Again. It happened again!

I went to bed and to sleep early last night, as I usually do. I'm definitely a lark. Ben Franklin and I would have gotten along fine. My husband is an owl. Or a teenager, I'm not sure which. He comes to bed well after midnight (so he says) and loves to sleep late in the morning.

I had a post all ready to publish (well, it was in my head and I have pictures!) about last night's dinner, which was DELICIOUS, but it's going to wait another day. Because of this.

I was awakened from a sound sleep around 11:15 p.m. by the most excruciating pain in my right inner thigh, right above my knee. This is either the third or fourth time it's happened in the last two years. It started in late May, 2012.

Dr. Google hasn't done much more research about this condition. Last night the cramping also affected my left leg. When it hits, you literally cannot move your legs, it hurts so bad. I was screaming in pain, but because my husband was on the other side of the house and I had the door shut, he couldn't hear me. I finally managed to grab my phone and call him.

The only thing I could remember from previous online searches was that drinking pickle juice provides almost immediate relief. I asked him ordered him to grab a jar of dills STAT! from the refrigerator on his way to the bedroom. I don't know if the pain would have subsided without the brine, but they were gone within another minute. But they'd been plaguing me for a good four or five, so they might just have run their course.

Back in May of 2012 I wrote that we were going to keep potassium-rich foods and Gatorade on hand. Obviously (being paleo/primalish) I'm not drinking Gatorade (nor have I, not once since then). But we had bananas, so I ate one and tried to go back to sleep.

I was, however, afraid to go back to sleep. Eventually I did, but it took a long, long time. I used my phone to do more investigating and the only information I could find was from forum-type websites that might as well be called damnthathurts.com. Legitimate medical sites talk about blood clots and bulging disks and diabetic neuropathy.

And this ain't none of that.

All I know now – and all I knew then, after the first episode – is that other people experience the same thing and no one seems to know what causes it.

I'm going to be more careful about "personal hydration," as George Carlin liked to call it. I typically don't drink much water, and yesterday was no exception. It was, however, exceptionally warm and humid, and I did chores and walked and worked outside and ran errands from early morning until dinner was done.

Y'all are really sweet about telling me I'm not old. But wow. Do I ever feel it after a night like the last one.