knew something was missing!

When my mom started having this problem, her doctor told her it was probably potassium issues, so she started eating a banana a day and it went away. (For the couple years I had this problem, it was because of a kind of exercise I was doing, and it just was **ing painful forever. May you have more in common with my mom.)

Ouch. As a judo player, I've had more than my share. Assuming they're not the product (as mine were) of grappling contortions, I suggest some pre-nap stretches and deep breathing. Getting extra O2 into that musculature can help enormously …

Condolences. Seriously.

People are always writing in to the People's Pharmacy that putting a bar of soap under the sheets near your feet will stop leg cramps.

Calcium is suppose to be the culprit for leg cramps, more so than potassium apparently. Other things that can cause horrible cramps is dehydration or use of diuretics. So, make sure you drink enough water too, especially if you use a diuretic.

The weird thing is I have been on diuretics for a couple of years for
high blood pressure, and I recently stopped taking them because I ran
out of my prescription. So you'd think I'd be LESS dehydrated now.

I also drink ass-loads of water. You wouldn't believe how much water I
drink.

So … calcium, stretching before bed, and a bar of soap under the
sheets. And I'm going to start using that fake salt replacement that
is all potassium instead of sodium. Maybe all that will do the trick.
It's getting so I'm afraid to go to sleep at night.

Forgetting to stretch has been a problem all my life. It's like, the thing I always remember too late. Bah. (And thanks for the sympathy)

From your lips to baby Jesus' tiny shell-like ears!

I guess being the ex-Horseman of Famine give you the special superpower of having your blog comments crosspost to Facebook! (When no one else’s comments seem to have done so.) Anyway, I think what’s causing the charleyhorses is that I have too many impure thoughts. Either that, or there’s a ill-tempered witch in the neighborhood putting a curse on me. Someone call the Spanish Inquisition!

I couldn’t find my post on your blog and HERE it is. I’d better tell Barbara Eden to stop ‘helping’ me.

What diuretic were you using? There are potassium sparing diuretics, but you would probably know about it if you were using them, because you are suppose to avoid potassium. Maybe that's the problem though. You lost your potassium holding drug and bam got hit with the loss. HCTZ and furosemide are the major potassium wasting drugs. I don't know the potassium sparing ones very well, because I never see them ordered.

I was using dyazide. Know anything about that one?

I looked in my drug books and yes, now I do….you made me learn!!! Dyazide is a combination of HCTZ, a potassium wasting diuretic and trimterine, a potassium sparing diuretic. A potassium sparing diuretic will take precedent and have your body hold onto potassium. So, the discontinuation of that diuretic ended up giving a decrease in potassium. You can either go back on it or wait until your body reaches a type of equilibrium with you eating plenty of delicious avocados.

When I woke screaming up with the “holy shit my leg is going to break” cramps, I started taking magnesium and potassium.

No problems since… except when I stoppped.

Thank you for looking that up for me! I'm going to opt for the
avocados route, simply because they are cheaper and more delicious.
Actually the dyazide is pretty cheap, but my doctor won't refill it
unless I come in for an office visit, and … well, we've already
discussed the vastly huge percentage my insurance covers of those.
Being a perverse and ornery type, I'd rather go off all my medications
than add another hundred bucks to the five I already owe them. So
basically I've turned into one of those old women who “can't afford”
her medication. Can cat food be far behind??

Foods high in potassium are meats, especially organ meat (ugh) and preserved meat (I'm thinking SPAM, yum). Dairy products, dried fruit, bananas (duh), cantaloupe, kiwi, oranges, avocados (#1), broccoli, dried beans or peas, lima beans (yuck), mushrooms potatoes (white or sweet), seaweed (sushi, yay), soybeans and spinach.

Eat those unless you go back on the diuretic. An overload of potassium that can occur with potassium sparing diuretics is life threatening. Think of it as stuffing a banana in your heart. It stops it.(that's how they taught us). Perhaps you were on a relatively low dose and they figured you would not need to worry about potassium overload.

I hear you, but remember high blood pressure is the silent killer and heart disease is quickly becoming a number one killer of women. So, I hope you are taking some sort of blood pressure medication. HCTZ, which will give you cramps unless you eat plenty of potassium, is only $4 at Walmart and Target pharmacies for a month long prescription here in Las Vegas.

Just watch your blood pressure closely and keep it under 120/80 if you can.