Second round of Chemo and I already have neurpathy

Pomona

I didn't know about icing during my first round of chemo (including Oxaliplatin) during 2023. And I did develop neuropathy.

I'm getting ready to start a second round of chem.

I was wondering if trying icing this time will help at all? Maybe keeping the neuropathy from getting worse?

iron9nadin

Sorry you're dealing with this. Are you doing oxalic again?

I did icing with my first 8 rounds of oxali/chemo Oct 2024-feb 2025. All my neuropathy and side effects were gone at 6mo post chemo.

I'm doing 6 more rounds of oxali currently. I've been icing this whole time too. I've noticed on my 5th round the ice was so cold I couldn't even use it on hands. I did on my feet still. I bring my ice with, get all set up and if it causes pain, then I stop icing and if tolerable, I'll stick with it for my last round in 2 weeks. My cold finger/toes was only lasting 5 days after chemo was done, now it's lasting up until my next cycle (2 weeks apart).

I know it's different for everyone. I talked to a friend of mine who is a physical therapist about managing the neuropathy. She advised to keep doing activities that require your nerves to function and stay Alive. Feet: scrunch toes to pick up a towel, walk barefoot, roll your foot on one of those "wooden foot massager" thingies.

Hope that helps.

Pomona

I also read recently to massage your hands and feet for about 5 minutes with lotion. I'll work my toes (move them up and down) while massaging each foot. I think massaging each foot helps to massage my hands at the same time.

Think I'll try the rolling foot massager as well. Thanks.

Think I'm going to try ice cuffs around my wrists and ankles. If those blood vessels constrict from the cold, should limit the blood flow into my hands and feet as well. Might be more tolerable.

Pomona

I am doing oxy again. First go around, the cold neuropathy stayed around. We did finally cut the oxy out.

My oncologist did say that other patients would put Capsaicin on their fingertips and toes. I did help with the cold neuropathy.

A few hints:

It does not take much.

It can take time for the first application to kick.

Be careful what you touch just after applying.

bibliophile

I was very much in the same position as you, Pomona. Diagnosed in 2023 and did my first round of CapeOx with no icing. Neuropathy got so bad that I lost all feeling in my feet and couldn't drive my stickshift and had trouble with fine motor skills like typing and putting jewelry on. Did PT afterwards and all my function returned and most of the pain receded. Lots of spread later, did a round of FOLFOXIRI from July to November last year. This time I did ice, and I can definitively say that I did not get nearly as much numbness and retained much more function than without the ice. So I would definitely recommend the icing. Towards the last rounds, the cold got to be too much for my hands and I only did feet, but it was still better. My PT had me doing balance exercises to help with the neuropathy and also my loss of proprioception. Mostly involved balancing on one foot at a time, and on balance boards with my eyes closed to force me to rely on feeling instead of sight for balance. It really seemed to help.