:shock: I was woken up again early this morning by a charlie horse in my calf. OUCH! DH somehow manages to stay asleep while I'm in pain... :? . So, my natural self hops on the Internet this morning to research the topic. As it turns out, charlie horses in the calf are common in pregnancy, and need no cause other than that. Great. Normally, it said to eat bananas and drink milk. Check, and check. I can do that... Does anyone know if this will really help them? My leg is still sore.

I used to get charlie horse's quite frequently too when I was pregnant with my dd. I found massage helped, or also those 'magic bags' you heat up in the microwave, helped a lot too.

I never had a charlie horse until I was pregnant and I still have them years later :shock: . In fact my calf is still sore from one I got while hiking on the field trip on Thursday. I've never got one while hiking before I had always gotten then in the middle of the night before that. I've heard that bananas help with them but have never faithfully eaten bananas every day or two so I don't know for sure. It's worth a try though!

Just wanting to know is Charlies Horse a leg cramp,I have never heard this expression before.
Andrea :?

Yes, a charlie horse is a leg cramp. :) I get them while pregnant, too!! I just tried to stay hydrated and keep them at bay but, inevitably I still got a few. Yuck... they are no fun... especially when you just get comfy and are sleeping well, and BAM... there's a charlie horse to wake you up... ugh... hope you can figure out a way to keep them at bay! :)

I get them when pregnant too! Man they are painful.. maybe it part of preparing us for labor. :wink: The one thing that helped for me was resisting the urge to stretch when I wake up. I always seemed to get one when I was stretching my legs.

Yep those leg cramps are common during pregnancy, the bananas should help! I had them a lot at one point and the doc said it can be due to a potassium level drop (so kiwi can work too). Staying hydrated was another good suggestion above. Best thing to help them when they are happening (if you can) is to press against the foot board or the wall to straighten it back out.

I used to get these a lot when i was younger. And i know they hurt so much. I have also heard that bananas are supose to help but i don't know if it really goes or not. :?:

Thanks for letting me know what ‘charlie’s horse’ is. I also have had them a lot in pregnancy, usually later on in end of the second and third trimester. They really strike when streaching in bed at around 4 in the morning. I've scared my husband out of bed on ocassion with a few blood curdling screams.
I was told once that it could be a lack of calcium; not sure how true that is.
Good luck with your 'charlie’s horse' (the name still sounds very funny to me).
:lol:

They are awful, aren't they? Over time, I learned to be very careful how I moved, even when half asleep, because pointing my toes at all would trigger them. Not sure about dietary changes since I didn't try it, but I only got them when I pointed my toes in bed. HTH!

thanks for this post, I have been blessed as to not have one yet, but I would be the one to stretch by pointing my toe and rub it...now I know what to do so thanks..I am sure I will be there with you soon enough!

Ouch those cramps are the worst. I get them in my feet in the arch too - argghh. I don't know if the bananas etc work or not....but when I hop up in the night with one I find walking it off and putting my weight on it gets rid of it faster.

Not a fun wake up though :wink: LOL!

Like Faith already said it is the Potassium in the banana that helps. I get cramps all the time in my legs, in fact I had one in both of my legs earlier luckily they didn't last long. Usually they take forever to go away. Good luck eat lots of bananas