Just... leave me alone

John Wick said:
@Beth Gallagher, I think you are doing a fantastic job researching and looking for causes and solutions. Don't give up or get overwhelmed;)
Just keep putting one foot in front of the other and you will surely make some progress.

Like you I had cancer treatment (head and neck radiation) and have had to deal with permanent side effects my oncologist never bothered to mention. I had to educate myself in order to rebuild a life where I could at least pretend to feel like something approaching normal.

Sadly, no doctor I have seen was interested enough to help. Some days can be harder than others, but I refuse to accept feeling crappy all the time. So I keep trying and make the best of it, besides offing myself what other choices do I have?

I think looking at your diet is a very good strategy, maybe drinking extra water might improve things. If you drink a lot of water as I do, don't forget to keep your other electrolyte levels under control, something I found out the hard way.
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John--thanks so much for your post; I'm so sorry to hear that you are dealing with after-effects of cancer treatment. It really is horrible, like cancer treatment's "dirty little secret." They never tell you what you're going to have to deal with when treatment is done. I'm grateful that I'm still alive, but honestly some days are so hard. When I talk to someone who has had similar treatment and is having similar life-long side effects, I'm actually relieved to know I'm not the only one... and someone else "gets it."

I hope you are doing OK and I appreciate the words of support.
 
Beth Gallagher said:
@Bobby Cole -- excellent post; I agree with every word. I want to be in charge of me.

As for supplements--I used to not pay much attention to them because I've always been healthy (until I wasn't). I was under the assumption that they must be safe and "couldn't hurt". But I was wrong. They are largely unregulated and can apparently be quite dangerous in certain conditions.

Like most things in life, each individual must decide for themselves what level of risk they are willing to take. I really don't have much knowledge about supplements, but they are costly with no proven benefit in my experience. If they work for other people, that's great. [Recent study on use of fish oil supplements... https://bmjmedicine.bmj.com/content/3/1/e000451 ]

When I was told by my oncologist last year to start taking magnesium for the horrible muscle spasms I have, I started taking it right away. It has made absolutely ZERO difference in the cramps so I don't know why I am still taking it. I think I'll scratch that off my list.
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You might try a different brand &/or take one dose twice a day. As with vitamin b's I needed a loading dose to start with.
 
Mary Stetler said:
You might try a different brand &/or take one dose twice a day. As with vitamin b's I needed a loading dose to start with.
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Honestly, I don't think any supplement is going to help. The muscle spasms started from a chemo drug that caused nerve damage, followed by being microwaved by radiation. Many women in the IBC group have the same debilitating muscle spasms and are given the same "pat on the hand" by their oncologist. When I say the spasms actually cut off my breath and make my ribs sore, I am not exaggerating. I probably need to see a neurologist but no one seems to have any answer for it.
 
@Beth Gallagher - I get what your saying about the spasms. My back pain I can tolerate until it starts the spasms, that are so deep it makes me cry.Thank goodness that does not happen very much. For some odd reason my spasms have really tappered off, open their own. Might be because I am only taking half dose of that stupid Lipitor.
 
Hedi Mitchell said:
@Beth Gallagher - I get what your saying about the spasms. My back pain I can tolerate until it starts the spasms, that are so deep it makes me cry.Thank goodness that does not happen very much. For some odd reason my spasms have really tappered off, open their own. Might be because I am only taking half dose of that stupid Lipitor.
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I'm sorry to hear this, G. I know how miserable muscle spasms are so you have my sympathy. I have never taken a statin or I would stop immediately, haha.

Wow, I re-read this thread. I'm a real whiner when I get cranked up. Sorry, y'all.
 
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