Thursday, January 25, 2007

Hesperidin - the Foot Cramp Champ

Have you ever heard of hesperidin?

I hadn't, but in a fit of desperation a few nights ago, I came across it in an article on foot cramps. Actually it wasn't really an article - it was a patient handout on nocturnal cramps that I found on a subscription only based medical site called MD Consult.

For weeks I'd been having really painful foot cramps. They would occur fairly randomly and the night in question they were keeping me from falling asleep. They'd start in my arch but could spread to around the baby toes as well.

Anyhow this patient handout mentioned that "rarely" cramping may be caused by an hesperidin deficiency.

So where do we find hesperidin? Citrus fruit - something I'm loathe to eat (I simply don't like citrus very much).

I searched Medline to see if I could find anything more substantiated than a patient handout and came up empty.

So I did what any desperate, remotely scientific individual would do - I ate an orange, and have had half an orange or a tangerine every day since.

Haven't had a cramp since that night.

Coincidence? Very possibly.
Placebo? Maybe.
Happy? Absolutely