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teachingmyown
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| Posted: April 06 2006 at 3:48pm | IP Logged
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I am having excruciating leg and foot cramps at night with this pregnancy. (You know the kind where you have to literally jump out of bed and walk around on it to stop the pain?!) 
It has gotten so bad that I have pain in my calves all day. It is not a DVT or anything vein related. It is all muscular. I have actually had the foot cramps during previous deliveries and it was more painful than the contractions!!
In my past life as a nurse, I would remember what causes this and have an idea what to do. In this current life with one brain cell left, I am hoping some of you have some tips. I think it has something to do with the calcium/magnesium balance? should I be taking one or the other? any other tips- stretching, warm socks, etc.?
It is really hard to "jump" out of a bed when you are sandwiched in between your husband, your two year old and most likely one or two little bodies strategically placed on the bed!  Not to mention, my current size is a little restrictive to anything swifter than a crawl. LOL!
Only a couple weeks left and each day offers something new to offer up for the rest of you, especially those of you still in that first trimester. 
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Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
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LisaD
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| Posted: April 06 2006 at 4:05pm | IP Logged
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Calcium, magnesium and potassium--and plenty of water. You can get calcium supplements with magnesium in them, and you can probably get enough potassium from eating cantaloupe or bananas daily.
I've also read that putting an unwrapped bar of soap under your bed sheet, down by your legs helps. No one knows why, but it works for some people and it's easy enough to try.
I've had those awful leg cramps during pregnancy, too. Not fun!
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Christine
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I seem to remember being told to eat bananas and drink more milk in order to alleviate leg cramps.
I got leg cramps a lot when I was pregnant with my first. I wonder if being on your feet most of the time contributes to cramps in anyway. I taught throughout most of my first pregnancy and rarely sat down.
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Christine
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Rebecca
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| Posted: April 06 2006 at 4:31pm | IP Logged
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I think the Cal/mag supplements help a lot. My last pregnancy (my sixth) I did not have ANY leg cramps although i had them really badly in the other five. The only thing I did differently was to eat a lot more protein to feed the muscles. I had eggs every morning and meat for at least one other meal. I also switched to whole non-homogonized milk. I read it somewhere here I think...the name of the diet escapes me...Winton Price or something...can;t find it right now but the protein did help a whole lot.
God Bless,
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lilac hill
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I can remember waking my husband with pregnancy leg cramps. It got to the point where he would roll over and say," Point , flex, point , flex.... "
In the throes of the cramps I would forget to "Point and flex."
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Viv
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Mary G
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| Posted: April 06 2006 at 5:29pm | IP Logged
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Definitely calcium! Works great -- even if you get it through Tums! Worked for me.....I can remember just-before-waking and knowing that if I moved a certain way, I would get a bad cramp, I would move and wake fully with the cramp -- so bad I couldn't put weight on my feet and would have to hobble around until the cramp relaxed.....
Once I started taking an extra Tums every day, I didn't have them.....
My MIL does the soap thing for my FIL and they swear it works! Who knows why.
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MaryG
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folklaur
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My mother gets awful, awful leg cramps -- not only in her calves, but in her inner thighs. She swears by eating bananas.
She also just told me about the soap thing. I thought it sounded very strange (supposedly Dial soap doesn't work as well, she was told...)
I even looked it up on snopes, and they had it listed as " Undetermined " and not "false". Go figure.
Hope you get to feeling better -- those cramps are horrible.
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Jeanne
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| Posted: April 06 2006 at 6:44pm | IP Logged
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During my first pregnancy I went to a pregnancy exercise class, the nurse who taught it said for leg cramps to point and flex your toes several times during the day, especially before bed. It worked for me.
I do hope they go away, I know how terrible they feel.
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Jeanne
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teachingmyown
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| Posted: April 07 2006 at 9:19am | IP Logged
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I tried the soap thing last night and didn't have any spasms. Coincidence?
Anyway, I still have a deep aching from the more severe spasms of the previous two nights. Any suggestions for relieving that.
I am off to buy bananas today!
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Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
Remembering Today
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MicheleQ
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teachingmyown wrote:
| I tried the soap thing last night and didn't have any spasms. Coincidence? |
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That is the strangest thing! I don't even own bar soap. I wonder why that seems to work? Anyone have any ideas? MacBeth? There has to be a science related something!
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| Anyway, I still have a deep aching from the more severe spasms of the previous two nights. Any suggestions for relieving that. |
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a warm tub soak and a massage always helps me.
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| I am off to buy bananas today! |
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The bananas DO help. I've been making an effort to eat several a day and it seems to be helping. Be VERY careful if taking calcium in supplement form. I took cal/mag a good bit during my 6th pregnancy and though it did help with the leg cramps I also ended up with several calcified kidney stones. And let me tell you, if you think labor is painful I assure you passing a kidney stone is far worse (and they won't give you morophine when you're pregnant) and there's no baby at the end just a little rock. Not everyone is prone to this result from calcium but I had no idea I was until it happened so I warn everyone because you DON'T want to have it happen to you.
As much as possible you should try and get your calcium from food. Dark green leafy things are very good as are raw dairy products (milk, cheese, yogurt etc.) if you can get them legally. Well I am quite sure they are good even illegally but they may be harder to obtain. 
Hope you are feeling better soon Molly.
God bless!
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Michele Quigley
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Elizabeth
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| Posted: April 07 2006 at 10:01am | IP Logged
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MicheleQ wrote:
As much as possible you should try and get your calcium from food. Dark green leafy things are very good as are raw dairy products (milk, cheese, yogurt etc.) if you can get them legally. Well I am quite sure they are good even illegally but they may be harder to obtain.
Hope you are feeling better soon Molly.
God bless! |
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Little hijack here. Michele, you have changed your mind about raw dairy, I see. What dairy won your confidence? It's illegal in Virginia but Zook's comes from Lancaster twice a month and somehow makes the sale.
Are you not worried about listeria during pregnancy?
Also, if you are going to take calcium supplements, Molly, take calcium separately from your magnesium. That will help with absorption and will also help towards preventing stones. Be sure both your cal and your mag are citrate. It's more expensive and harder to find, but worth the effort. I second the bath suggestion. And then warm compresses sprinkled with lavender or eucalyptus essential oil will help.
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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Donna
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Molly,
I've had many problems in the past with my legs...and was going to say the same to you about the calcium supplements that Elizabeth mentioned. Important to purchase citrate.
I've found Twin Labs to be great. You can search around the internet for a good price on them, or possibly find them at a health food store in your area.
Keeping you in my prayers  .
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Martha
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sliced banana over some whole grain cereal (like raisin bran or fruit & fiber) every night before bed has always been my cure.
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folklaur
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Maybe Epsom Salts in the warm bath would help too?
I know there are also homeopathic remedies for leg cramps, but I don't know about using them during pregnancy.
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MicheleQ
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Elizabeth wrote:
| Little hijack here. Michele, you have changed your mind about raw dairy, I see. What dairy won your confidence? |
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I wondered when you would notice that. I buy from the Esh family at Country Side Dairy and Produce. They sell grass-fed raw milk, cheese, dairy products, plus produce, beef, pork, chicken and are about 20 min. from my house.
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| Are you not worried about listeria during pregnancy? |
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No. Mrs. Esh has drank it through all her pregnancies (6 so far I think) and has had no problems. They try very hard to keep things clean and I will say the milk is the best tasting I have ever had. The cream on a gallon is almost HALF the container (I always have to remind the kids to shake it up!)and even my very picky dh loves it! Occasionally I will even pour a little cream off into my coffee. 
An added benefit is that those of us here who have been lactose intolerant have no problems with the raw milk and in fact it aids in digestion.
God bless!
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Michele Quigley
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Elizabeth
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Oh well, Lancaster is a bit of a drive on a regular basis for milk.The lactose intolerance point is interesting. Guess I'll investigate Zook's a little further.
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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MicheleQ
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Elizabeth wrote:
| Oh well, Lancaster is a bit of a drive on a regular basis for milk.The lactose intolerance point is interesting. Guess I'll investigate Zook's a little further. |
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Zook is a very common name here but there is one on the list I was given. I don't know if it's the same farm but I have their address and phone number. It's not private so I'll post it here:
Buttercup Farm - Henry and Annie Zook
5084 Lincoln Hwy. East, Gap, PA 17527
717-442-1266
listed as selling beef, dairy, turkey, chicken, eggs
I know where this farm is but the Zook's I know there are John and Sally not Henry and Annie. Could be a relative though I thought they were the only family living there. Anyway this is about 40 - 45 minutes from me...right near my dad's house actually.
God bless,
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Michele Quigley
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Elizabeth
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MicheleQ wrote:
I know where this farm is but the Zook's I know there are John and Sally not Henry and Annie. Could be a relative though I thought they were the only family living there. Anyway this is about 40 - 45 minutes from me...right near my dad's house actually.
God bless, |
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That's the one. We tlaked about it a few years ago and you said then that it was near your dad's house. I'm still concerned about all that dirt under the farmers' fingernails that you mentioned .
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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momtomany
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I found that when I switched to Professional Prenatal vitamins, I never had another pregnancy leg cramp. They are the ones recommended by Marilyn Shannon and CCL.
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Mary Ann in PA
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Topic: Leg cramps during pregnancies
