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A Word with the
Doctor by Dr
John Winsor
March 18, 2001 (The Sunday
Times of Malta)
This condition may be a good enough excuse for not
doing jobs you donít like doing, but that is
poor
consolation. It is a disease which affects men
far more than
women and attacks are more common in cold weather,
or even after sitting in a chair at the office in a
draught. It is
also a slightly hereditary
complaint.
This is by no
means the same as the night-time cramp already
mentioned, and there is no absolute
cure. The patient learns to regulate
the amount of exercise he or she can comfortably
take.
No drugs offer a complete relief
but there is one habit which the sufferer
must give up --
smoking. Whatever may or may not be oneís
views about the habit, it undoubtedly makes
intermittent claudication far more troublesome.
A number of patients will secretly admit that so
long as they keep
off tobacco they do not get this fearsome
cramp.
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