I’m up two or three times a night with severe cramping in my right foot and shin–and now my stomach and hands, too. That’s my excuse for mistakenly re-running Danny’s column about the benefits of eating raspberries and drinking pomegranate juice yesterday.
I apparently misfiled his latest column draft, so Danny’s raspberry piece was still at the top of my “to-do” list. I had a bad night. Despite drinking tonic water, sucking on tums and even putting soap under my bedsheets below my feet, cramping kept me up much of the night.
I had an early appointment and knew it would be a long wait, so I started editing the same file I ran less than two weeks ago in the waiting room–confirming and re-setting the link addresses and shifting the format to fit my touchy, unsophisticated laptop–only to learn shortly after I hit “publish” that it was a relative repeat.
Not that there isn’t a lot of good information there, and it was probably worth a second look. But talk about being “out of it!”
My question is: How many of you noticed?
My apologies! With all of the gratuitous re-runs the television networks hit us with these days, who needs blogosphere repeats? I will post Danny’s newest column, Probiotic Yogurt May Reduce Stress, tomorrow.
In the meantime, this may be a good time to write more about my cramping.
For me, the cause is clear: REVLIMID! Even at the reduced dose of 5 mg, my now familiar cramping “schedule” remains the same. It starts the second night of each 21 day cycle, hits me hard for three or four nights and then eases-up; surprising me every other night or so until the last few nights of my cycle. Then like clockwork, they re-appear for a return engagement. This lasts 3 or 4 more nights.
Diet tonic water (with quinine) and a few generic Tums before bedtime keep the cramps at bay until 3 or 4 am. Then BAM! I’m forced to get up out of bed and walk-off painful cramps in my right shin and foot. Sometimes it moves-up to my calf. And sometimes my hands or stomach are affected, too.
10 minutes later I can usually lay-back-down–and hopefully fall back asleep.
BAM! Like clockwork, at 6:45 am I’m forced to get up again. How I miss those last 20 or 30 minutes of sleep!
Have I tried anything else to halt the cramping? You bet! Pat in Minneapolis recommended pickle juice. I got the Tums idea (I think that helps a bit) from my good friend, Karl. He lives up-north, too.
Yes I take potassium supplements. And magnesium–lots and lots of magnesium. This has the added benefit of keeping me regular, despite the chemo and pain meds I take.
And speaking of magnesium, magnesium oil–applied topically to my feet and shins–also seems to help. I do that before I go to bed and after I’m jolted out of it!
One of the patient’s from the dialysis clinic where Pattie works swears by L-Lysine. I plan to try that tonight. The bottle suggests taking it on an empty stomach. At this point I’ll try just about anything!
What am I missing? No suggestion is too crazy–as long as it works.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat
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