|
Mahes Visvalingam (This site is under reconstruction)
Vicks Vapor Rub,
Tonic Water, Distraction Please read the Disclaimer |
|
Since September 2017 I have suffered from cramps for as long as I can
remember. My fingers used to get
locked if I had my hands in water for any length of time even as a child. I gave
up learning to swim because of that. I also used to get very painful Charlie Horses,
which sometimes extend from the ankles to the hip. Initially, I used to just
get out of bed and walk around or do some stretching exercises to relieve the
cramps. If this did not work, I would
take homeopathic Mag Phos 6c and sleep well the
rest of the night. But, a couple of
years, I have found that this did not work and the pain was not only
persistent and excruciating but it also left the muscles sore and numb. To some extent, the stress and frustration
of being a carer was causing a lot of tension all over the body making the
limb muscles ache. The very effective
New Era Mag Phos pellets were no longer available
and other brands of biochemic tissue salts were not
as effective. It got to the stage when I felt that I was walking
on wooden stumps, and my legs would give way under me if I tried to
walk. Once I narrowly missed hitting
my head on the toilet when I fell. I
found that flexing the foot against a latex pillow sometimes helped. The cramps used to start at about the same
time when I could hear some vibrating noise coming from the nearby railway
station. The cramps seemed to be worse
when I was in bed. Sometimes, the body
relaxed when I slipped onto the floor and pulled some bedding over me until
the cramps eased; flexing the feet against an Ottoman sometimes helped.
Magnets, soap etc. did not work. I sought guidance through the pendulum, using my
alphanumeric chart. The response was
Vicks on Veins. Since I was having
muscle cramps, I was rather puzzled by this. People are using Vicks VaporRub for all sorts of purposes but I only found one
person using a Vicks based remedy for varicose veins (video no longer
online). However, the lady was only using Vicks for varicose veins - not for
leg cramps. I then recalled a doctor
in A & E telling me that leg cramps were due to varicose veins and that I
should have Tonic Water which contains quinine sulphate. Tonic Water did not help. The pendulum
indicated that Vicks on Veins was better than Tonic Water and Magnesium
Phosphate for me. I have had long standing problems with varicose
veins, which had been helped by other means.
But, they started to bulge more and had formed hard lumps in places.
We had an old cheaper jar of Vick's equivalent and I rubbed it on the veins,
the calf muscles and also did the usual stretching exercises before bed. I still got the cramps, but they were
neither severe nor persistent. I checked the dosage using the pendulum, which
specified a minimum of two applications per day. From the third day, the leg cramps had
diminished. I noticed that although
the bumps on the varicose veins were still there, they felt softer.
Unfortunately, I do not have enough time to look after myself and the cramps
return if I miss the Vicks treatment at bed time. As of early November 2017, I have yet to
experiment with Mag Phos again but the Vick's idea
seems to be working for me. I will update this report. Why does Vicks VapoRub work?
The active ingredients in Vicks VapoRub are camphor, eucalyptus oil and menthol. The
inactive ingredients in Vicks VapoRub include cedarleaf oil, nutmeg oil, petrolatum, thymol and turpentine oil (Source: https://vicks.com/en-us/safety-and-faqs/faqs/vicks-vaporub-faq).
All three active ingredients are antispasmodic. It would be interesting to
isolate the ingredient for helping varicose veins. Another approach I came across another video of interest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPxdK-6QxM8 This approach of rubbing the legs with a
stick corresponds to the traditional Chinese Gua Sha therapy, where the skin is scraped until it bruises
slightly. A brief description of this
is given in the following link, http://www.shen-nong.com/eng/exam/leg_cramps.html,
which also lists other remedies including acupressure points for leg
cramps. I must confess that I did not
persevere with the acupressure.
Sometimes, I tried scraping the soles of the feet (not the veins) with
a plastic spoon and massaged the feet and ankles to improve circulation.
These did not always help – nor did washing the
feet in hot and then cold water. Leg cramps have multiple causes. I did not connect my nocturnal leg cramps
to varicose veins. An accidental discovery I have had dental problems for years and these
often give me a sore throat and cough.
I found that Jakeman’s Throat Lozenges were very helpful. I usually keep them by the bedside. Once when I had a severe cramp, I grabbed
the sweet by instinct and placed it in the mouth. What happened then was very
interesting. The cramp stopped
instantly for a moment. It felt as if
the body could not decide whether to continue with the cramp or to attend to
a strong tasting sweet in the mouth.
Initially, it returned to cramping but then gave up and decided to
deal with the strong taste. This
remedy worked for a few years (2018 – 2021) but the body is beginning to
ignore the sweet now and I cannot rely on it – although I always have a stock
of these sweets on hand. I am unsure
as to whether it is the Menthol or Eucalyptus which serves as the distraction
– it could well be Jakeman’s recipe since other
minted sweets do not work. Note that Vicks VaporRub,
for external use, also has Menthol & Eucalyptus. I have seen other remedies, which did not work for
me – including pinching (ie causing pain)somewhere else or washing the feet in cold water. They also seem to divert the body’s
attention and may work for others. SUMMARY Although guidance using an alphanumeric chart is
not as reliable for me as posing Yes/No questions, I have dowsed two remedies which can help: ·
Vicks on Veins for muscle cramps. ·
Squill
extract for my nutcracker oesophagus. There is no way in which I could have guessed
these. I have always wondered how the ancients came upon
their remedies. Perhaps they divined
guidance and experimented like I am doing. © Mahes Visvalingam 17 A 2006 |