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Quinine for leg cramps
My name is Paul and am the pharmacist in California Maryann mentioned.
Regarding Stephanies post on quinine for leg cramps, I am researching possible alternatives. Quinine has been used for years to treat leg cramps in fact there was a time I was getting them and used it myself. I used to sell 100 of the Quinine Sulfate 325mg capsules for abput 4.00.
The attitude of the FDA towards Quinine and legs cramps is that Quinine has been associated with thrombocytopenia (low platelet counts and this makes it too dangerous for unsupervised over the counter use. So they have recalled the generic Quinine Sulfate. There isnt anything we can do about this. The question is how can we help your leg craps?
The suggestion of trying tonic water is not a bad one. Ive heard of situations where that worked. Tonic water is very dilute but there is no harm in trying it.
One suggestion that came to my mind is the drug Quinidine which is an isomer of Quinine. You have to be very careful with Quinidine as it affects the heart. Its main use is to treat cardiac arythmias but to affect the heart you have to have a certain blood level of the Quinidine. If you were to take 200mg Quinidine 4 times a day you will reach the cardiac therapeutic blood level of 2-5 micrograms per ml and affect the heart, but if you took 200mg Quinidine at bedtime to prevent leg cramps I doubt this is will be a problem. As the half life of Quinidine is about 6 hours, one tablet at bedtime is very unlikely to lead to accumulation of the drug to a blood level that would effect the heart. Of course Quinidine levels could be measured to ensure safety. Speak with your Oncologist. If the cramps are incapacitiating it may be worth a try. Im assuming you get these craps at night where one Quinidine tablet at bedtime would suffice. Quinidine Sulfate comes in a cheaper generic. Ultimately it will be up to the physician if you want to try this route.
Paul
Paul
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