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A Word with the
Doctor by Dr
John Winsor
March 18, 2001 (The Sunday
Times of Malta)
CRAMPS
Night Cramp is something from which a great many
people occasionally
suffer - and they donít easily forget
it.
Even the healthiest
people may get a short, sharp pain in the legs
after a strenuous
day.
Many older
people can bring it
on by making powerful stretching
movements while lying down in bed. If this
sort of night
cramp becomes a real nuisance,
avoiding over-stretching
and tablets containing quinine sulphate at bed-time
may be all that is needed.
A very small number of patients, however, cannot
take quinine without becoming dizzy
or getting buzzing
in the ears. They may have to decide whether they
would rather have cramp and no dizziness, or the
reverse.
But cramp in the lower limbs
in the daytime and in younger, active patients can
be very distressing
and is more serious. It is not uncommon
and has the rather clumsy
name of intermittent
claudications.
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