A muscle cramp is a strong, painful contraction or tightening of a muscle that comes on suddenly and lasts from a few seconds to several minutes. It often occurs in the legs. A muscle cramp is also called a charley horse. Nighttime leg cramps are usually sudden spasms, or tightening, of muscles in the calf. The muscle cramps can sometimes happen in the thigh or the foot.
When the adrenal glands begin to act âdysfunctionalâ due to prolonged stress, they first go into a hyper (overactive, stressed) state. As they are pushed further and not given the opportunity to recover they go into an âextremeâ stressed/overactive state and eventually reach the hypo (under active, exhausted) mode.
Any medical condition that causes an imbalance in sex hormone levels can result in virilization. These conditions are likely to cause adrenal hyperplasia, an overproduction of hormones in the adrenal cortex. In some cases, the overproduction of adrenal hormones is caused by an adenoma (cancerous tumor). This type of tumor is normally located within the adrenal glands.