Having Severe Muscle Cramps? Fight Back!!
The heat and humidity in Southwest Florida can be a killer about nine months out of the year. I do a lot of work outside and work constantly to avoid heat stroke and dehydration. I drink tons of water, Gatorade, and energy drinks just to keep from getting weak and passing out. So I've learned my lessons about proper hydration and can work in 90 heat for about six hours at a time. One night I got a major surprise when I woke up with horrendous and excruciating cramps in both upper thighs. All I could think of doing was to roll out of bed and start crawling across the floor. When I felt that I could get up on my feet, the cramping only got worse and I had to keep walking in order to keep my wits about me. Since my wife (an ARNP) was out of town I felt limited in my choices. First of all you have to understand that this was simply ginormous pain that was relentless. I have had several broken bones and major surgeries so I know what pain is. I actually had tears in my eyes. I couldn't drive to the hospital and didn't want to call an ambulance for such a non-life threatening injury. In addition we run an Irish Wolfhound rescue and I didn't want to leave the dogs alone. So I kept walking and massaging my thighs, hoping that eventually they would loosen up and relax. Unfortunately it took hours to get any relief and my thighs hurt for the next two days. So the next time out in the yard I doubled up on my hydration, hoping that more fluids would keep this from happening again. Unfortunately I repeated the same event two nights later and found myself once again debilitated and basically helpless. When my wife returned the next day she told me to start taking 500 mg of magnesium twice a day and see if that helped. I also called my primary care physician and he suggested the same. They were both right! I began taking the prescribed dosage twice a day and haven't had a problem with Leg cramps since. Getting older keeps on presenting me with new and unique "situations". This one was solved very simply and effectively. Guess I've entered the "rusting years"
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