Has anyone had a really really bad cramp?

[DougW]

I mean one of the most painful things in your live. I was in bed doing stuff and suddenly had to jump up. Hurt like no other cramp I had ever had. After about 20 minutes it stopped but there was still a huge knot in the mussel for a day or so.

About a week later my sees the back of my leg and asks what the hell I did as I had a huge bruise just above knee. About 3" in dia and dark purple. Not as bad after I tore a hamstring but up there. Seems strange that a mussel could crap up and damage itself like that.

[Ripzalot]

one of the worst things i've ever experienced is a cramp in whatever muscle is in the neck, under the tongue. it happens sometimes when yawning or skiing with cold air on my neck. indescribable pain. and once it cramps up once it tends to go off a couple other times before it settles down. i keep my neck warm when skiing now.

[kingdom-tele]

Doug - its a muscle tear, fun uh. For a really good time just lay there and take it, without trying to stretch it, eventually the muscle gets exhausted and goes into tetni and just starts bouncing like crazy before it finally relaxes.

Ripz- thats your platysma muscle, one of my favorite to say. and those do suck

I would add thigh adductor to one of the worst, when it goes off it will crank your pelvic bone causing severe low back pain in addition to pubic bone pain.

apparently budweiser's aren't the best sports drink.

[bklyn]

Midol....

[robrox]

After a search for "cramp" this thread came up..recycling, you know

Cramping has been an issue so I finally tried "Hot Shot" before my ride last night. The Hot Shot people have an Interesting theory that nerves are more to blame than muscles.

So, the ride. Figuring that if the stuff works or not would quickly be proven shortly after warm-up was finished and I started to get a little push into it.

Push, no cramp. Repeat just a little harder, repeat harder still and etcetera. Finally when the ride was done the average MPH was up one full MPH and aside from one moment of an incipient cramp in both gastrocs (hard accelleration while over revving.... yeah, I know, stupid, but shit happens), no cramping during, after or today. There is some twitching due to having pushed so hard yesterday, so I'll assume the stuff doesn't vaccinate against cramps, just holds them off for a while.

The downside is, single shots of the stuff costs seven USD. Bulk and subscription pricing is better, but not a lot better.

Should I try making my own...being a cheapskate, I believe I shall. Anybody else tried?

[PB]

What's in it?

[Dantheman]

Didn't realize you posted this here too. Here's my response from your Sprockets thread for non-bike folks:

Cramps have been a problem for me too for the last 4-5 years. Never had a problem before that. Like you I thought the Hot Shot looked legit but balked at the price. I was going to try DIYing some but then broke my scapula mid-August and haven't had a reason to try. It seems like it should be pretty easy though. If you look at the ingredients it's just a sugar solution with salt, lime juice, ginger, cinnamon and capsaicin. My plan was to:

-Mix up a sugar/salt solution and bring to a boil. The Hot Shot nutrition info lists 10g of sugar per 1.7 oz shot, which works out to 5.9g or ~1.5 tsp sugar per ounce of water. That seems really sweet to me so I may cut it back to 1 tsp/oz to start and add more at the end to taste if needed. They use very little salt, 40 mg sodium per 1.7 oz. 1 tsp of table salt is 2,300 mg sodium, so you only need 1/12 tsp/8 oz water to get 40 mg/1.7 oz.

-Once at a boil, remove from the heat and add in a bunch of grated fresh ginger, ground cinnamon, and cayenne pepper. Per 8 oz of sugar/salt solution I'm thinking maybe 4 oz ginger (by volume, packed), 1 Tbs cinnamon and 0.5-1 tsp cayenne. Let that steep until it has cooled to room temp.

-Add a couple ounces of white vinegar or lime juice. Hot shot uses lime juice, but I'm thinking that the vinegar may store better and be a more effective preservative. Plus, vinegar has a proven track record, i.e., pickle juice usage.

One thing Hot Shot doesn't use that I may add when I finally try this is glycine powder. It's an inhibitory neurotransmitter so it fits in with the overall theory. Plus, it's very sweet and makes an excellent sugar substitute. Cheap too, you can buy a pound on Amazon for ~$10.

As for storage, I'm thinking these would work well: https://www.amazon.com/Mini-Shot-Bel...2Bbottles&th=1

What's in it?

Scroll to Product Info: https://shop.teamhotshot.com/

Ingredients: Filtered Water, Organic Cane Sugar, Organic Gum Arabic, Organic Lime Juice Concentrate, Pectin, Sea Salt, Natural Flavor, Organic Stevia Extract, Organic Cinnamon, Organic Ginger, Organic Capsaicin

[ill-advised strategy]

I did some long(ish) swims this summer. There's nothing worse than being way out in open water and everytime you go to swim again you're cramping and there's nothing solid to push on. Character-builder.

[Marshall Tucker]

as I've gotten into my 50s and continue running / playing tennis hard 5+ times a week this has become more of an issue. A buddy said to try Magnisium, it seems to help a good bit. I've also read about the hot shot stuff but haven't been brave enough to try.

Being from the southeast/snow challenged I've always tended to go at the mntn pretty hard. last two years out west, by 2:00 PM my thighs are just trembling. getting old sux blah blah blah

[Peruvian]

Have you tried quinine?

I usually like mine in the form of a gin & tonic. [emoji483]

[old goat]

Have you tried quinine?

I usually like mine in the form of a gin & tonic. [emoji483]

Quinine, which I used to prescribe and which seemed to work, is no longer available over the counter, and physicians are strongly warned by the FDA not to prescribe it for leg cramps due to the risk of life threatening blood disorders. A gin and tonic won't hurt you (at least the tonic won't) but there's not enough quinine to do any good either.

[Danno]

Quinine, which I used to prescribe and which seemed to work, is no longer available over the counter, and physicians are strongly warned by the FDA not to prescribe it for leg cramps due to the risk of life threatening blood disorders. A gin and tonic won't hurt you (at least the tonic won't) but there's not enough quinine to do any good either.

But we sure can try, right?

[billyk]

Magnesium works for me. I have also seen people drink pickle juice. They actually sell pickle juice without pickles just for this. Tasted gross to me. I usually head for the jar of magnesium pills when I start cramping up.

[johnnyg82]

Quinine, which I used to prescribe and which seemed to work, is no longer available over the counter, and physicians are strongly warned by the FDA not to prescribe it for leg cramps due to the risk of life threatening blood disorders. A gin and tonic won't hurt you (at least the tonic won't) but there's not enough quinine to do any good either.

How many G&T's do I need to drink to ingest enough quinine to do any good?

[XXX-er]

A couple of times this fall after running saw I got very severe leg cramps, Ibuprofen seemed to help and getting stronger