Major Cramps

Yesterday was sewing class. Mostly I sat in front of my sewing machine and sewed. A few times I got up to use the iron. I did not do any unusual physical activities. Yet last night I had major leg cramps. I don't think I can trace them to a specific action. I think they are a manifestation of arthritis. I suspect this because my friend D, who also has arthritis in her knees, suddenly developed serious cramps in her legs while walking one day. She ultimately had to get a ride to her car.

I woke to the cramps at about 11:30. Intense pain in my right inner thigh. I stretched and adjusted and cried out and finally the cramps eased, after several minutes. Then it happened in my left inner thigh. After both had subsided, after much pain and ineffective attempts to calm them, I lay down again and wham! Both legs exploded in pain. I told myself perhaps I should get to the shower, if I could, to some hot water, but I didn't.

Little by little, with stretches and deep breaths, I calmed them both down again. The relief! Again I thought, maybe I should ease on into the shower, but instead I tried to get back to sleep. Shortly after I was relaxed and ready to sleep, perhaps an hour and a half into this ordeal, my right leg went into spasms again. This time I managed to sit up and grope my way to the bathroom, using the bed, the wall, the door, the counter, to help myself. I turned on the shower, a walk-in shower with two seats and what appears to be a grab bar rather than a towel rack, and when it was hot I worked my way inside. Screaming pain, but in a few minutes, with both shower heads aimed at my legs, the pain eased a bit. I sat in one of the seats and aimed the hot water on top of me as well as on my legs, and I stayed there several minutes. The cramps left me. I stood to make sure. I grabbed the towel, dried myself off, put my nightshirt back on and made my way back to bed. But I stopped to grab one acetaminophen pm tablet, hoping it would help pave the way, even though it was about two a.m. at the time and the tablet would mean I'd wake later than usual.