The last time Charley Horse attacked was two years ago when I was racing Josh across a pool in North Dakota. Sooooo not fair. Anyway. Last night was more abusive then said pool attack as Charley grabbed my leg in my sleep. Taken completely off guard, I sat up, promptly let out a yelp, leapt out of bed, and stomped on it--which gave me the upper hand. Oy!
My poor husband. It took some explaining this morning.
Know why it's called a Charley Horse?
Because it feels like you got kicked by this.
(among other reasons, I'm sure)
Here are some other names for it:
USA: Tommy Horse
UK: Deadleg, Grand Daddy or Chopper
Australia: Corked Thigh or "Corky"
German: Pferdekuss - "horse's kiss"
Norway: Lårhøne - "thigh hen"
Netherlands: Ijsbeen - "ice leg"
France: Béquille - "crutch"
Portugal: Paralítica - "paralyzer"
Japan: Komuragaeiri - "cramp in the calf"
Northwest Italy: Vecchia - "old woman" or Dura - "hard/tough one"
South Italy: Morso di Ciuccio - "donkey bite"
Israel: Regel Etz - "wooden leg"
I find this interesting. I'm a linguist.
Fyi- when I was pregnant with Lily I got them, on average, about 30 times a night. No lie. Well, maybe a little lie. It was still terrible. I feel your pain!
ReplyDeleteYa, Josh felt sorry for me and asked if I was okay last night. Today, he doesn't remember a thing.
ReplyDeleteI sure hope that I don't take after you.
I may not be a linguist, but I do appreciate all the different ways that people express the same thing, and I have dealt with old 'Charles' myself, from time to time, not when pregnant, thankfully, but I have found some remedies, if you are interested. The problem is usually that electrolytes are lacking in your body, so you need mainly potassium, which you can get from bananas, avocados, or you can get some potassium capsules from a vitamin store. Electrolyte capsules, even better. And lots of H2O.
ReplyDeleteHope you sleep better soon. :o)
Magnesium and Calcium too! I've had 2 since we got married. The one time I was beating Ben over the head with a pillow cause I was half out of it and couldn't think what to do and he was asleep. Hahaha! He woke up enough to stretch it out for me. =P He likes to retell that one...
ReplyDelete"Donkey Bite" BWAAAAAAHAAAAHAAAAA AHAAAAAHAAAA! !!!!
ReplyDeleteDad, could you imagine a donkey chomping on your leg? seriously.
ReplyDeleteI think the portugese describe it best!!
ReplyDeleteI used to get them a lot when I was pg, I still get them when I don't drink enough milk or water. People up here get them a lot from dehydration--especially the athletes in school.
ReplyDeleteoh dear, mom and mary both?! this doesn't sound promising. how'd gma do? gma boe? seriously, i don't know if i could bear that. RAOR! (that's a bear sound)
ReplyDeleteeat LOTS of bananas. Actually what helped the most was taking the tums (or generic version) for the incessant heartburn. Once the heartburn kicked in and the tums were getting popped like every 3 1/2 minutes the donkey bites didn't seem to be as bad
ReplyDelete