Call Me Whacko!

Okay. These leg cramps have got to stop. I spent a lot of time last night with my leg straight up in the air until a cramp would subside and within seconds of putting my leg back down on the bed, being careful not to point my toe even a bit, another cramp would take hold. This went on for a few hours in the night. MOST annoying!! And painful! This time the cramps were in my right ankle and up the outside of my leg. Nasty, nasty cramping! I was quite wasted today.

Tonight I did a little research and I've been laughing out loud at some of the remedies I've read about. But, you know, desperate measures ...

So, at least, I now have a few things in my arsenal. They are: bananas (I'd been without them for about a week but now I'm stocked), tonic water (I need to get some), I'm already taking calcium and magnesium, mustard (not spread on my leg ... swallow a tablespoon before bed ... I'll leave that one until I see if the other remedies might work), and (now this one is laugh out loud strange) ... a bar of soap under the fitted sheet at the bottom of the bed. How CRAZY is that?!! But so many people swear it works and I checked it out at snopes.com and it's classified as "undetermined". Hmmmm ... it can't hurt to try and if it worked for some reason, it would be so worth it!

Here's the tamoxifen discussion board where I read about leg cramps. Here's what one poster wrote:

"Cramping is definitely one side effect of tamoxifen--my onc confirmed that. It also happens on HRT (what I took before bc and tamoxifen, and even on Femara, I think). I found that one glass of tonic water at dinner time (delicious with a slice of lime, and you can add gin or vodka occasionally LOL) really helped. Again, my onc confirmed that this is a good remedy.

I mostly had the cramps at night, in both my calves and my feet. One thing that made a big difference--I trained myself not to point my toes while stretching out in bed. And if a cramp started, I would flex my feet (while massaging the crampy area). This helped stop the cramp."

And here's what another had to say ...

"Hi ladies! I have to jump in here and attest to the soap remedy.....it really works! I would get terrible charley horse and feet cramps on my right leg (always that leg) several times a week. I surfed the web and read somewhere about the soap. I just got a bar of dove, put it in an old trouser sock, placed it at the foot of the bed under the fitted sheet. I had been without even one cramp for about 2-3 months then they started again so I got a new bar of soap to replace it and voila! no cramps!

If it's all in my head that's ok too, it works anyway!"

The continued discussion about what kinds of soap to use and other such details had me laughing out loud. It sounds whacky but there will be a bar of soap in my bed tonight. Call me crazy.