Not long ago, I could ride my bike 10 miles a day, or walk 4 miles and suffer no ill effects. Unfortunately, my life has changed, and I can no longer do either of these things unless I am willing to suffer the penalty of severe leg cramps that have recently almost convinced me that death would be a preferable alternative.
Of course, with all the commercials about P.A.D. (Peripheral Artery Disease) being aired on TV these days, my first thought was that my problem was due to P.A.D. for sure. A trip to my doctor assured me that I was wrong.
Over the next couple of years, I researched leg cramps online while undergoing all kinds of treatment from my doctor at the same time. She first decided that I wasn’t getting enough exercise, and even when I told her that I rode my bike or walked several miles at least four or five days a week, I couldn’t convince her that I was being truthful. So, I added some stair climbing to my schedule.
We have a flight of 8 stairs going down from our kitchen to our family room so I went up and down these stairs 20 to 30 times a day, but the leg cramps continued. In fact, they got even worse.
Next, the doctor, still acting as though she didn’t really believe my claims of being so active-I am a senior citizen-decided to make me exercise under the watchful eye of a therapist. She prescribed 10 weeks of intensive therapy for my legs; therapy which consisted of a bunch of routine leg exercises and balance routines which, most of the time, I performed faithfully. The leg cramps continued.
The doctor then ran blood tests, decided that I was deficient in vitamin D, and prescribed a heavy dosage of that vitamin to remedy the problem. I will admit that the leg cramps lessened somewhat, and I had a ton of energy so I am thankful for vitamin D.
Then, about a month ago, I was shopping in our local Wal-Mart when I had cramps in both feet so bad that I dashed in between a couple of racks of ladies clothing and kicked off my shoes. I got a few strange looks as I desperately tried to work the cramps out of my feet by walking, hopping, standing on my tiptoes, stretching the foot muscles, and rubbing my feet, all while trying to suppress the groans my misery was threatening to release.
Finally, I picked up my shoes, plopped them into the cart and walked gingerly to the check-out stand where I paid for the few items in my cart, after convincing the cashier that I really shouldn’t have to pay for a well-used pair of sneakers that I still couldn’t bear to put back onto my aching feet. They have a policy posted on the store window that says, “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Admittance.” I guess, since I was on my way out anyway, they didn’t think the rule was worth enforcing in my case.
I went home and made an appointment to see my doctor again the next day.
The doctor one more assured me that I did not have P.A.D., that leg cramps are very common, and that it is often difficult to diagnose their cause. According to her, a few of the causes are:
Since my blood work had ruled out several of the causes, and my own exercise at home and through the physical therapy class had not improved my situation, she rather arbitrarily decided it must fit into the category of unknown causes. (I think, if the truth were told, she should have honed in a bit more on the overweight possibility, but she, being borderline overweight herself, tends to shy away from that subject as much as possible.)
Anyhow, we discussed some of the natural remedies for leg cramps that we had heard about.
I had tried warm baths. How embarrassing to have a cramp when you are soaking in a tub and no matter how you flop around and massage the hurting muscles, the pain just won’t leave, and you have to consider calling for help. I suppose it’s better than drowning, but very humiliating-especially when the person you have to call on is really not in much better shape than you are. No. Warm baths didn’t work for me, and for the reasons mention above, I have switched to showers these days. I’m not taking any more chances.
We also discussed dietary remedies which included eating more foods rich in calcium and potassium. I knew dehydration wasn’t my problem as I drink water all the time. I thought I was already doing well in the diet area, but agreed to a potassium pill a day and several bananas a week Still no change.
We discussed an old wive’s tale about putting a bar of soap under your legs at night, and agreed that it was probably a ridiculous idea especially since my cramps weren’t at night anyway. But hey, I was desperate. I tried the soap but it didn’t work. At least not for me. Maybe you have to be a believer.
A friend told me that her father used to put a pinch of salt on his tongue to stop cramps. I tried that too, and quickly came to the conclusion that by the time you traveled from wherever you were when the cramp struck, to where your salt supply was located, the cramp would have taken its natural course and ended anyway.
Another friend said her uncle took quinine for leg cramps. I mentioned this to my doctor and she admitted that quinine used to be a regular treatment for cramps, but that the FDA had outlawed the use of it some years ago. She suggested that I might try some of the tonic water drinks available from the super market just to test it out. Apparently the amount of quinine in the drinks is so small that the FDA regulations don’t apply to it.
What did I have to lose?
On the way home, I picked up several large bottles of Tonic water. The clerk must have thought I looked a bit old to be giving a party where I needed that much mixer for the drinks I would be serving, but I had come to the point of trying anything short of amputation to stop those nasty cramps.
As soon as I got home, I poured myself a glass of tonic. Ugh. It tasted a lot worse than I expected, but I chugged it down anyway. And for several days, I had a glass or two of the vile-tasting tonic. I haven’t tried it yet, but I supposed you could add tonic water to orange juice or flavored diet drinks to make it taste better.
As I mentioned earlier, my first taste of tonic water was about a month ago. Since that humiliating day at Wal-Mart, I have had only one episode of leg cramps, and that was on a day when I had done a lot of extra walking. Before the tonic water, I was having severe cramps several times a week. The one episode I did suffer was not nearly as severe as usual.
Is the tonic water a permanent cure? I hope so, but only time will tell. I figure that the small amount of quinine in the amount of tonic water I drink each day can’t actually do me harm-at least not as much harm as the leg cramps were doing. It’s interesting, that since I have been drinking the tonic water, I have talked to a number of other people I know who are also drinking tonic water for the same reason-to help stop severe leg cramps.
A few days ago, I decided that, for person who has already lived more than the Biblical promise of three score and ten years, I really don’t need to ride my bike 10 miles a day or walk 4 miles around the park each day. Five miles on the bike or 2 miles of walking should be more than enough, leg cramps or no leg cramps.
*I would advise anyone who is considering trying tonic water with quinine to check with his or her doctor first to eliminate the possibility of a severe nerve or artery disease.
