Poor circulation may be culprit

Dear Dr. Gott: I’m an elderly female with aching legs. I take vitamins E, C, lecithin, calcium, iron and magnesium. Am I taking too many vitamins, and is this what’s causing the severe pain?

Dear Reader: Aching legs in the elderly can be caused by a variety of factors, chiefly bad circulation from arteriosclerosis. Other causes include nocturnal leg cramps (spasms at night) and restless legs syndrome (uncontrollable aching and restlessness, usually at night).

If your symptom is due to deficient circulation, you will need special testing, such as an arteriogram, to identify the location and extent of the arterial blockages. If the occlusions are severe, you may have to consider surgery to unblock the arteries.

Nocturnal leg cramps are often helped by quinine, and restless legs frequently respond to the prescription drug Permax. As a general rule, aching legs are not helped by vitamins or worsened by vitamin overdose.

You should be examined by your family physician to discover the reason your legs ache.

To give you related information on the numerous vitamins you are taking, I am sending you a copy of my Health Report “Vitamins and Minerals.” Other readers who would like a copy should send a long, self-addressed, stamped envelope and $2 to Newsletter, P.O. Box 167, Wickliffe, OH 44092. Be sure to mention the title.

Dear Dr. Gott: One of the warning signs of cancer is unusual bleeding. For over a year now I’ve been having regular, periodic bleeding from my right nostril only. I’m an 18-year-old female. I also spit up blood coinciding with the nosebleeds. At times, the bleeding lasts as long as 15 minutes. What do you think?

Dear Reader: Periodic nosebleeds, especially in a healthy adolescent, are almost always due to a raw artery within the nostril (not to nasal cancer, which is extremely rare in young people). As the skin over the tiny artery becomes denuded (from allergies or other irritants), blood rushes forth, some of which may drain down the throat and later be coughed up.

With repeated irritation (including forceful nose-blowing), the artery may not have a chance to heal completely, and cycles of nosebleeds result.

The easiest and most permanent solution to the problem is cautery. Using an electric device or a chemical, the doctor burns the open artery, coagulating the defect. Once healing takes place, the artery won’t bleed. See your doctor for this definitive therapy.