Has anyone else endured nerve damage, ( numbness, tingling, weakness, etc, ) in their hands

[Ecumenist]

and feet due to chemo? It seems that this is one side effect of chemotherapy and it's awful. I keep dropping things..argh...I hate this. I was given time off chemo because of this and I would have thought it would have lessened by now.

[Irishonly]

1. I developed neuropathy during chemo

It isn't very common and it is supposed to go away a few months after you finish treatment. Mine didn't. A few years after treatment I was diagnosed as a Type 2 diabetic. My cancer doc said it was diabetes and not chemo for a long time. He changed his mind after the diabetes had been contolled for over two years and the neuropathy was worse. You should aske your doctor. A neurologist diagnoses neuropathy and it's a pain in the butt.

[Ecumenist]

2. Tell me about it. It was supposed to lessen durig this break in treatment and it hasn't

A family friend also developed neuropathy during chemo and wonder if it's more common than admitted or thought? He knew fellow patients who also developed it.

[Irishonly]

3. I had tingling that started about the third treatment

I was told it would end and it didn't. I have to be careful or I will burn my hands and I never, ever go barefoot. I was the barefoot queen. I have cut my hands and not known it. To this day I will wake up bruised and then when I think about it I will remember that I ran into something or was bumped. Many times it takes a couple of days for something to start to hurt and then it makes up for lost time.

I was tested for it and the doctor was surprised at how far the pin could go in before I would feel it. Every few months I have to go in for a foot exam because the diabetes has never gone away and my doctor fusses about my feet because of the lack of feeling. Last time I went the instrument he used was all the way to my knees.

I am not diagnosed with diabetic neuropathy. I have Idiopathic neuropathy which is a fancy way to say they don't know what caused it. It has gotten worse over the years and some times it hurts like hell. It doesn't make a lot of sense because it is supposed to be your nerve endings dying. Some people use ice to help with the burning that comes with it. I can't use it because cold makes it much worse for me.

None of the medication they give you for neuropathy helped me nor I don't know anyone it has. They used to love to give neurontin which is just awful. I guess there is a new one out now but I just plug along.

It will be years before the medical community will admit that chemo can cause neuropathy. It took them years before they admitted that some people suffer chemo crazies forever. Chemo crazies mean that you memory goes away and sometimes you just have problems thinking.

You will have to push for testing. I would start a journal and write down everything that you are feeling or not feeling.

[Ecumenist]

4. I have 3 bulging discs in my neck and the doctor seems to think that the chemo activated

the neuropathy.

[Irishonly]

5. I am so sorry

I hope you are one of the lucky ones that will not have it after your treatments are done. When MSN had groups I found a lot of help through an online support group. I can tell you not to get too cold. Cold is a bear. If you hands start numbing watch the water temperature. I burned myself a couple of times. I use heat when I get a bad attack. People think I am nuts but it helps.

[Irishonly]

6. Fpund a couple of links

http://www.chemocare.com/managing/numbness__tingling.asp

http://www.cancer.gov/aboutnci/ncicancerbulletin/archive/2010/022310/page6

I just searched for chemo and neuropathy and pages. There seems to be a lot of information. I also asked if there were anyone suffering from neuropathy in the Chronic Conditions and maybe there will be more answers. Neuropathy is neuropathy no matter how it came to me.

[cmd]

7. Just some toes on my left foot.

So far I've had no problem with them; they just feel different.

My hand and foot problems center more with the nails. I developed a fungus under my big toenail that started out hurting, then turning black, then bleeding.
It took over a year to grow that nail out. My fingernails have peeled several times. They just dry out, then the top layer starts peeling. It only goes back to the nailbed, but hurts fiercely when it gets that far.

[Tracer]

8. Not in my hands, but in my feet.

I haven't had chemotherapy in almost 3 years, and my feet still burn and are still somewhat numb.

It doesn't bother me during the day, but in bed at night it sure does!

My doctor suggested that I take Lyrica, but I told him that it wasn't that bad. I'm glad now that I refused, since it has quite a few bad side effects (including suicidal thoughts!).

[Irishonly]

10. I don't think they have come up with a medication to treat neuropathy

I was given neurontin and after a couple of months refused to take it. The side effects were almost worse than the pain. If the pain gets too bad I hope you can see a pain management doctor.

[Hepburn]

9. My gal pal had chemo for breast cancer and she had problems like this.

And, her nails peeled and came off, too.

Will ck on her and see how it goes with the numbness and tingling. She had her last chemo early last December.