Ice Addiction Leads To Hospitalization

Q. I read in your column about a person who craved ice. A couple of years ago I had the same habit, and had to have ice cubes constantly. Even on trips, my son would have to stop at restaurants, gas stations or anywhere else to get me large containers of ice cubes.
The doctors I consulted could not tell me why I was craving ice. But I got weaker and weaker. I finally went to my doctor who said I looked like a ghost. He ordered blood tests and found I was anemic. I was taken in a wheelchair from the lab to the hospital and given a transfusion. I’ve had no craving for ice since that time. Perhaps your reader should have a blood test.
A. Thanks for sharing your story. When people develop unusual cravings they should always be tested for anemia or zinc deficiency. We have heard of other cases where replenishing iron or zinc vanquishes the compulsion to eat ice.
Q. I just received a shipment of supplements and noticed the box was very hot. I stuck a thermometer through the seal and it registered over 100 degrees F.
Does this high temperature degrade supplements? Are they delivered the same way to stores? If so, it may not matter where you purchase them.
A. You have stumbled on a secret no one in the pharmaceutical or supplement industry likes to talk about. Improper shipping and storage may shorten shelf life for many products.
Guidelines for medications generally call for storage at room temperature (68 to 77 degrees F). Temporary fluctuations are allowed down to 59 or up to 86 degrees.
Shipment in non-refrigerated vehicles can easily allow for long periods at temperatures exceeding 100 degrees. That includes deliveries to wholesalers, pharmacies and health food stores.
Drug sales reps often give free samples to doctors. If these drugs have been stored in the trunk of a car, the temperature could exceed 120 degrees. Even more alarming, it has been discovered that ambulances may also exceed the proper storage temperature of some of their crucial medicines.
Q. I’ve gone to seven doctors, and I am still in so much pain I can neither work nor sleep. I’ve been diagnosed with fibromyalgia and insomnia.
The sleeping pills that have been prescribed don’t really help. My entire body aches, though one doctor said it is all in my head. Suicide is against my religion, or I would consider it. Can you suggest anything that would help?
A. Pain and sleeplessness often go hand in hand, especially with fibromyalgia. In this condition, people experience soft tissue pain, tenderness and fatigue.
Doctors who treat fibromyalgia find that addressing the sleeping problems can often help sufferers. They sometimes prescribe low doses of sedating antidepressants like amitriptyline to help with insomnia.
Sleep expert Martin Scharf, Ph.D., has found that Xyrem, a medication approved for narcolepsy, can help ease symptoms of fibromyalgia. It permits restorative sleep but has not been approved by the FDA for this purpose.
We are sending you our Guide to Getting A Good Night’s Sleep and our CD interview with Dr. Scharf on sleep and fibromyalgia so you can learn more about this approach. Anyone who would like copies, please send $15 in check or money order to Graedons’ People’s Pharmacy, No. CD-70, P. O. Box 52027, Durham, NC 27717-2027.