Does anyone get occasional very painful hand cramps and if so, what do you do?
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hand cramps
Hi I get them quite a lot, they are really awkward and painful aren’t they? Sometimes it’s so severe it causes my thumb to touch my wrist! I find the answer is hydration, try not to get over tired and apply a heated wheat bag. It does tend to come and go, I get them more in warm/ hot weather so salt loss might be part of the problem. My consultant recommended keeping my hands busy too, so if you are watching tv maybe use a stress ball or develop a hobby that uses the hands like sewing or some form of crafting. Hope this helps, good luck.
thank you. I should have said I have been on gleevec for many years now and somehow this seems worse than ever before.
I often get them when I'm working in the kitchen cutting and chopping but sometimes there is no relation to what I am doing They can be excruciatingly painful as they were today before I joined the thread.
Warm water soaking is the best way I've found. I keep wishing I could find a relationship to something I'm eating or not eating but so far no luck.
I know its a small price to pay for being in complete remission but it does bring me to tears sometimes
I got hand cramps and leg cramps early on when I first started Tasigna. The hand cramps would fold my fingers over and leave my hand useless, the leg cramps required me to get up at night and walk them off, quite painful. My doctor recommended Rolaids with magnesium. That has controlled my cramps since then. Sometimes I see if I can drop the Rolaids, but so far the cramps come back after two or three days. I take 4, once a day.
I've never tried Rolaids but will keep in mind. I hate the idea of taking more pills or supplements, etc. I do use Theraworx for nighttime leg cramps. It is a magnesium foam that really helps.
Do you think sugar or alcohol affect nighttime cramps?
I don't drink a lot and I'm trying to get off of sugar entirely; it does seem to help, but the hand cramps come up out of nowhere!