@gardiner Please let me add my welcome to Mayo Clinic connect!

Like you, I am going through chemo for multiple myeloma, and take Revlimid [linolidamide] on a 21 day on, 7 day off cycle. Dealing with neuropathy in my left calf and foot is a challenge, although my oncologist feels it is a result of the myeloma deposits on the nerves near my hip, rather than the chemo. It has been almost a year since I have had sensation in that area. There is a bit of feeling on the very outside of my left foot.

Sometimes rubbing CBD cream on the affected part helps as a topical solution. Also using compression socks seem to make things a bit better. And often at night, I do a self-massage of the area, to calm the nerves down, with a lavender scented lotion. Speaking to your oncologist or patient advocate may give you some insight, too, for remedies. Will you let me know what you find out? We're in this together!
Ginger

Gardiner,
Thanks for the further clarification. There are quite a few discussions about managing the side effect of peripheral neuropathy related to cancer treatments in the Cancer: Managing Symptoms support group here: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/group/cancer-managing-symptoms/

I'm moved your discussion to this existing discussion to connect you with additional members dealing with the same thing.

@gingerw and @gardiner, I found this interesting study about Bortezomib-induced painful neuropathy in patients with multiple myeloma (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3934028/).

"Painful neuropathy usually occurs within the first 5 cycles of treatment. When subsequent (more than 5) cycles are applied on a patient, there is only a slight tendency for enhancement in the incidence of neuropathy. This supports the opinion that the dose effect of bortezomib is much more associated with the dose-threshold effect (A threshold dose is a dose level below which there is no effect on the biological response.) than with the cumulative-dose effect (the total amount of a drug). The clinical and electrophysiological study performed by Stubblefied et al. pointed out that pre-existing damage involving the peripheral nervous system should also be considered as a risk factor in the susceptibility to bortezomib-induced neuropathy (BIN) in MM patients

In summary the authors emphasize that despite the high risk of BIN currently introduced algorithms of dose-limiting schedules have been successful in pain relief. This allows therapy to be continued, which results in a longer life span without deterioration of daily living for MM patients."

Gardiner, how many cycles of treatment have you had? Has your team talked about ways to reduce the effect of neuropathy?