BootsnAll Travel Community

Ok, ladies, I'm just gonna go there. I've been planning to hike the Inca Trail for MONTHS and now 6 weeks prior, I discover that Day 2 (notoriously the hardest day) is Cramp Day. Not only that, but there are two more days of camping to go.

Now, I've done normal camping in such situations. But strenuous hiking? With cramps?? And horrible fatigue? I'm terrified. We shouldn't be house-bound on Cramp Day, even though all we'd really like to do is curl up with a heating pad and a bucket of chocolate.

Any advise?? (oh, and no birth control...I'm not into artificially altering my body).

alright! i love talking about periods on the internet!


well, you only have 6 wks to test some stuff, which means a max of 2 "cotton-pony" (as a gay male nurse once called it) "rides". i am no doctor, but i have had about 192 periods at this point in my life (sorry, dudes, thats what you get for reading this stuff)so i have learned a little bit along the way.

maybe you can try these things:
-those hot pad thingys with chemicals in them that you crack and they heat up (hunters use them when they go out in the woods and its cold out)
-im sure you have tried it all but i love aleve personally. works for me.
-think of it in a sort of spiritual way, like, okay, i am going ot be experiencing pain for this one day of my life. i will be in a place with a lot of poverty and depravation and suffering. i can offer up my suffering to be in solidarity with teh zillions of people in this continent who wish their biggest problem was a cramp in the middle of an expensive vacation.
-i agree w/you on the b.c. pills. you dont want them foking up your body before you have time to get used to the adjustment and put yourself through a strenuous experience