HER2 Support Group Forums - View Single Post - Anyone else can't get QUININE for leg cramps??

Kim in CA · 11-18-2007, 11:22 AM

Steph,

Back when I was on Taxotere and for several months afterwards, I had terrible leg cramps. They were the type that were so bad that I would bolt out of bed and hop around the room trying to get my legs to loosen up. (This would go on several times throughout the night, pure misery!)

I had always heard that potassium was good for leg cramps so I gave it a try and started taking it at bedtime. The cramps stopped immediately. After I used that first bottle of potassium, I quit taking it to see what would happen and amazingly the cramps didn't come back.

Occasionally when I do one of my endurance rides and my legs have worked really hard, I will start to get the cramps in the middle of the night. When that happens, I just get up and take a pill, and within minutes the cramping goes away.

Anyway, that's what worked for me, and I really had bad cramps!

Kim

11-18-2007, 11:22 AM	#12
Kim in CA Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: California's Gold Country Posts: 404	Steph, Back when I was on Taxotere and for several months afterwards, I had terrible leg cramps. They were the type that were so bad that I would bolt out of bed and hop around the room trying to get my legs to loosen up. (This would go on several times throughout the night, pure misery!) I had always heard that potassium was good for leg cramps so I gave it a try and started taking it at bedtime. The cramps stopped immediately. After I used that first bottle of potassium, I quit taking it to see what would happen and amazingly the cramps didn't come back. Occasionally when I do one of my endurance rides and my legs have worked really hard, I will start to get the cramps in the middle of the night. When that happens, I just get up and take a pill, and within minutes the cramping goes away. Anyway, that's what worked for me, and I really had bad cramps! Kim __________________ Diag. Feb 1997 4.5cm IDC <10%ER+, PR-. 5 out of 36 nodes +. Mastectomy followed by 3 rounds Adriamycin/Cytoxin. 5/1997 Hi Dose Chemo w/ Stem cell rescue. Spent 4 weeks in isolation ward. Then 6 weeks radiation. 9/2001 widespread mets to liver. 8 mos Taxotere/Herceptin brought me almost to NED. Stop Taxotere & add Femara . 11/2002 liver resection to remove spot that turned out to be necrosis. Officially NED! 7/2003 Tumor markers rising add Xeloda Disastrous reaction, 8 days hospital, but tumor markers came back to normal! June -Dec 2004 UW Vaccine Trial. 7/2005 MRI single 11mm brain met 8/2005 Gamma Knife. Brain MRI @3 months NED! 2006-2011 brain/body still NED 8/04/11 Taking Herceptin break, will monitor with tumor markers. 6/20/12 Tumor markers begin to rise. CA15-3 is 31.3 and Her2 Serum is at 17.1 Decide to repeat in one month. 7/23/12 CA15-3 now 49.3 Her2 Serum 26.8 8/6/12 Back on Herceptin CA15-3 now 76 Her2 Serum now 49 11/7/12 Add weekly Taxotere for 4 cycles 2/2013 Stopped Taxotere added Perjeta. MRI shows approx. 50% reduction liver mets. CA15-3 still elevated @ 55. Will continue on just Herceptin & Perjeta. November 2014 Continuing on Herceptin, Perjeta, and Femara indefinitely. Guess I'm NED again, but watching those tumor markers carefully! Dec. 2015 PET scan reveals mass in perirectal area of abdomen.biopsy confirms. Still Her2+, but no longer ER+. Bye bye Femara Jan 2016 Begin Kadcyla March 2016 PET scan shows tumor now barely visible, still NED everywhere else. 2016/2017 continue Kadcyla November 2017 brain MRI reveals small focus of T2 hyperintensity with possible 4mm enhancing nodule. Short term follow up MRI suggested. Stay tuned...