Part of the reason why the FDA said they pulled the drug except for one manufacturer is that the others manufacturers did not provide up-to-date information about the safety of their quinine products. Quinine can interact with a number of common drugs that people take. Although death is a very serious side effect, few deaths have been reported as a result of taking quinine. However, quinine has several known side effects that could contribute to cardiac problems which is the #1 cause of death in people with kidney failure. Also, you can’t rely fully on the number of reported adverse side effects. When people take a drug (probably any drug), some people will have a side effect and never report it but will just stop taking the drug. Others will report the adverse event to their doctor and their doctor may never complete the FDA paperwork to inform the FDA of the adverse event so accurate statistics can be tracked.
One social worker who was an audiologist reported on the social worker listserv when it was announced there that quinine was being pulled that she saw many patients as an audiologist who developed ringing in their ears (tinnitis), had damaged hearing or lost their hearing altogether as a result of taking quinine. You can look at this website for known drug interactions. You can also read about the known side effects, including acute interstitial nephritis, kidney damage, kidney failure, aplastic anemia, hemolytic anemia, plus hearing problems, vision problems (including blindness), and much, much more.
http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic/quinine_ad.htm
There are much safer ways to prevent cramping, trying not to take off too much fluid (know your dry weight) and not gaining too much fluid between treatments. It’s easier to remove the amount of fluid you need to remove without cramping when you dialyze more often and especially when you do nocturnal hemodialysis.