What can I do about leg cramps during sex?
Dear Dr. Patti:
During sex, usually before or during an orgasm, I get cramps in my legs. I am always in the "missionary" position when this happens and am wondering whether this is normal, whether it's the position or whether I'm lacking something in my diet. As you can imagine, this puts quite a damper on things!
J
Dear J:
Well, I can imagine that your problem has truly cramped your style! If your partner is a heavyset guy, then that could be a contributing factor. Also, spending long periods of time during sex in the missionary position can also cause problems as well. Whatever it is you are doing, and with whomever, it's time to alter your moves.
First, I suggest that you change positions and experiment with other postures. For example, perhaps you want to ride above him, astride his body, facing downward, in the classic woman-on-top position. This is also a position that gives a woman a sense of being in control (something that many women at first find alien to their tradition). Soon it catches on and becomes quite arousing or even fulfilling. Emotionally, this style of making love can be connective, as well, as it gives you a chance to look directly into each other's eyes and unite.
Second, perhaps your diet needs to be checked. As always, when there is anything going on during sex that produces pain, I suggest you go straight to your own gynecologist and get it checked out. Perhaps you are using a birth control method that's interfering with your natural functioning and causing these cramping sessions. It has been published in the holistic literature that a deficiency of zinc can cause such cramping. Insufficient water intake can cause cramps, too. I suggest that you take zinc supplements, eat foods containing zinc (oysters, etc.) and consume your daily quota of pure drinking water before panicking sets in too far.
Finally, I believe that sex is about energy and flow. Perhaps you are holding your body so tightly during sex that you are literally constricting your own blood and energetic patterns. So, concentrate on loosening up whenever you can. Relax those legs as much as possible during the next round of lovemaking and imagine yourself floating freely like a cloud.
