Neuropathy after treatments

Soknwt

I was diagnosed with anal cancer in June 2017.  There were squamous cells and small cell carcenoma in the same area, so I was treated with radiation for the squamous cells and chemo for both.  That means I received some increased doses of cisplatin.  I completed radiation in August and chemo in October.  The treatments went well, not too much nausea (in fact I gained a few pounds).  The radiation went well up to the end of the fifth week and the sixth was miserable.  Then there were the weeks of misery after-most of the damage was internal.  In mid-November I started feeling numbness in my toes.  That has not gone away and now I'm feeling tingling in my hands.  I don't know what to do now.  I am surprised that after treatment, these things are creeping up.  I thought I'd kicked all this.

 

Anyone have any suggestions to get this neuropathy to stop spreading and go away?

eihtak

Soknwt...

Hi,

Congratulations on completing this not so fun treatment! It sounds like you did great. It is not uncommon to be miserable the last week and into the several following. I'm sorry that was the case for you as it is for so many of us.

Neuropathy is a funny thing. Some complain of it early on, some shortly after treatment ends, for some it comes and goes, and yet others none at all! It seems that early on I did have some numbness in my feet and I struggled to keep them warm (I was dx and treated almost 7 years ago) but it was short lived. As I became more active again it must have faded. However, my husband (who was treated for a blood cancer) has been bothered with tingling and numbness for years. He was prescribed Gabapentin (for nerve complications) and while it seems to give him some relief, he doesn't like the drowsiness that comes with it so often does not take it.

There was someone in a yoga class I took, for people recovering from cancer, who said she took daily Claritin (recommended for allergies) and found she got Neuropathy relief as well????

I think often our doctors fail to discuss both the short and long term side effects of this treatment, either because they don't want to scare us with the "what if's" or because side effects are so varied from person to person and so not enough substantiated proof that it is infact a result of treatment.

We (here) often say...the gift that keeps on giving in relation to chemo and radiation because new challenges can present themselves at anytime down the road. Hopefully you will get some tips and advice here to help get you to a good place so you can keep moving forward. Know that it takes time, and on the whole scale of recovery, you are still in the early stages...in a few months you'll look back and say "Oh, now I actually feel like I kicked this"...

Please keep us posted as you move ahead.

katheryn

Mollymaude

Neuropathy

I had mitomycin C and 5FU for chemo, no cisplatin. I did not get any neuropathy symptoms at all. I wonder if the cosplatinisplatin is more likely to cause it. I know several people with neuropathy that has slowly (very slowly) improved over a few years. I agree with Katheryn that the oncologists sometimes aren't the most helpful when it comes to long term side effects. You can find out a lot more on sites like this or by going to other specialists, I've found. It might be helpful to get on the breast cancer discussion board and search the term "neuropathy". The people I know with neuropathy are breast cancer survivors.