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Sounds like what I know as a "charley horse". No idea how to solve them, though. Potassium and hydration was what I was always taught, but that doesn't mean it ever did anything.
Hmm, I'd always thought of Charley Horses as mild cramps that happened while exercising. This is severe pain while resting. Some searches claim that is a variant of the same thing, so maybe it is, and the treatment seems similar. At least that gives it a probable actual name.
I also have heard what you’ve described above (abrupt and major calf cramp while sleeping/resting) called a Charlie horse. The mild cramp while exercising (presumably in your side/abs), I’ve always called a stitch.
I used to get Charlie horses (as in, exactly what you’ve described, to a T) pretty often (like, once every couple months) during a period when I was taking much worse care of myself. The last time I got one was a few months ago after a, let’s say, rather significant night of drinking. Before that I hadn’t had one in years. As far as I know, dehydration is the main cause, as well as a lack of potassium, which is why they correlate with excessive drinking and being hungover. Being overtired can also bring them on, I think, although that’s probably a more indirect causation via tiredness fucking up your body in general. I’d honestly suggest just drinking more water during the day and adding a few bananas to your weekly diet, and stretching won’t hurt either.
If you don’t notice any change after doing that for a while it may be worth asking a doctor to do some tests/screening in case you have some other, less common sort of deficiency going on. But I’d bet it helps.
I already drink a lot of water pretty much every day. In fact, I had the idea that might be contributing to the problem, from washing away electrolytes. I did start adding a packet of this Liquid IV electrolyte supplement that we have available at work to the water I drink with my workday lunch, which has a pretty comparable amount of potassium to a banana reportedly. It may take the better part of a year to see if it really does the trick though, due to the low frequency.
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