Using rubbing alcohol to treat cramps landed an elderly woman in hospital with acute encephalopathy caused by isopropanol toxicity through skin absorption, US doctors report.

The 67-year-old with end-stage renal failure due to type 1 diabetes was found by her daughter lying on a couch confused, lethargic and smelling of alcohol.

She was holding a bottle of rubbing alcohol, which she had been topically applying to her chest, leg, arms and neck for months.

The woman would follow the application with a heat pack as a “common but ill-advised” home remedy for cramps, the doctors wrote in the American Journal of Case Reports.