Leg Cramps
Magnesium Strikes Out as Cure for Nighttime Leg …
Nighttime leg cramps cause a great deal of misery. These painful involuntary muscle contractions can wake you from a sound sleep. The pain they cause can be excruciating, even making grown-ups cry. Do…
How Soap Overcame a Scary Throat Spasm
Many years ago, we heard about putting soap under the bottom sheet to ward off nighttime leg cramps. We thought it was implausible, but after hearing from hundreds of people and trying it ourselves wi…
Homemade Muscle Cramp Remedy: Ginger, Cinnamon a…
If you have ever experienced a muscle cramp you know how distressing it can be, especially if the spasm wakes you out of a sound sleep. We recently talked to Bruce Bean, PhD, of Harvard. This neurosci…
Should Doctors Embrace Home Remedies?
Scientists often dismiss home remedies as bogus because there is no explanation for how they might work. Doctors like drugs because the pharmaceutical companies often have plausible explanations for t…
How Does A Teaspoon of Mustard Cure Muscle Cramp…
For years people have been insisting that a teaspoon or two of yellow mustard eases the pain of muscle cramps within a minute or two. We have even tried it ourselves with amazing success. But health p…
How to Stop Cramps Instantly with Yellow Mustard
Whether you are are running around a tennis court or spending a lot of time in the swimming pool, you might suffer a painful muscle cramp. Even if you are lying in bed at night, a leg cramp can h…
What Can You Do For Hand Cramps and Leg Cramps?
Most people have heard of leg cramps. They can strike in the middle of the night. Some people call a leg cramp a Charley Horse. But hand cramps can be just as painful and debilitating. This reader sha…
Why Did Abandoning Earl Gray Tea Cure Muscle Cra…
Q. You briefly mentioned Earl Grey tea causing leg cramps. You suggested oil of bergamot used for flavoring can interfere with potassium absorption. Eliminating the tea was an instant cure for a pers…
How to Prevent Foot Cramps with Lavender Oil
Some people are impervious to cramps that curl the toes or punish the arch of the foot. But many more suffer from these muscle spasms. They can happen at any time, but foot cramps are especially disru…
Soap and Aromatherapy Have Similar Benefit for L…
Putting soap under the bottom sheet to ward off nighttime leg cramps strikes many doctors as extremely improbable. We admit we were skeptical at first ourselves. Then we tried it. We also heard from h…
Why Does Soap Under the Sheet Lose Its Power?
So many people swear that putting soap under the bottom sheet works to prevent or ease leg cramps that we believe them. This remedy presents a challenge for many health professionals because there is …
Is Bitter Tonic Causing Your Terrible Headache?
Many readers recall the days when their doctors prescribed quinine to prevent nighttime leg cramps. That era is long gone; the FDA banned over-the-counter sale of quinine products in 1994. In late 200…
Marseille Soap For Leg Cramps Thanks to French G…
Q. I just want to let you know that I was in Marseille recently and saw some soap labeled "for cramps" in French. I spoke with the store owner and he said that Marseille soap is a well-known alleviato…
Leg Cramp Remedy Resulted in Red Itchy Rash
A new medication or a change in medicine can sometimes lead to an uncomfortable or undesirable side effect. Often, the health care provider's response may be to write another prescription that can ea…
Will the Soap Remedy Really Prevent Leg Cramps?
We hate it when a leg cramp hits at night and wakes us from a sound sleep with a bolt of pain that does not let up. People have proposed many causes for these muscle cramps, and it is worth trying to …
Reader Dismisses Mustard for Leg Cramps as Junk …
Q. I am disappointed in your response to the person who claimed that swallowing a teaspoonful of mustard cured severe leg cramps in two minutes. You agreed with the writer that it was most likely the …
A Spoonful of Mustard Makes Leg Cramps Go Away
Every so often we hear about a home remedy that really seems to work, not just for a few people, but for most. Swallowing a spoonful of yellow mustard to stop a muscle cramp in progress is one with ma…
Yellow Mustard Eases Cramps But Will It Cause He…
Q. I have been taking a daily tablespoon of yellow mustard for muscle cramps. It seems to be helping, but I wonder if the mustard may alter the effectiveness of my Coumadin (warfarin) blood thinner. A…
Is Mustard for Leg Cramps Snake Oil or the Real …
Mustard for Leg Cramps? One of the strangest remedies we have stumbled across in recent years is a spoonful of mustard to combat leg cramps. If you have ever experienced a charlie horse in a calf musc…
Dog’s Benefit from Soap Might Not Be Place…
Are you tired of reading about people who swear that putting a bar of soap under the bottom sheet near their feet calms nighttime leg cramps? Do you think it is all nonsense and most likely a placebo …
Kimchi Conquers Leg Cramps
Q. For many years I had excruciating leg and foot cramps that woke me several times each night. I would take a high-electrolyte drink to relieve the cramp but it would be back a few hours later. Kimch…
Cayenne to Combat Leg Cramps
Q. My husband and I swear by a product called cayenne, an herbal extract of Capsicum annuum. We both use it for leg cramps and it works in seconds. I mix about 12 drops in a small amount of water and …
Leg Soap Provides Magical Relief for Some Suffer…
What Can Be Done for Leg and Foot Cramps? Q. OK, I decided that using soap for muscle cramps was the stupidest idea I had heard in a while. But after trying quinine water, eating lots of bananas (for …
Soap Under the Sheets Can Forestall Foot Cramps
Q. I get horrible toe and feet cramps, mostly during the day but sometimes at night. My toes take on a twisted life of their own. Walking it off doesn't help. Last night my toes and feet were cramping…
Nighttime Foot Cramps May Yield to Magnesium or …
Q. My sister gets cramps in her feet at night. They are so severe that she has to get out of bed to deal with them. She has tried mustard, soap, pickle juice and V8. Is there anything else that might …
A Spoonful of Yellow Mustard Makes the Leg Cramp…
Q. Years ago, I read in your column about using plain old yellow mustard for leg cramps. When I get cramps in the calves of my legs at night, they are so severe that I just about break my neck trying …
Tonic Water Can Help Prevent Nighttime Leg Cramp…
Q. I have suffered with leg cramps for years. I used to buy quinine in the drugstore until the FDA banned it. Then I discovered tonic water. I drink a glass every other night and my leg cramps are no …
Leg Cramp Remedy Could Be Lethal
Q. I have been suffering with leg cramps for years and years. Recently my doctor told me about tonic water with quinine. It does help the leg cramps, but it is making me feel ill. My symptoms include …
Did Low-Sodium Diet Trigger Leg Cramps?
Q. I happened across a study showing that low-sodium diets don't offer benefits to people who aren't otherwise at risk for heart disease. I realized that I've been religiously following a low sodium …
Desperate for Relief from Leg Cramps
Q. My doctor prescribed quinine for my leg cramps. With all the controversy and severe reactions described online, not to mention the FDA position on it, I am reluctant to try it. I have been in dire …
Why Does Soap Soothe Nighttime Leg Cramps?
We admit that putting a bar of soap under the bottom sheet near your feet seems like a strange way to prevent leg cramps. Many health professionals insist that it is pure placebo. But we think there a…
Tomato Juice Against Leg Cramps
Tens of millions of people--from athletes to senior citizens--suffer from leg cramps. There are no FDA-approved medications for this common condition, but there are lots of home remedies. Tomato juice…
Leg Cramps
Learn home remedies to treat nighttime leg cramps.…
Quinine Ban Spotlights Remedies For Leg Cramps
Leg cramps hurt like hell. They can wake you up out of a sound sleep and make you scream in agony. The pain can bring tears to the most stoic individual. What causes such cramps remains mysterious. An…
Leg Cramps May Signal Celiac Disease
Q. I have been diagnosed with celiac disease. One of the early symptoms was leg and foot cramps, often screamers, early in the morning. The tonic water was by my bed at all times, just in case, as i…
FDA Bans Quinine For Leg Cramps
Quinine is one of the oldest drugs in the pharmacy. Even before the Spanish discovered the New World, native healers in Peru were using the bark of the cinchona tree to treat fever, malaria and indige…
Leg Cramp Remedies Earn Boos and Cheers
Nothing can ruin a good night's sleep faster than a sudden leg cramp. There you are, sleeping peacefully one minute and then the next you are awakened by excruciating pain like a bolt of lightning. No…