Health & Fitness

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Q) I heard we shouldn’t use quinine to treat leg cramps anymore. Is this true?

A) The United States Food and Drug Administration recently released its second warning against the use of quinine in the treatment of nocturnal leg cramps because it may result in life-threatening side effects.  

These adverse effects may result in changes in our blood cell levels leading to conditions such as thrombocytopenia which can cause serious bleeding or haemolytic–uremic syndrome which may lead to permanent kidney damage.  

While these events are rare (38 reported in the U.S. over a two-and-a-half-year period, although most adverse drug events go unreported), they have resulted in loss of life. The treatment of a benign condition such as leg cramps probably does not justify this risk in most cases.  

So, the question turns to, what other treatment options exist for this painful affliction?  

The first alternative always should be non-drug therapies including adequate hydration, warm or cold compresses applied to the calves, increasing exercise levels and calf stretches before bed.

Should these prove unsuccessful, the class of blood pressure medications known as the calcium channel blockers (eg. diltiazem, verapamil) or high doses of Vitamin-B complex (eg. 50-100 mg daily) have also shown evidence of effectiveness.  

One final note should be mentioned as well. Before self-treating chronic leg cramps, check with your doctor as several disease states can have leg cramps as a symptom such as peripheral vascular disease, restless leg syndrome, tetany and myalgia.

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Sunday, March 21, 2010