There's nothing on the radio when you're dead

[venta]

I need a little shopping advice.

I often wake up, in the night, with dreadful cramp in my legs. This is not pleasant. Some time ago, someone recommended drinking one of those modern-fangled isotonic-flavoured electrolye-ridden buzzword-compliant sports drinks before going to bed.

I bought a drum of lemon-flavoured powder from (I think) Boots and... hey presto! Miracles were worked, and my legs did not tie themselves into excruciating knots in the night.

Enter a second friend, who assured me that the water was the important part and that I was merely paying for the caché of sports drinks unnecessarily. So, this summer (cramp seems to be a summer problem, for me) I stuck to drinking water before bed. Friend2 was wrong. It does not have the same effect.

So, off to Boots I went. And then to Superdrug, Holland & Barrett, Tesco... Nope. No one sells the damn stuff any more. According to Boots' website, they do still sell drums of mixable powder but they now only do orange flavour. Also, I have yet to catch a branch which actually stocks the damn stuff (and the website is out of stock, too).

Can anyone recommend a powdered sports drink which is (a) cheap and (b) available in something non-orange? I only require the re-hydration parts, not the energy parts, since I'll be drinking it before bed. For preference I'd like something available in high street shops, since I don't think my ego will permit me to become the sort of person who orders highly specialised sports beverages off t'internet.

Either that, or I'll just have to settle for squash made up with homebrew ORS. Which might work, but would probably taste nasty.

Comments

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

Isn't it a lack of salt causing the problem? You sweat more in summer, hence the salt lack and the cramping in summer only.

When I went to India, my co-worker had had dreadful cramps on his previous visit - his leg ended up going black! The doctor told him to take 2 sachets of rehydration salts daily. This to me seemed excessive, but coworker was particularly sensitive to salt loss it seems. Rehydration satchets - and the powders you are searching for, are just sugar, flavoring and salt, I have a keyring measurer to mix my own in the (not yet happened) event I got a runny belly.

Myself, I just added salt to my daily juice, and was fine in the 45 degree heat of India.

Maybe try a salted juice before bedtime? Increase or decrease the salt as required.

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

Isn't it a lack of salt causing the problem?

I was just about to say this. Most commercial rehydration powders only contain salt and sugar anyway (well OK, and lots of superfluous things to hide their secret formula).

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

They do sound cool, though! Maybe there's scope for a scheme where they get sold to people like us for a profit which then goes to buying more of them for people who actually need them?

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

You can get the key-ring here...

http://shop.welltravelledclinics.co.uk/Products/Care_plus_ORS_Scoop.aspx

Another place to look, is any travel clinic.

[venta.livejournal.com]

... and hide the nasty taste of salt, which is why I didn't want to go down what I called the "homebrew ORS" (ie mix water, salt and sugar in the WHO-sponsored quantities) route :)

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

and hide the nasty taste of salt

Ah, you've been luckier than me then, I've never had one that didn't taste of salt. :-(

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Dioralyte is my preferred ORS for not tasting too salty -- I like the blackcurrant one, but there is also a lemon one which might do the trick.

[uitlander]

Exactly this.

[venta.livejournal.com]

The trouble with salted juice is... it tastes salty. To me, anyway, and I really don't like that. The advantage of the posh rehydration stuff is that the presumably contain salt-like things, but don't taste like sodium chloride.

What I referred to as homebrew ORS is the WHO recipe:

6 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 litre water

... but I'd expect to be able to taste 1/2 tsp salt in that much water.

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

Perhaps try salted lemon juice or lemonade? The salt + lemon works really well.

That homebrew recipe is enormous! I'd feel pretty sick drinking all of that. The keyfob measure that I have is about 200ml water (about one glass) 1 quarter teaspoon of salt and 2 teaspoons of sugar.

Alternatively, a quarter spoon of salt to a glass of non-diet lemonade.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's just the quantity I happen to know the recipe for - I don't think I'd expect to take on drinking a litre of the stuff at once!

[venta.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I shall regard your salty lemon claims with suspicion, but will try it out ;)

[phlebas.livejournal.com]

I suppose it might work - margaritas with salt on the rim are good.