Spanning several continents and a couple dozen countries, our travels have taken us to new heights and brilliant horizons. While I haven’t written in each of the places we’ve visited, I have taken thousands of photos. Over time, I’ll be refreshing this blog with some of my favorite images.
But this blog is not just about traveling to visit fun, inspiring, or otherwise beautiful places. This blog is also about the journey of life and the eye-catching events that happen along the way.
It’s 2 am and I am up again with a chronic ache in my calf-leg. I had your same ankle injury 4 1/2 months ago. I walked 2.5 miles today with my husband (the Saint) and our dog. I feel like I am doing well overall and have a high tolerance for pain yet at night this chronic throb keeps me from getting a night’s sleep and sleep is essential. Any thoughts?
Hi Tracy,
Thanks for writing in. I so remember sleepless nights brought on by pain. Part of the issue, my guess, is you’re still healing. It’s a long healing process with this injury. There could be other factors as well – circulation, cold temps, possible inflammation, possible overuse. I would check with your doctor or PT but there are some things you can do in the meantime. If you have Epsom salts, try taking a warm bath before bed. The salts and warm water might help. Something I’ve found useful is taking magnesium in the evening. I still take it every evening (about 2 hours before bed so that I’m not peeing all night), because it relaxes my muscles. If you’re not accustomed to it, it could make you gassy until your system gets used to it. The one I’ve used in the US is Calm. Here’s the Amazon link (note that it’s associated with my blog as every little bit helps me keep this up and I get 4% back at no extra cost to you): https://amzn.to/3nZtgXl
I also suggest you drink a lot of water during the day to keep your muscles hydrated, and if you know of any foods that cause you inflammation (sugar is a big culprit for me), try staying away from those for a few days to see if you get any relief. Stretching can help too. Some folks ice, but I’ve more recently found that heat helps ease aches and pains.
One other thing that you can try (it’s always good to check with a PT on this stuff): if it’s related to circulation, try (you can do this while in bed) pumping your leg to get the blood moving. You can do this by either gently stretching out your leg on the bed (while on your back) with your foot up (as perpendicular to your leg as you can get it) and picture an imaginary break peddle that you slowly and gently push down on and then release. Do this several times to see if the throbbing stops. You can do this every time you wake up with the throbbing feeling and see if it helps. If you’re motivated enough to get out of bed (easier said than done when sleepless yet exhausted), you can walk around a little to get the circulation going. I can’t stress enough that calling your doctor or PT is important too, because I’m not a medical professional. I just know what works for me.
Will you let me know if you get a chance to try any of this and how it works out?
To your healing,
Kenda