My hubby is experiencing peripheral nerve damage as a result of chemotherapy. It increasingly got worse as the treatment continued. He is now 2 months clear of his last infusion. His pain is still excruciating in his feet and moderate in his fingers. He is on sleeping tablets and Endone along with other pain killers. He desperately wants to wean off them but is finding the pain still to intense.
Has anyone else experienced this side effect to chemo and discovered a better way of managing the pain? How long before you started to recover?
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Aotearoa
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There is an article in Nature medical Journal Aug 2010 on use of Acetyl L carnations an over the counter amino acid it was tried on humans in a small study. Check to make sure you don't have any conditions that it could harm. May not be to good if you have a thyroid condition. Sorry I could not get the link to attach. Good luck!
My husband has nerve pain from chemotherapy.(Neuropathy) He takes a lot of curcumin and sometimes it helps.. sometimes as much as 8grams or more a day. It was recommended that he take alpha lipoic acid. It might help you but it did not help him.. he has taken it over a year and we are thinking of stopping it. A lot of folks get pain relief from CBD oil. If it is legal where you live you could give it a try. It is the one that does not get you high. Once again this did not seem to work on my husband but some folks love it. There is also Rick Simpson Oil.. this is the one that does get you high. I know a fellow who says this helps his pains a lot. (We did NOT try this. .I am just reporting on it) Sometimes pemf and light therapy on his feet at night will help him. We use the SOTA pemf because it is the least expensive and most powerful for the money. We also use their light therapy device...mostly just the red and infrared lights. Between these and the curcumin my husband is able to manage the pain but there are bad days. Consider just some nice soaking in Epson salts foot baths for him.. I know it sounds simple and old fashioned but those old remedies can help.
We also tried some neuro-acupuncture .. that is a consideration. It can do remarkable things. We tried this but once again my husband did not notice a difference. Get him good shoes.. it can help. Lately I got my husband some shoes from Zappos - They were by Altra footwear - the Cayd model. I remembered reading that folks with foot problems liked their shoes. .plus with Zappos return policy.. I figured I could always send them back.
Here are some other ideas that I have not tried:
Devils Claw - it is supposed to help with pain. You should research it..
PEA - I was going to order this from life extension to give it a try but they were out of stock. I figure it is worth a try.
In regards to recovery My husbands chemo was over year ago. We are still dealing with the nerve damage. I am just happy to have him alive. I do feel bad that he hurts.
Hugs and prayers for the two of you. Please let us know if you find something that helps. I will share with you if I find anything else.
I have very annoying foot neuropathy that developed right after 8 cycles chemo. Coldness, numbness, etc. But not really bad pain. Prescribed Gabapentin (Neurontin). Don't know that it's done a lot for me (except took away almost all hot flashes). May be worth a shot.
Still have pain, numbness, insensetivity a year after end of chemo. 9 cycles. Upper extremity nerve reactivity test showed all motor nerves slow and many sensory nerves dead ( no reaction at all to their stimulation even at very high levels). Feet get really tired after hours on them. Loose sensory control, can't drive, trouble walking. Luckily mine aren't really painfull. Message at bed time a great help. Thank you pretty wife of 40 years. Just started Gabapentin and be sure to change shoes 2 or 3 times a day to change pressure points on feet.
I've had peripheral neuropathy in both feet before my Pca. I've been taking one Neurontin/Gabapentin 600mg after breakfast and one after dinner for many years. It's worked for me or since I've had the neuropathy for so long, I may have gotten used to the pain. As I write this I think about my feet and suddenly I feel a bit of the neuropathy. "What a revolting development this is".
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