Neuropathy After Chemo

gdpawel said:

Neuropathy is a problem that sometimes occurs with chemotherapy treatment. It's not all that rare, especially frequent in patients older than 65 years of age. It is damage to the nerves. It can occur from some chemotherapy drugs used in conventional cancer treatment.

There are three major groups of nerves in the human body, the peripheral nerves that carry information to and from the limbs, the nerves that supply the bowels and other internal organs, and the nerves of the head which connect to the ears, eyes, taste buds, etc. Nerves in any or all of these major groups can be affected by certain chemotherapy drugs.

Nerves are vulnerable to many kinds of damage. They can be damaged by certain cancers. This may be caused by the cancer cells producing a particular kind of biological agent that interferes with the function of the nerves. Sometimes, they can be damaged by drugs used in chemotherapy treatment. The chemotherapy drugs that most likely cause nerve damage are the vinca alkaloids(vincristine, vindesine and vinblastine), platinum drugs(cisplatinum, carboplatinum) and the taxanes(taxol, taxotere). These drugs have the potential of interfering with nerve function.

You may notice symptoms in different areas of your body depending on which groups of nerves are affected. Symptoms in the hands and feet happen when peripheral nerve damage happens and are not rare with vinca alkaloids. The first sign of nerve damage is usually a feeling of tingling and numbness like what you experience when your foot goes to sleep after you've been sitting for a long time in an uncomfortable position. If the problem progresses further, it often produces weakness of the muscles, resulting in loss of strength at the wrist or the ankle. You will notice difficulty in doing up buttons and picking up coins. You may notice that you will tend to trip while walking up stairs or dragging your feet and tend to have a wide-based gait. In severe cases, the weakness may be so severe that you will need a wheelchair.

When the nerves in the bowel are affected, constipation is the earliest sign. In a few people, the abdomen becomes bloated with a distended bowel that is basically paralyzed. Some of the nerves in the head can also be affected. Platinum drugs can affect the auditory nerve and cause loss of hearing and tinnitus(ringing in the ears). Vision can very occasionally be affected.

A lot depends on how quickly your cancer treatment can be stopped. Sometimes the need for treatment is more urgent then the residual nerve damage. Sometimes, the balance between benefit from the drug and the side effect of nerve damage is more finely balanced.

Once treatment has been stopped, recovery is usually slow. It may take months to get even partial improvement and often there will be some residual impairment, either a motor weakness or a sensory numbness or both. Recovery is slower in the feet and legs than in the hands and arms.

There is no specific treatment that enhances nerve recovery. There are no drugs that will directly stimulate nerve regeneration or recovery. If you have severe and prolonged pain, then the pain may require narcotics often combined with antidepressants. In some cases, certain types of anticonvulsants would be helpful. Treatment options are subjects that you should discuss with your doctor, so you have accurate expectations of potential benefits and side effects.

Chemotherapy drugs that can cause neuropathy. NCI lists these as most likely to do so:
Cisplatinum (Platinol)
Carboplatin (Paraplatin)
Vincristine (Oncovin)
Vinblastine (Velban)
Etoposide/VP-16 (VePesid)
Cytarabine (Cytosar, Ara-C)
Hexamethylmelamine (Hexalen)
Suramin
Paclitaxel (Taxol) and Docetaxel (Taxotere)
Other medications reported to contribute to neuropathy include oxaliplatin (Eloxatin), gemcitibine (Gemzar) and thalidomide (Thalomid).

24242 said:

Pain
I am one that has suffered terribly for years after all treatments and doctors refused to address the problems feeding me mostly anti depressants. They gave me headaches and nausea no relief from all the pain.
I was on methadone for almost 5 years as well as 3 others and finally got the pain controlled more than 6 years after my treatments. Now I have new lumps and they are causing me grief just like the first one's I had and everyone tells me that they can't hurt like that. They do and since he manipulated my arm the pain increased in lump areas and radiated from there. Nerves are the source of much pain and don't get why so hard to understand lumps affect things in surrounding area like nerves and muscle.
I am glad I read this cause I am falling down the stairs and MRI shows deteriation in areas that MS patients show. So this might too contribute to that problem of mine and can only hope I don't scar this pretty face, lol
Tara

2hurt42 said:

pain is terrible,why is it so hard for people/ doc 2 understand
going on 2 yr. bones/joints ache all the time , no one seems 2 think that u should hurt all the time from cancer / if in remission , they think you should be just fine . its unbelievable.

PJ Sermons said:

In the same boat
Been cancer free for a year now, but not free of the after effects. I too have server pain in my joints/bones and feet. My job requires me to be on my feet a lot and after about 2 hours of standing I am in so much pain some days I am in tears. They feel like I am walking on a bed of broken glass after someone has smashed them with a large hammer. And yes, I also get the look of disbelief from people around, they just don't have a clue. It is 12:30 in the morning and I can not sleep because of the stabbing pain in my joints and muscles, it feels like someone is standing over me stabbing me with an icepic, horrible pain.
Been to a Neuro Dr. and he has me taking B12 shots (my husband gives them to me) There are reports that low levels of vitiam B12 makes neuropathy worse, well I will give a shot (excuse the pun), as of yet have not seen much change, if any.