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HEALTH 03-02-10 DM EE E2 BLACK
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KLMNO TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 2010
CONSUMER REPORTS INSIGHTS
The Checkup
Leg cramps? Quinine is not the answer. 6
voices.washingtonpost.com/checkup
Adapted from The Post’ s daily health blog.
If you suffer from nighttime randomized, controlled trials; betes; nerve damage or pain; in-
leg cramps, your doctor might and they had other shortcom- flammation in various parts of
Zinc in denture adhesive
prescribe quinine. The Food and ings. Quinine also isn’t effective the body; liver or thyroid dis-
Drug Administration has ap- for restless legs syndrome (RLS), ease; and disease of the blood In light of lawsuits in which denture users claim they’ve been
proved it for only one purpose — a neurological disorder charac- vessels. harmed by the zinc in their denture adhesive, GlaxoSmithKline
to treat malaria — but doctors terized by an uncontrollable im- Cramps can also be caused by has pledged to remove the mineral from its Poligrip products,
can legally prescribe most medi- pulse to keep moving your legs certain medications or entire even as the company maintains that they are safe when used as
cations, including quinine, “off- even when you are sitting or try- groups of drugs. Among these directed. Procter & Gamble, maker of Poligrip’s major rival,
label” for any treatment they ing to go to sleep. The FDA re- are individual drugs such as lith- Fixodent, says no changes are planned for its product, which it
deem appropriate. cently sent out an alert that the ium and nicotinic acid (niacin); says contains much less zinc than Glaxo’s does.
Leg cramps are uncontrolled risk of severe side effects from statins, used to treat high cho- Zinc is used to help strengthen the bond between dentures
muscle contractions so painful quinine outweighed any poten- lesterol; corticosteroids such as and gums. But many people have claimed that they’ve suffered
that they can awaken you from tial benefit for these conditions. prednisone, used to reduce in- neurological damage leading to numbness, partial paralysis
sleep. They occur in many adults (With malaria, the benefit of the flammation for conditions in- and, in one case, death, as a result of using denture adhesives.
and are reported more often by drug is considered likely to out- cluding arthritis, asthma, lupus Dietary zinc — prime sources include meat, poultry, beans,
women, and especially pregnant weigh its risks.) and rashes; diuretics, such as nuts and oysters — is good for people, to a point. It bolsters the
women. Since the 1940s, doctors Some of quinine’s more seri- hydrochlorothiazide and furose- immune system and promotes wound healing, among other
have been prescribing quinine ous side effects, which can result mide (Lasix and generics), used benefits. But too much zinc has long been known to cause
for leg cramps because there are in hospitalization, serious ill- to treat high blood pressure and neurological problems. Researchers reporting in the journal
no other reliable treatments. ness and death, include throm- heart failure; and phenothi- Annals of Neurology in 2008 found a link between the zinc in
The FDA has issued warnings bocytopenia (decreased blood azines, which are tranquilizing denture creams and serious neurologic disease in cases of
about the risks of quinine since platelets), cardiac problems (in- drugs. Drinking alcohol can also “chronic excessive use” of those creams.
1994 and more recently about its cluding abnormal heart trigger leg cramps. According to the American Dental Association, well-fitted
minimal effectiveness in treat- rhythms), kidney failure, rashes Bottom line: Quinine is wide- dentures should need just a tad, if any, adhesive to keep them in
ing leg cramps. In 2006, it and other allergic reactions. ly prescribed to treat leg cramps place. If you find you need more, have your dentures adjusted
banned the sale of all drugs con- Quinine can also interact with (and, less frequently, other or replaced.
taining quinine except the other medications, including an- cramping disorders) even — Jennifer LaRue Huget
branded drug Qualaquin be-
ALAMY
ti-arrhythmics, digoxin and though the FDA and the drug’s
cause of the risk of serious side Despite safety and effectiveness blood thinners. prescribing information specifi-
IVF and stillbirths
effects or death. Yet in the first concerns, quinine is still Before starting any treatment cally caution that it should not
six months of 2008, more than prescribed often for for nighttime leg cramps (Vita- be prescribed for those condi- Women who get pregnant through in vitro fertilization (IVF)
124,000 people in the United musculoskeletal symptoms. min B complex and a blood pres- tions. Consumer Reports’ med- may be much more likely to have stillbirths, according to a
States received close to 300,000 sure medication called diltiazem ical advisers suggest talking study released last week.
prescriptions for Qualaquin, ac- skeletal symptoms, mainly for are sometimes recommended, with your doctor about all drug The study, published by the journal Human Reproduction,
cording to the FDA. Since the nocturnal leg cramps. Of the 38 although evidence of their effec- and non-drug treatments for leg involved 20,166 Dutch women who became pregnant for the
Centers for Disease Control and reports of serious adverse events tiveness is minimal), your doc- cramps. The risk of serious or first time with one fetus. The risk of stillbirth in women who
Prevention reports that only received by the FDA in roughly tor should rule out any un- life-threatening side effects conceived with IVF was 16.2 per thousand, compared with 2.3
about 1,500 individuals in the the same time period, 55 percent derlying diseases or drug side ef- from quinine and the lack of per thousand among those who conceived with other forms of
United States received malaria were from people who had taken fects that might be causing convincing evidence for its use infertility treatment, 3.7 per thousand who got pregnant
diagnoses in 2008, it appears quinine for leg cramps. them. Conditions that can trig- outweigh the potential benefit naturally within a year and 5.4 per thousand who became
that quinine is still frequently Yet there is little convincing ger leg cramps include move- of the drug for any condition ex- pregnant naturally after more than a year of trying.
prescribed off-label. evidence for prescribing quinine ment disorders (dystonia); prob- cept malaria. These calculations were reached after taking into
Indeed, from January 2006 to for leg cramps. Studies of pa- lems with the amount of miner- consideration other factors that may have contributed to the
June 2008, 62 percent of quinine tients with nocturnal leg cramps als and fluids in the body Copyright 2010. Consumers Union stillbirths, such as age, weight, smoking, drinking, coffee intake
prescriptions were for musculo- have been small; they were not (electrolyte imbalance); dia- of United States Inc. and education, the researchers said.
— Rob Stein
HEALTH SCAN
In partnership with
For further guidance, go to
ConsumerReportsHealth.org. More-detailed information — including CR’s ratings of
prescription drugs, treatments, hospitals and healthy-living products — is available to subscribers to that site.
Ted’s bucket list
Ted Leonsis, Internet multimillionaire, Washington Capitals
owner and by general acclaim a very nice guy, has some recom-
mendations for being a happier person, and it isn’t about getting
rich. (Why is it that really wealthy people always say that?) In-
stead, he writes in his new memoir-cum-self-help book, “The
And the Oscar for mastering the
Business of Happiness,” “pursuing happiness seems to be a driver
of success.” So how to do that? Many of Leonsis’s suggestions are
familiar: Give back, get involved, be thankful, find outlets for self-
art of aging gracefully goes to . . .
expression, pursue a higher calling, don’t let professional goals
swamp all others in your life.
He also recommends rethinking your personal and profession-
T
he Oscars are coming! And al priorities with a “scorecard” of life goals. Leonsis has one, 101
Meryl Streep is nominated items long, that he drew up at age 25 after surviving a harrowing
for her role as super-chef airplane flight that nearly ended in a crash landing.
Julia Child, who chop-chop- Leonsis’s list ranges from having a successful family to having a
chopped those onions to success successful IPO. And, for what it’s worth, he’s now checked off 74 of
in “Julie & Julia.” The movie tells those 101 items, including: getting married and having a healthy
the tale of Julia’s beginnings as a son and daughter (three separate items), changing someone’s life
chef in Paris, set against the later
MY TIME
with charity; giving $1 million to Georgetown University, seeing
story of young writer Julie the Rolling Stones, inventing a
Powell, who spends a year Abigail Trafford board game, taking care of his ex-
cooking Child’s most famous tended family and going one-on-
recipes. one with Michael Jordan.
But for me, the film is really Taste this, she’d say. And I would Among those items yet to do:
“Julia & Me.” I was a student in eat the creation on a plate: Was it support someone who makes a
Paris the very year that Julia a mushroom? A piece of pork? great breakthrough in art or sci-
Child was working on “Mastering Great, I’d reply, but inwardly I ence, give away $100 milllion in
the Art of French Cooking” with was shaking my head: Poor, his lifetime, win a world champi-
her two French colleagues old-fashioned, oppressed woman onship (Go Caps!), attend the Os-
Louisette Bertholle and Simone ... cars and — oh, yeah — have a net
Beck. And I was renting a room The kitchen was total disaster. worth of $1 billion after taxes.
from Louisette. Pots and pans cluttered every
FAMILY PHOTO
Your list, of course, may be dif-
How Louisette tried to teach counter. Knives were scattered Louisette Bertholle in her Paris kitchen: It wasn’t all about food. ferent.
me how to cook! But we were a about — a different blade for — Margaret Shapiro
mismatch. I had come to Paris in chopping, dicing, spreading, cooking-challenged. But what has some grace to your past. You look
1960 to study poetry and march carving. And the whisks! Several changed is how I see the past. back through the lens of Ted Leonsis has already scored
in the streets for liberte, egalite, different-size whisks lay beside Longevity experts call this life experience and soften the scenes dozens of his personal goals.
fraternite. To me, this different-size mixing bowls and review — revising the past to of youth. You were just a kid —
preoccupation with cooking was measuring cups. Dishes of butter integrate the different chapters what did you know? “You can
KEVIN CLARK/THE WASHINGTON POST
beyond bourgeois. With the and cheese at room temperature; into a coherent narrative. At this understand things now that you
passionate but simple-minded heavy cream standing by. point, time has revised my Paris couldn’t at the time,” says
QUICK STUDY
righteousness of a 20-year-old, I Mounds of vegetable droppings experience and especially my Washington psychiatrist Harvey
never wavered. Baudelaire’s in the sink. An egg yolk in a cup. view of Louisette. L. Rich, author of “In the
“Fleurs du Mal” would always A faint sprinkling of white: flour In the movie, she is portrayed Moment.” “We snicker at the CARDIOVASCULAR PROBLEMS
trump Louisette’s Poulet a la for a crepe? Only in France would as not pulling her weight on the young — we say the problem with
Creme. it take an earthquake to make book. I have a different memory. youth is that it’s wasted on the
Migraines may be a sign of higher risk
Every afternoon I’d come back dinner. Certainly she tested a lot of young. . . . But young people have
from classes at the Sorbonne, and It is a (small) tragedy for my recipes — I ate them. She was a different job than older people. THE QUESTION Are cardiovascular problems more common
Louisette would greet me in a family that I missed my chance to also very attractive, with her blue They are trying to build a life; in people who have migraines?
state of delirious agitation. She’d be a chef. I never learned to eyes and luminous smile, always we’re at the stage of trying to THIS STUDY analyzed data on 11,345 adults, including 6,102
worked all day in the kitchen. master the art, and I remain smartly dressed with a perfect make sense of life. The young who had frequent migraines. Heart attacks occurred about
scarf (when she got out of the haven’t acquired the language. twice as often among people who had migraines as they did
kitchen). And now that I am They’re not there yet.” among those who did not experience the headaches, and
SPECIAL
older than she was then, I see a The advantage of age is strokes were 1.6 times as likely. People who had migraines
more complex woman. I hadn’t perspective. “You can look back with aura — sensations such as flashes of light or tingling in
EVENT!
SPECIAL HEARING
grasped how she was struggling. with curiosity, a sense of humor, an arm or leg before an attack — had about three times the
It wasn’t all about food. She was and ultimately resignation. This risk of those with no headaches.
going through a midlife is what life is about. Enjoy the WHO MAY BE AFFECTED? People who have migraines, which
5
OPEN HOUSE!
Armageddon: Her marriage was ‘mistakes,’ ” continues Rich. “It’s are intense headaches with throbbing pain, sensitivity to
DAYS
MONDAY - FRIDAY crumbling, her finances were not about regret; it’s about light and sound, and often nausea. Women are three times
ONLY!
MARCH 8TH - 9TH
drained — she was on her own. acceptance.” more likely than men to have migraines.
12TH
Hardly old-fashioned or Yes, it was a mistake not to take CAVEATS The actual risk for cardiovascular problems was
oppressed, she re-created herself advantage of fate placing me with low: 4 percent of participants with migraines had a heart at-
FREE COMPLETE HEARING EVALUATION
after 50. She survived divorce, a master of French cooking. But I tack and 2 percent had a stroke. Data came from the partici-
went on to publish more relished the excitement of being a pants’ responses to questionnaires and did not differentiate
FREE VIDEO OTOSCOPY EXAMINATION
cookbooks after “Mastering the student in Paris. And I’d still by migraine severity or frequency. The study was funded in
Art of French Cooking” became a rather read poetry than spend a part by Merck & Co.; three of the seven authors were its full-
FREE DEMONSTRATION OF NOW™ bestseller, and eventually whole day cooking a chicken. time employees, and two others received fees from the phar-
FREE HEARING AID CLEANINGS
25% married Mr. Right. Louisette This weekend, when everyone maceutical company.
OFF
stands out as a success story for tunes in to the Academy Awards, FIND THIS STUDY Feb. 10 online issue of Neurology.
MSRP
NOW™
the second half of life. I probably order takeout. LEARN MORE ABOUT migraines at
www.ninds.nih.gov and
SPACES ARE LIMITED!
Hearing Aids
To age gracefully is to bring
mytime@washpost.com www.mayoclinic.com.
CALL TODAY TO RESERVE
— Linda Searing
YOUR APPOINTMENT!
The research described in Quick Study comes from credible,
(703) 639-4957
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peer-reviewed journals. Nonetheless, conclusive evidence about a
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treatment’s effectiveness is rarely found in a single study. Anyone
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no charge. For information, please call
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Eat, Drink and Be Healthy examines the new Atkins diet.
www.audiosyncaudiology.com
(Yes, it’s still low-carb.) The MisFits look into fitness issues
Deaf or hard of hearing?
National Institutes of Health
Dept. of Health & Human Services that affect elderly people’s ability to drive.
anzolaam@gmail.com
Use your state relay service to call.
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