Darn Ouchies!

I get so tired of muscle cramps sometimes.  During the day, I can get finger-clenches  and rib muscle cramps.  At night I can get thigh or calf cramps.   It used to be seem there were causes.  If I did too much gripping of shovels while gardening, I got finger-clenches a few hours later.  If I lifted too much, I got rib muscle cramps.  If I just did too much walking, I got leg cramps in bed.

Now it doesn't even seem connected to physical activity.  I got finger-clenches a few days ago after just mowing the lawn and I don't exactly keep it in a death-grip.  Tonight I got them and I didn't do ANYTHING active.  Sometimes just holding a knife while preparing dinner causes it.

I try to stay hydrated.  I take a supplemental potassium tablet.  I have a good diet (not a "diet" diet, just good fresh foods with some meat and several colorful veggies).  A low dosage Ibuprophen helps.  Ointment rubs with aspirin or lidocaine help the finger clenches and rib muscle cramps.  

I saw that basketball players use a sort of rolling pin for leg cramps. so I bought one.  It's hard to use by yourself.  Walking around for 10 minutes usually works.

Mom had the finger-clenching thing and that was the first sign of Parkinson's.  I hope it isn't that.  Dad had lumbar muscle cramps in his 60s but that went away.  Neither are around to ask questions of.  I wish I had asked more questions of them, but who thinks about aging at 50?

I am beginning to wonder if the finger-clenches are from typing.  I'm a bad typist and a fussy writer.  I almost redo half my typing most days.  I took typing in high school, but never mastered touch-typing.  Well, my fingers and brain don't communicate all that well.  I can't play a musical instrument for the same reason. 

But that is just my latest thought about the causes.  I have no really good reason for the cause.  My Dr says these things can happen for many reasons and there isn't much that can be done about it.

I suspect the real cause is DDT exposure.  When I was a kid in the 50s, the town I lived in sent mosquito-fogger trucks around several days a week at twilight.  It was a DDT fog and supposedly harmless to people.  But we kids loved riding our bikes in and out of the fog.  

I developed hand-tremors after that and they remain to this day.  I got bad enough soon after that and I never could build a decent model kit (glue got everywhere).  These days, I have to be really careful handling a mug of tea or bowl of soup.  

It's OK; I'm just complaining out load.  Attaching notes to tumbleweeds, as some people say...  

Mom used to tell me that getting old isn't for sissies.   Dad was actually fortunate in a way.  He went into dementia before his physical health failed, so he really didn't understand what was going wrong.  

Yeah, I'm only 70, but I see what is coming.  It probably won't get better.  I see the downhill slope more lately.    I don't mean to worry anyone; I'm still mentally and physically active and enjoy my life.  But life passes in only one direction.  I'll never be 30 again.  Heck, I'd love to be 50.  Tell that to a 20 year old, LOL!

And I expect to be "compos mentis" til around 85-90.  That will have been a good run and better than average.  Lots of great experiences, lots of good meals, and lots of special cats.  And as Frank Sinatra sang once, love was good to me a few times.

I probably shouldn't even really post this, but my finger is over the button and...