Hi ladies, just a quick question. I take Ibrance and Letrazole together with a monthly Denosumab injection and Adcal +D3.
I’ve been having bad cramp in my legs and hands. Mostly wakes me during the night. My Cancer Nurse advised Magnesium. We have a really healthy diet, fresh everything but I feel that maybe something else is interfering with my uptake of Magnesium.
Any advice or thoughts.🤔😕
Most of us are deficient in magnesium apparently. I believe that topical magnesium is absorbed better than a supplement. It’s easy and cheap to make your own. Good luck with your cramps, they are no fun! Xxx
Thank you.
Thank you for the info Sandra. I will check this out. I was at the hospital for treatment today and no clear advice was given apart from try Magnesium. I went straight to the shop and purchased some.
I will also buy some Coconut Milk. I will try anything that may help.
Best wishes
Cheryl
Cheryl, ...."ouch!", I know these cramps hurt like hell, I've gone through phases where I had the same issue, cramping in calfs/calves (?) and feet/toes, to where the toes would be splayed out in some sort of contortion!
I learned on this site that magnesium is a possible culprit, but had always treated it as a potassium deficiency. I keep a fresh bottle of prescription potassium in the cabinet and once I've taken it, the pain and cramping go away pretty quickly. Bananas might help but maybe slower-acting? And I've also heard that mustard can help...But I now eat 1/2 - 1 avocado almost every day (avo toast for bfast), at the reco of my onc and haven't had the problem for many months...
Good luck with it! Lynn
Thanks for the avocado tip. Hugs Marlene
Sounds good to me. Mustard I couldn’t eat but Avocado yes. I do eat Bananas regularly. I’m going to try all these suggestions.
I have a phone consultation with my Oncologist end of the month. I can never get to speak to him otherwise.
I’m supposed to have. CT scan 11 th November. No letter, no recording of it on my files. I phoned 5 different people yesterday, even the Oncologist secretary who was nye on useless and still got nowhere. So, asking for advice on this matter is a case of trusting the lovely ladies on here.
Thanks so much.
Lynn it’s awful some nights. I can’t even put my feet to the floor. As for my hands they just spread and freeze up. I’ve mentioned it to my Cancer Nurses before and it’s been ignored. I keep forgetting to mention it to my oncologist. I have a list of questions for him, that’s if it’s him that calls and not a member of his team. Feeling dejected today but I will overcome it. Thanks so much for the help.
Cheryl
What a shame! I've really somehow overcome this issue, it's been probably a year...I read below that you were going to try the magnesium first and then the potassium and my question is, why not do both at the same time to increase odds of quick relief? Have you checked the potassium on your labs? Mine used to come in low....now it's okay...
Good luck with it, I agree that it's just awful... 
True, why not try both. I’m going to try it. I will ask next month what my levels are as I’m only ever told my blood is fine.
My stepdaughter has a thing about making us Avocado on toast when we go to her place. She loves it but we just eat them as they are at home. We love them.
Watch this space and I will let you all know how I get on. Seems the post has helped other lovely ladies to. Great.
Cheryl xx
I have cramps in my legs and feet too. I have started taking potassium and it might be helping. I haven't taken it for long (about one week) so don't know if it is working yet but I haven't had any cramps lately. So maybe it is helping. I do believe it is the Ibrance and Letrazole that is causing the cramps. Those are the drugs that I am taking. My doctor told me to take electrolytes in the form of Gator Aid. You can get the sugar free gator aid. I haven't tried it but I might if the potassium doesn't work. When I told my doctor that I was taking potassium he said that would help too. So I hope we both can get relief from this problem. Hugs Marlene
Thanks Marlene. If the Magnesium doesn’t work I will try Potassium as well.
Take care. Let’s get cramp free🙂
hi Flowerfairies,
I recently read that coconut water helps too. I bought myself one of coconut water just to try it out. If something doesn't taste good I have trouble taking it. Good luck with the magnesium. Let us all know if it helps you. One of our ladies suggested epsom baths but just putting your feet into a epsom salt foot bath might be enough. Some ladies don't take many baths so foot bathing could be the answer. Hugs Marlene
What is avocado toast. Is it just fresh avocados spread on toast or is it a special spread that you purchase. Hugs M.
Oh, you've come to the right place! I'm famous for my avo toast, which makes me a popular house guest!
- Get a nice bread, like a country french, ciabatta (maybe a bit un-firm but nice and lite) or, to get extra nutrition, a really dense good whole wheat with seeds, etc. Toast it well-done so that it accepts the garlic in the next step.
- Rub raw garlic on the surface you'll use for the avo...generously for max cancer-fighting!
- Scoop and slice/cube the avocado in a small, ideally pretty bowl ( ). Obvi with avos the trick (challenge) is to hit the perfect ripeness. If there's a bit of brown stuff, just scrape/scoop it away. *I slice/cube because I have texture issues with avocado that's mushed up.*
- Squeeze generous amount of lemon, I'll use like 1/2 lemon for one avocado,
- Generously grind pepper, salt, and add crushed red peppers (paprika/ground red pepper of various types work well, too). *For a refreshing alternative, use very thinly sliced radishes and beansprouts, omitting the red pepper.
- Put the avo stuff on the garlicky toast and enjoy!!
Lynn
Another variation is to sprinkle dukkah on top...I'll do this for others, but I'm allergic to the nuts in it. Although I had it once by accident (oops! Was sick for a day!) at a restaurant and it was delicious!
Dukkah, delicious. Right up my street.
That sounds delicious, Lynn! What's not to love about avocados?! There were some on sale recently, so I grabbed a few. I need to get some more. I absolutely love avocados! I'm a big garlic nut too, and will often eat several raw garlic cloves every day. I normally wait until the end of the day to do that though!
Sophie
Sophie hubby makes pickled Garlic. It’s just delightful and sweet. That’s the only way I can eat it. My stomach doesn’t like it unfortunately yet I adore onions, part of the same family. We have grown Garlic at the allotment. Haven’t picked it yet. Got to try it though, it’s home grown. X
Hi Cheryl,
I love pickled garlic! It’s crunchy and sweet and it feels like such a treat, so I’ve got some on hand in the fridge. I need to stock up on more while I can. Although I don’t think I need to be worrying about people stockpiling garlic. Toilet roll, rice and pasta are flying off the shelves again! 😂😂
I’ve got a dental appointment at 8:30am. I was expecting it to be cancelled, but it’s still going ahead. So I’d better finish my breakfast and get going.
Enjoy your day,
Sophie
How did the dentist go Sophie. I’m at the hospital 13th for my ONJ. Dreading it as it’s at the hospital over the water and I’m not familiar with it at all. It’s this flipping virus putting me off. There has been a high number of cases on the Wirral where I have to go. Still, mask, spray and whatever else I need will be used. Best we can do aye?
Pickled garlic is delightful.Hubby will make some more for us once he can be bothered peeling the garlic. Takes him ages.
Take care and have a good weekend.
Hi Cheryl,
It went well. It was just a check up. I also had x-rays taken and my teeth are fine. I'll go back in 6 months. I'm glad you have a hospital appointment coming up for the osteonecrosis. But you should not have had to wait so long! Cases are still low in Suffolk, but we have had some cases in my town. So I am trying to be careful.
Enjoy your weekend too!
Sophie
Thank you so much Lynn for your recipe. I have had a hard time trying to figure out how to eat avocados. My husband doesn't like them so I rarely buy them because they usually don't stay fresh. But I will buy them now. Your recipe sounds so wonderful. I can already taste it. I am glad I asked.
My scans are showing improvement and I attribute this to some of the things I am doing. Below is a recipe for something that is supposed to be a cancer fighter and I try to remember to take this daily.
Some of you might want to try this: Take one organic lemon and wash it thoroughly and weigh it. Then peel a hand full of garlic cloves (organic cloves) and then I weigh them. When I have an equal weight of garlic to the unpeeled lemon I put them in my blender with 8 ounces of distilled or well water (in my case) and blend thoroughly. Then strain and reserve the juice. It keeps well in the fridge. I try to remember to take one TBSP of this mixture per day. I mix it with something else so it doesn't taste too bad. Remember to use the whole organic lemon - seeds and all. I cannot remember where I got this recipe but it said it is a real cancer fighter.
Thank you for sharing. I plan to put your avo spread on sourdough rye bread. Yum!
Hugs Marlene
That's so interesting re: the lemon/garlic combo! I'm usually swimming in both, so can easily try this...
Re: your husband not liking avocados, I never liked avocados until I started eating the avo toast (my daughter introduced me to it). The key things to make me like it were well-toasted bread and cubed, not mushed avos. Maybe he'll like it, too?
To keep your avocados fresh longer put them in the refrigerator as soon as they’re ripe. Don’t press them, you’ll create brown spots. You can tell they are ripe when you can easily remove the little nub/stem thing.
I put salmon on top of the avocado. And then some sliced tomatoes on top of that.
That sounds wonderful too! Hugs Marlene
Hi Cheryl,
I'm sorry to hear about the leg cramps. I am not sure if this will help, but I add Epsom salts to my bath every night. They contain magnesium, so maybe that would help soothe you. I started taking them when I first started treatment as I felt like I was in my 80s rather than my 30s! I don't have any muscle or joint aches and pains anymore, but it is very relaxing and soothing.
With regard to your CT scan, have you called the CT department directly? I've been booking my own appointments directly with them for about a year or so now. So long as your oncologist has put the referral through for you, then you can call up and pick a day and time that suits you. I find it much more convenient this way, and I can plan scans around my work and any other commitments rather than wait for them to pick a day and time for me. One time I called the CT department and they could not book an appointment as my oncologist had not put a referral through. But they were very good and immediately called my oncologist's secretary and I got an appointment quickly. It can feel as if you are doing their job for them, but I find it easier in some ways to just take charge and get it sorted out myself.
I hope you feel better soon.
Sophie
Sophie I will certainly try that tomorrow. I’m so put out by the “I don’t know” answers.
Thanks for that
That must be so frustrating for you, Cheryl. I hope you get some answers tomorrow.
Sophie
It can’t hurt...I take it and have heard it helps with pain and cramping...and I don’t have any so it must do something...😀
Topical magnesium spray or soak in an epsoms salt bath.
Hi, I’m on the same regiment and take magnesium as part of the sleep aid. It was recommended by the integrated medicine physician who is part of the team. He assured me that there are no interruption with either of the treatments.
All the best
Good to know about the coconut water.
Thank you for mentioning the avocado!
Resting a bar of soap directly on the cramp will give temporary relief. Tamoxofin gave me leg cramps when I was taking it 20 years ago. I kept a bar on the nightstand back then. You have lots of good things to try now. Wishing you the best. Blessings, Hannah
Hello Flowerfairies: I definitely feel a difference when I am not taking magnesium. A doctor told me to be sure and get magnesium Glycinate 400. I order from the internet. The
Medicines we are on deplete
Us of many important things. That’s why I do take vitamins and minerals. Best of luck and hope your leg cramps can soon be gone.
The best to you.—Madlyn
Thank you Madlyn. I didn’t know who to turn to but all this advice has helped me.
Cheryl
My legs always hurt the third day after chemo. My new oncologist is working on each side effect separately. When I told her about the leg pain and cramps she told me to take two magnesium 500mg a day. That was 3 months ago have not had leg pain since.
Barbara
Hi Barbara. I started taking Magnesium two weeks ago and have only had very mild cramp twice. If it wasn’t for the lovely ladies on here giving advice I wouldn’t have known. I told my nurses at the hospital and they don’t really reply. Thank you for replying
I am glad it helped you. My doctor said to take two 500mg a day. Now I have no pain at all.
Barbara
I have a cream my daughter gave me that has magnesium in it. I rub into my sore joints at bed time. It helps. I also take Epsom salts baths a couple times a week. Which also gives magnesium absorption. I plan on asking my oncologist about adding magnesium pill.
The cramps have really eased and I seem to be tolerating the Magnesium thank goodness. Best wishes
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