Cramps are involuntary muscle contractions that cause spasms. Such manifestations occur suddenly, do not last long, and may recur periodically. They often cause severe pain, especially in the elderly and children. Most often, cramps appear in the lower extremities, thigh muscles, and calves. The neck, back, hands, and abdomen are susceptible to these painful manifestations. Spasms of internal organs are quite rare. With regular repetitions, convulsive syndrome is diagnosed.
Types of seizures
All categories of people can experience seizures, regardless of age and lifestyle; they appear more often in the elderly and young children. Attacks are manifested by unequal painful muscle contractions and have different durations, mechanisms of development and frequency of occurrence. They are classified according to several criteria.
By locality
Depending on whether one muscle or a group of them is seized by a spasm, spasms are divided into:
- unilateral – when pain occurs on one side;
- focal (local) - appear in one muscle group;
- generalized - affect the whole body, causing involuntary urination, loss of consciousness and even respiratory arrest.
By duration of exposure
Classified into:
- myoclonic - short-term contractions or twitches, mainly in the upper part of the body, stop quickly and do not cause pain;
- clonic - characterized by a longer duration, muscles contract rhythmically, can be of a local or general type, sometimes contribute to stuttering;
- tonic – long-term, can occur in any part of the body, affect the respiratory tract, the part of the body seized by a convulsion takes one forced position, can lead to loss of consciousness;
- tonic-clonic - in which tonic spasms turn into clonic; if the second type predominates, they are called clono-tonic.
Types of seizure activity
Convulsive muscle contractions can have different manifestations. There are:
- tonic;
- clonic;
- focal;
- generalized;
- febrile seizures.
A tonic spasm is characterized by the intensity and duration of muscle tissue tension.
Clonic spasm occurs according to the following scheme: short-term tension - relaxation - pulsation. The cycle can be repeated until the attack ends.
Focal seizures are localized to a specific area, while generalized seizures involve several muscle groups. As a result, short-term paralysis may even develop.
Febrile spasms appear during flu or colds, due to increased body temperature, as a side effect of fever. Convulsive activity disappears over time as the disease recedes. If convulsions occur at a temperature higher than 38-39 degrees, this may indicate a significant deterioration in the patient’s condition. In turn, non-febrile seizures develop due to temporary disorders of brain functioning.
Convulsions during sleep are a separate group of disorders. During night cramps, the patient experiences increased brain activity, during which time he dreams. In children, night cramps may be accompanied by involuntary urination.
Generalized seizures with convulsive manifestations throughout the body are the most dangerous for a person - he completely loses control over his body, his consciousness turns off.
Causes of seizures
There are several factors that influence the occurrence of seizures.
Occupational activities - People whose jobs involve standing in a single position all the time (salespeople, computer operators, etc.) or who are exposed to repetitive physical stress experience cramps at night or in the evening. People who smoke experience muscle cramps 5 times more often; the leading causes of cramps are smoking or extremely frequent drinking of coffee.
Often night cramps appear after a day spent in constant movement or even an ordinary brisk walk - this becomes the cause of calf cramps. The same result causes unusual significant physical stress. It should be taken into account in advance that it is undesirable to strain one muscle group; physical work should alternate with periodic rest.
Night cramps are much more common because the posture of the sleeping person contributes to this: relaxed and downward-facing feet, bent legs and the body turned on its side. This position shortens the calf muscle and helps cause spasms. Night leg cramps occur in athletes after significant daytime stress, children (especially with fever) and the elderly due to circulatory disorders in the extremities.
Severe cramps are not uncommon when swimming in cool water on a hot day. Temperature changes can also cause spasms in the pool: heated muscles contract sharply with sudden changes in the environment.
Cramps also appear as a result of severe dehydration, especially in those who engage in sports training or heavy physical labor in the hot season.
Stressful conditions can cause convulsions, and the effect does not occur immediately, but after a while, when calcium is redistributed in the body due to an excess of the hormone cortisol.
Spasms of the fibers of the foot muscles can appear as a result of wearing tight shoes or high loads with flat feet.
Another reason that leads to cramps in the arms and legs is the uncontrolled use of statins, dauretics, antibiotics and other drugs that redistribute or remove microelements from the body. Drug treatment of seizures is carried out with mandatory monitoring of the biochemical composition of the blood.
First aid for relieving an attack
In the first seconds, panic may set in, especially if convulsions have not occurred before. It needs to be controlled. Spasms are not life-threatening and can be eliminated quite simply.
- It is important to relax contracted muscles. To do this, you need to move your legs: lower them from the bed to the floor, rotate your feet.
- To relieve severe pain and restore blood flow, it is recommended to rub and massage your legs with your palms.
- If the attack is very sharp, you can prick the affected area with a pin or pinch with your nails. This will cause a reflexive release of the spasmed muscles. The method helps relieve cramps when in water, when every second is important.
- If the spasm affects the feet, you need to walk on the floor with bare feet. Coolness will help restore nerve impulses. It is recommended to do several exercises: standing, roll from toes to heels and back, take a few steps on the inside, then on the outside of the soles, tuck and straighten your toes.
At home, to relieve pain, it is useful to take a contrast shower, pouring alternately warm and cool water on your feet. After the cramps have subsided, it is useful to lie on your back for a while, using support for your legs above the level of your head.
Diseases and consequences
In addition to circumstances related to lifestyle or specific events, the muscular system may be subject to cramps due to the presence of a specific disease, to identify which it is necessary to seek help from medical institutions for examinations, tests and treatment.
Spasms can be symptoms of unrelated diseases. We can say that leg and arm cramps differ from spasms that occur in smooth muscle fibers and cause pain inside the body, which most often indicate diseases that require regular treatment.
If we characterize the main diseases leading to seizures, their list will look like this:
- epilepsy and concomitant epileptic seizures cannot do without muscle cramps;
- opisthotonus, better known as tetanus, is necessarily accompanied by severe spasms;
- there is such a thing as psychogenic convulsions, characteristic of hysterical neuroses and other neurotic conditions;
- inorganic and organic poisons also cause involuntary contractions of muscle tissue;
- The most common factor leading to severe muscle tension is an excess or deficiency of microelements such as magnesium, potassium and others.
Improper distribution of microelements is caused by various reasons. Failure of the endocrine system requires serious treatment prescribed by a doctor, and metabolic disorders caused by other reasons can be corrected with medications.
Leg cramps during pregnancy
Pregnancy is a happy and challenging time. When hormonal changes occur, weight gain and decreased activity. A woman develops varicose veins.
Muscle spasms should be given special attention because they are an anxiety disorder. Cramps indicate a lack of microelements, excess fluid loss (for example, a period of toxicosis). The increasing size of the uterus can put pressure on the inferior vein. At the first manifestations of cramps, you should immediately go to the doctor so that a specialist can identify and help eliminate the cause of night cramps as soon as possible.
What to do if you have seizures
Muscle contractions that are not associated with serious illness do not require specialized treatment, but the pain they cause does need to be addressed. Therefore, there are simple methods that have proven their effectiveness:
- massaging or shocking frozen muscles;
- elimination of spasm with an injection of a regular needle;
- massage stiff calf muscles - pull your big toes towards you;
- the same group of muscles relaxes with the help of standing stretches - with your hands, reach the fingers of the sore limb resting on the floor surface;
- when the muscles of the front surface of the thighs spasm, the knee bends, and the foot is pulled from behind towards the buttocks.
These methods allow you to get rid of the pain that has arisen, but if it appears quite often, the treatment of seizures should begin with identifying the causes that cause them and prevention.
Diagnostics
The initial examination of the patient involves the analysis of anamnestic information (time of onset of the disease, the presence of predisposing factors) and identification of objective signs. But taking into account the polymorphism of the causes of seizures, it is not possible to establish the correct diagnosis using clinical data alone. Therefore, the patient is recommended to undergo a comprehensive examination:
- Tomography
. To identify ischemic-hemorrhagic, inflammatory foci, it is preferable to do an MRI of the brain. CT scan of the head clearly visualizes tumors, injuries and abnormalities of the skull bones, and expansion of the ventricular system. Vascular defects - malformations, thrombotic occlusion, aneurysms - are diagnosed using non-invasive CT or MR angiography of the cerebral arteries. - Electroencephalography
. The study of brain biopotentials makes it possible to identify pathological activity in the form of local or generalized discharges (peaks, sharp waves, spike-wave complexes). Violations are assessed when performing provocative tests - photostimulation, hyperventilation. For better documentation of paroxysms, it is recommended to conduct video-EEG recording with myography. - Lab tests
. The causes of some seizures are established on the basis of a blood test with the determination of biochemical parameters (electrolytes, glucose, renal, liver tests), and a toxicological study. Suspicion of an infectious etiology of epileptiform paroxysms requires serological tests (ELISA, RIF), molecular genetic analysis (PCR). Clinical and bacteriological analysis of cerebrospinal fluid is often performed.
To exclude possible cardiac pathology, an ECG is done; in case of toxicosis of pregnancy, a general urinalysis is prescribed; structural pathology of the kidneys and liver is detected by ultrasound results. Diagnosis of convulsive syndrome is carried out by a neurologist, but based on the expected etiological factors, related specialists may be involved. It is necessary to differentiate primary and symptomatic epileptic seizures, to distinguish them from other paroxysmal conditions - syncope, migraine, tremor, etc.
First aid for seizures
Magnesium and potassium
Cramps that periodically appear in the feet, legs, and fingers can occur in people who consider themselves to be completely healthy. Treatment of this unpleasant and painful sensation must begin with a review of the lifestyle and nutritional composition.
It is necessary to understand whether there is enough magnesium and potassium in the diet, the lack of which can not only lead to seizures, but also make them permanent. It is these microelements that regulate the functioning of muscle fibers. Hypomagnesemia causes cramps in the legs, arms, back, neck, and tingling of the fingertips. Treatment with drugs for seizures can relieve pain.
How to prevent seizures
Measures aimed at eliminating and preventing the occurrence of seizures should include:
- giving up harmful addictions (smoking, excessive consumption of alcohol, coffee, tonic drinks); — sufficient daily fluid intake; — physical education to improve blood circulation; - enriching the body with vitamins and microelements (deficiencies in specific compounds can be identified using tests); - Night cramps can be prevented by a warm bath or shower.
To treat and prevent seizures, purchase a complex containing magnesium as a therapeutic measure. Even if there is no deficiency of this mineral in the body, it acts as an anticonvulsant element that reduces neuromuscular excitability.
Prevention
In order to avoid night and morning cramps in the legs, it is important to remember to follow preventive measures to prevent the occurrence of cramps. They include:
- Maintaining a daily routine. The body needs proper rest and sleep at strictly defined hours;
- A healthy diet, food should include calcium - milk, cottage cheese, cheese, almonds; magnesium - buckwheat porridge, walnuts, legumes; potassium - dried apricots, raisins, beets, sunflower seeds
- As directed by the doctor, follow a diet, abstain from spicy, fatty, excessively sweet and salty dishes and foods;
- Periodic calf massage will improve blood circulation in the legs and relax the muscles;
- Wearing comfortable shoes will allow you to get an even load on the foot, helping to relieve and prevent tension in the muscles.
Magvit is an excellent cure for seizures
One of the most affordable, safe and effective medicines for treating seizures is the drug “Magvit” , produced by the Belarusian pharmaceutical company “Minskintercaps”.
This is the first drug completely developed by domestic pharmacists and has a beneficial effect in the treatment of seizures.
“Magvit” successfully fights both primary and secondary magnesium deficiency, and the pyridoxine (vitamin B6) included in the drug improves the absorption of magnesium into the blood and its absorption at the cellular level.
The combined use of vitamin and magnesium citrate components of the drug is justified by the following clinically proven data:
- magnesium and B6 enhance and complement the pharmacological effects; — the vitamin helps reduce the amount of magnesium excreted from the body and increases its content in red blood cells; - absorption and assimilation of magnesium improves; - Pridoxine, under the influence of magnesium in the human liver, transforms into the active metabolite pyridoxal-5-phosphate.
Why do muscles cramp in pregnant women?
Carrying a child leads to significant changes in the body. In particular, metabolism is rebuilt. As a result, many expectant mothers are faced with magnesium deficiency, which is why cramps appear.
Pregnant women's legs are subject to greater stress due to weight gain. Hence the involuntary muscle contractions that occur in the evenings and at night. They can also be triggered by varicose veins, which often accompany hormonal changes.
Pregnant women often complain about back pain. The lumbar spine is under constant tension, forced to bend under the pressure of the uterus, so such sensations are normal. Therefore, expectant mothers are recommended to lie on their side to relieve the load on the spine.
Advantages of Minskintercaps drugs
The company has earned well-deserved fame thanks to the production of inexpensive, high-quality medicines. All drugs comply with the requirements of the GMP standard, and their quality and composition are tested in a chemical and biological laboratory accredited in accordance with the requirements of STB ISO/IEC 17025.
The drugs are created from raw materials supplied by the world's leading companies; production is controlled by Pharmacovigilance and meets the requirements set by the European Parliament.
13 Feb 2018
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