Aahhhhh.
It's never fun waking up in the middle of the night with a leg cramp. There's no gradual, gentle waking. One minute you're asleep, and the next second you're wide awake with this vice like grip on your leg. So you do a little lest and try to move your foot in the right direction to stretch it out. But one move in the wrong direction and you're stuffed. You're a goner. I had a shocker last night. Right in the calf muscle. And after it had released it's grip I tried to stand up to get a drink and every time I put that foot on the ground it just wanted to go again. This morning when I got up it felt as if someone had given my leg a good beating with a metal pole.
I didn't think I would be able to climb up and down a ladder all day so I thought I'd have to put off the painting.
I don't think I've complained about painting for a couple of days. So I'll do that now as well. Although I'm not really complaining because the end is in sight. I think I'll finish tomorrow. It's been a massive job. So I won't bother complaining, I'll just say that gripping a paintbrush for 5 or 6 hours every day for 5 weeks is not good for arthritic fingers. I think my pinkie is permanently paralysed into a curled position.
But the three bedrooms are looking spectacular. Lizzies in particular. She's just waiting on her blinds now and she's done. Photos coming when I can lift my arms to use the camera.
It looks much better than it did at this stage. When it was like this and she was in there laying on her matress she looked a bit like Cinderalla. Looked like we might lock her in there each night. Mind you, she could've put a sheet on. That would've looked much better.
another aimless blog 
I thought it was only old people who got leg cramps. Oh, that's right, you just turned 45, so I guess you qualify. Bitter lemon contains quinine, and is supposed to help. I used to rub Dencorub Ice Gel into my legs before going to bed, and that seemed to work. That was way back when I was old, though.
lol, now you're ancient
I quite like bitter lemon actually
The Ice gel is great and I am not old, it works wonders.You could always try the tiger balm Cat 🙂
things are getting drastic when I have to keep the tiger balm near the bed
I have a slide I have to show you – I found it the other day. Papa took it in 1957 and it is at the Tiger Balm Gardens and there is a big wall with the tiger symbol on it. Guess he went to Singapore. I thin it's Singapore.
There's a Tiger Balm Garden in Hong Kong too (there is one in Singapore) – I went to the one in Hong Kong. I remember having a leg cramp so bad that I was lying on the floor with one of the kids trying to massage it out! Potassium in your diet is supposed to help. Eat more bananas!
I'll drag the slide out for a look, but I think it had no labelling – my little jar of tiger balm says it comes from Singapore.
I think I'll have to rub some in before I go to be – it's so sore. I'm not a huge fan of the banana.
I use to do this for divers who got those type of cramps in the water and were silently screaming their masks off. I'd grab their foot and squeeze it inwards and massage their calves underwater until the pain eases. You can do that by grabbing your foot and squeezing it towards you while massaging your calf. It brings quite fast relief. After that it'd be good to put some heating balm on it and rest it for a bit. 🙂
I do the squeezing the leg forward bit but I'm usually thrashing about too much to do the massage part. I think I got it because I was being stupid earlier in the night. Do you ever play that game where you lie on your back with your feet in the air and someone else does the same and you put your feet together and then push to see who can push the others legs up furthest? I was doing that.
Daughter2 used to get a lot of leg cramps due to her chronic fatigue and she found that taking magnesium tablets helped to ease the pain and the number of cramps.
I painted our wooden fence when we first moved in …well some areas are yet to be painted and that is 6 years on! I understand your pain.
Now that the end is in sight I'm painting like a mad woman. Splashing paint about – I almost feel like singing.
My doctor suggested drinking a tall glass of milk before going to bed in order to prevent leg and foot cramps. Since I'm lactose intolerant, I just pop a couple of calcium tablets at bedtime, and if I feel a cramp coming on, I take two ibuprofen pills. For some reason, those stop not only the pain but that crappy "pulling" sensation in your calf. Hope you get some rest tonight. Just reading about your painting project makes me want to lie down.
I can't drink milk either – makes me feel like I'm going to choke. I must remember to take calcium tablets – note to self. But I wouldn't have time to get to the ibuprofen before the cramp set in.
I'm ready for a lie down as well. I just finished!!
Isn't it potassium that can help with that stuff? Eat a few bananas. Your house is going to look like a brand new one by the time you're done putting all that work into it. I bet you're super excited to be done. 🙂
I don't like bananas.
Yes, today all the work was worth it. Just a few little dibs and dabs to go.