Over the past few years, every once in a while I’ve gotten on streaks of waking up in the middle of the night with a painful pulled muscle or two in my calf. No idea why it happens. It tends to only be when it’s colder, and normally I’d just stretch the leg a bit and go back to bed. It has, however, this year, started becomming more and more frequent. Also, it’s now getting to the point where the pain is particularly excruciating and I usually have to put my leg at some bizarre angle to not agrivate any of the five or seven muscles (or howevermany- it feels like a million) that are actually hurt.
Has anyone else had this experience? Is there anything I can be doing to prevent it?
I had this pain after I was confined to a wheelchair. When in the cast, 9 months, my foot was bent at an odd angle. As I began to learn how to walk again, I would have the most painful muscle spasms in that leg. My doctor said it was because my muscles had begun to atrophy and they weren’t happy about being made to work again. I was put on a potassium supplement and told to keep walking to build up those muscles. I rarely cramp up now, usually if I’ve been very sedentary for a few days.
If you can see a doctor, please do. Because your cramps are getting stronger, it may be a sign that something else is wrong.
One reason for calf pain would be problems relating to the blood supply. These tend to occur more during activity (such as walking) than at rest although the disease may progress to a point where pain occurs at rest. To be a candidate for this disease ideally you’d be older (>50 but the older the better), have other vascular disease (heart attack, angina, strokes, TIA’s), and diabetes. If this scenario fits you, then you need a doctor right away.
OTOH, if this scenario doesn’t fit, I think a visit to you doc is in order nonetheless. Cramping (which is what I gather you are experiencing) can originate in the muscles or in the nervous system. The spectrum of diseases which cause cramping varies from the trivial and annoying all the way up to the serious and debilitating and even life threatening.
The most concerning aspect of the history you relate is that the problem is worsening. Try to see if your Doc can fit you in this week.
Choosy MD (though dermatology, not something more helpful)
I would do stretching exercises before bed, or even yoga, and see if that doesn’t help alleviate your problem before running off to see the doctor. The doc can check your electrolytes, but other than that and possibly a vascular doppler study, you probably won’t get any answers except to rule stuff out, which is certainly nothing to sneeze at.
The one important thing the doc could check for you would be your clotting factors to see if you are at risk for a deep vein thrombo.
I get those, too… Just in one leg. Mostly while sleeping, but I can trigger one simply by pointing my toes. I assume it’s related to my back problems (blown disks), but… Maybe time to go see the ol’ MD.
Oddly again, I did have my clotting factors checked (with a vascualr doppler study, to boot!) two months ago due to an infection in my leg, but the pain has been going on for much longer than that, and last night’s excruciating-ness was in the other leg, anyhow. I’ll try the stretching, see if it helps.