Forum Discussion
Relief from hot flushes - Magnesium
Hi girls
I just thought I'd share something that I stumbled upon. I started Tamoxifen and Armidex a few months ago and was ok for a month or so but then the hot flushes and night sweats began. As others have described, in the middle of the night your eyes flip open and you're lying there feeling anxious with a feeling of WTF and then all of a sudden you just heat up like a furnace and can't go back to sleep for at least an hour - and potentially rinse and repeat in another couple of hours.
I read somewhere the Magnesium was supposed to help. So I bought some from the Chemist Warehouse, I take 1 in the morning and 1 at night and viola, very very reduced hot flashes, maybe one in the day and I don't seem to be woken up with them at night (seemed to get almost instant relief - like overnight).
Hugs to all on this horrible cancer journey xx
12 Replies
Hi Everyone
This is Kara from BCNA's Policy Team. I've had a look at this and found one recent study that looked at whether magnesium decreased the frequency and severity of hot flushes. 41% of the women reported a reduction in their frequency, and 76% reported a reduction in their severity. So, like a lot of things, it seems to help some people but not others.
It is always a good idea to check whether any complementary medicines you are taking or thinking about taking are safe to have with your breast cancer treatments. We know that some, St John's Wort for example, can reduce the effectiveness of tamoxifen (and some chemotherapy drugs). You can talk to your doctor about this. The Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in the US has a terrific website that provides evidence-based information about the safety of herbs and other products with cancer medicines. It does not show any contraindiction for taking magnesium with tamoxifen, meaning it is safe to take magnesium with tamoxifen.
Hope this helps.
Kara
