wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) (09/04/85)
There have been a couple requests for information posted to this group over the past weeks (by people other than me, I hasten to add) regarding two topics which are very interesting and are worthy of detailed explanations and discussions. Yet I have seen absolutely *no* responses to these; could any of you out there with any knowledge or expertise in these areas please post what you can? (If you did before, the recently-discovered bug in netnews that causes a certain number of postings to simply vanish [see net.news for discussion] might have zapped your contributions; if so, please re-post.) The subject areas are: a) Muscle cramps. I get these myself, usually in the jaw or the calf of the leg. At various times, sources like "Prevention" magazine and other such publications have recommended calcium supplements, vitamin C, and some B vitamins as preventatives for these. I take all those things, and still get some cramps (of course, it could always be said that I'd get a lot more cramps if I didn't take this or that supplement or vitamin). Discussion on the causes and prevention of such cramps, and especially details about just what is going on inside a muscle that cramps, and exactly how the process is triggered, with technical info on the subject, from both the "holistic" and "establishment" medical camps, would be welcomed. (I always wanted some sort of self-administered injector device, similar to those issued to troops to give themselves a shot of atropine or something into their thigh when exposed to nerve gas attack, to use to jam into the damn cramping calf muscle and zap the cramp with some chemical immediately, rather than having to put up with the pain until the muscle decides to stop playing stupid games on its own. Is that feasible? What chemical would act to immedately relax and "un-cramp" a muscle?) b) Tooth transplants. It seems quite logical for healthy and worthless wisdom teeth to be transplanted in place of molars riddled with decay, which now get crowns applied. Why isn't this done generally? Is it being done somewhere? Is it possible? If so, is it not done simply because it is a more serious surgical process than simple denstistry? Do dentists discourage it because they would have to be dental surgeons in order to perform it, and it would cut into their lucrative crown business? Is it not covered by dental insurance policies? (Mine doesn't even cover crowns anyway, which struck me as quite insulting -- they are just as standard a procedure as fillings, after all.) Thanks for info on these topics. Post all responses, as there are lots of people interested in these, judging from the original postings. Regards, Will