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Chemotherapy-induced neuropathy: What helps get rid of it?
Cancer: Managing Symptoms | Last Active: Dec 8 3:08pm | Replies (121)Comment receiving replies
Does anybody have any suggestions about how to stop chemo caused neuropathy? My neuropathy wasn't too bad until AFTER my Dr. stopped the Oxaliplatin infusions. About a month later the numbness/tingling came on like gang busters and it has been with me for 3 or 4 months now. I walk, massage, my hands and feet, do finger exercises but nothing seems to be slowing it down. I had my vitimin D and B12 levels checked (D was fine B12 was very high). I am desperate to get rid of this; not only because it's so annoying, but if I can get rid of it maybe I can go back on the Oxaliplatin which was working well to shrink my tumors. (New drug is not shrinking them and they may be growing). Does anybody know of anything I cam try? I was told that if it doesn't go away in a year, it's never going away. So I want to do everything that I can to help the recovery from neuropathy along. Thanks.
Replies to "Does anybody have any suggestions about how to stop chemo caused neuropathy? My neuropathy wasn't too..."
My husband has exactly this experience. His neuropathy definitely got worse after the oxaliplatin was stopped. They do recommend that he keep his B12 levels up and take B6 daily. They told him that it could take a long time to help. I don’t know how long.
His personal experience is that he does notice some small improvement. It is going on two years since his chemo and he says he is finding it easier to write now. He did have a lot of trouble with that. He says that both his hands and his feet have better and worse days. He says that he finds that keeping active seems to make them somewhat better.
Thanks so much for your kind reply. Mine also seems to fluctuate which gives me hope that it can improve. The fact that your husband has made it 2 years out from chemo also gives me a little hope. If I can keep kickin' for 2 more years I will try to just be grateful and live happily with this nuisance.
Hi @susan159, this must be disappointing. You probably thought you were out of the woods during treatment and getting neuropathy. Unfortunately neuropathy can sometimes appear as a late term side effect after treatment. It can take a while to see improvement and sometimes the neuropathy doesn't go away completely.
To help you discover what others are doing, I moved your message to this existing discussion:
– Chemotherapy-induced neuropathy: What helps get rid of it?https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/chemotherapy-induced-neuropathy/
Like @nbkod7b mentioned, there is an entire support group dedicated to Neuropathy here: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/group/neuropathy/
You may also be interested in these discussions:
– Chemo-related Neuropathy https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/1st-time-at-mayo-for-neuropathy/
– Need hope: Neuropathy from chemo https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/needshope/
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You might try Curcumin, although I don't know if it can reverse damage already done. But it may also target the cancer cells to be targeted by the chemotherapy you are now taking.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9227889/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6277549/
https://bmccancer.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12885-020-07256-8
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ptr.7225