Tamoxifen

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Tissie
Tissie Member Posts: 1
edited November 2014 in Hormonal Therapy - Before, During, and After

Started taking Tamoxifen a week ago and am experiencing terrible leg cramps at night with the result of no sleep. Take the meds around 5:00 pm every day. My question, does the time factor of taking the meds reflect on the leg cramps at night. Will definately change time if it helps....

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  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited November 2014

    Hi Tissie, welcome to Breastcancer.org!

    We're sorry you're experiencing those side effects... If it helps, and until you get responses from other members here (it can be slow on the weekend), you can also post or take a look at the Bottle 'o Tamoxifen thread to see if anybody can answer your question.

    The Mods

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  • Manu14
    Manu14 Member Posts: 153
    edited November 2014

    Hi Tissie. Like you, I began having terrible leg cramps at night and it didn't make any difference what time I took my Tamoxifen pill. What has made a huge difference is taking a chelated magnesium supplement of 250 mg with dinner every night. I've been doing it for 4 months and have only had one night-time leg cramp since then. Drinking a lot of water also seems to help. I was so pleased that such a simple thing as a magnesium pill solved my problem. Hope you can get it all straightened out soon. No sleep is no fun.

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  • savgigi
    savgigi Member Posts: 376
    edited November 2014

    I have not taken tamoxifen - I am taking femara instead - but I found my muscle cramps were caused by taking my statin at the same time as femara. Once I started taking femara in the morning and the statin at night, my muscle cramps went away and I no longer woke at night in pain.

    Take a look at all the meds you are taking and discuss with your doctor if combinations of meds can cause your side effects.


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  • Angelm
    Angelm Member Posts: 18
    edited November 2014

    take calcium with vitamin d.


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  • savgigi
    savgigi Member Posts: 376
    edited November 2014

    I added Vitamin D when i found my level was 37 - on the low end of normal. I was already taking calcium and found those did not solve my muscle ache or joint pain problems. I know it helps some people - the Vitamin D did not help me. Unfortunately, I have found we have to be our own best advocates and keep pressing our doctors until they come up with a solution.

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  • sherridl
    sherridl Member Posts: 42
    edited November 2014

    I was on Tamo for 4 years until I was diagnosed with a bone disorder caused by Tamo. I was originally misdiagnosed with bone mets, but my oncologist finally found it was actually my bones breaking. I also suffered from terrible leg cramps before I started using magnesium. I used several brands and found that MagOx was the best. 400 mg was the best dose - anything less wasn't as good. The endocrinologist I saw afterwards diagnosed me with osteomalacia - he thought it was not reversible. At the time my D level was 3 and I had to take pretty massive doses of Vitamin D, but my bones did recover. He blamed Tamoxifen and stated that Tamo does not protect bones. I do recommend taking 2,000 mg of vitamin D per day, as does my PCP to this day. Good luck - Tamo is not a fun drug.

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