Last year I wrote a post about calf cramps at night and the misery they cause to many people. In the course of research I found some usual suspects that most people have heard about: bananas, quinine, and lemon water.
None of these remedies actually seemed all that effective and then I found an online forum that suggested placing a bar of soap under your sheet and on top of the mattress. “Get out of town”, you say? Well, it would seem that the bar of soap creates a pH happy environment so that the calf
muscles don’t cramp.
Since writing that post I have mentioned the bar under the mattress fix to many people, always sort of half thinking that it couldn’t possibly work. In truth I blather on about many things, all of which I believe wholeheartedly, though one never knows.
Now we come to the point of this post. I play poker in a monthly game out in NJ with the nicest group of guys that I know mostly through the game, and suffice to say they think I am a little nuts. And this was before I suggested that one of them put a bar under their covers to alleviate his calf cramps at night.
The person in question had suffered for years and years from cramps at night to the point of taking many medications that never truly worked.
Here’s the text I received yesterday:
Jon, I just wanted to thank you for the soap idea. It has worked remarkably well. In fact, I haven’t had a cramp since!
I must admit I thought it was absurd—aside from the placebo effect, I can’t fathom any way for it to work BUT IT DOES!
Thank you! Those cramps were ruining my life! I hesitantly tried going to bed without taking anti-cramp pills… and still had none.
A brilliant and elegant solution to an awful problem. You saved my sanity (3 nights so far cramp-free—and it even smells nice!)
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