For leg-cramp sufferers, there's no good alternatives to quinine

I am devastated that quinine is no longer available. I have taken it safely for decades to reduce leg cramping.

Many people do well with quinine, but for some it is extremely dangerous. One reader wrote: "I took quinine for nighttime leg cramps . . . . I took one pill, and within a couple of hours, I was deathly ill . . . . My doctor sent me immediately for blood work. My liver-function results were worse than my husband's when he died from liver cancer. It took more than two weeks to get my body back on track."

The Food and Drug Administration reasoned that because leg cramps are not life threatening but some reactions to quinine are, the benefit/risk balance did not favor the drug. There are no other approved medications. People may benefit from tonic water, which contains some quinine, or yellow mustard or low-sodium V8 juice.







I was recently diagnosed with shingles and was prescribed Valtrex. I picked up the prescription and read in the flier that it is used for herpes too. I thought this would be comforting for the woman who wrote to you that she was so ashamed about having herpes that she did not want to seek treatment. These drugs have multiple uses, so who would know?

Valtrex (valacyclovir) is indeed used to shorten an attack of shingles as well as to treat genital herpes. You are right that a prescription for Valtrex is no cause for shame.

Reach Joe Graedon, a pharmacologist, and Teresa Graedon, an expert in medical anthropology and nutrition, at www.peoplespharmacy.com or in care of this newspaper.