NEUROPATHY. Can you say NEUROPATHY?
I have started experiencing yet another lovely side effect of cisplatin-based chemotherapy: Peripheral Neuropathy. It means there has been some damage to my peripheral nerve endings (mostly in fingers and toes). Mine is fairly benign - it feels like my hands are waking up from falling asleep all the time. Anyway, I decided to check in with Dr. V's office and talked with fearless nurse Gay. I learned that the symptoms tend to reach their peak 3-4 months after chemotherapy, and may stay up to nine months before disappearing. Of course, it's also possible that the symptoms may never disappear either. Oh, joy.
There don't appear to be many effective treatments, other than things that tend to reduce the symptoms. Accupuncture is one suggestion, as is massage. I've always wanted to try accupuncture (I mean, if there were something wrong with me that accupuncture could treat - I don't go out of my way looking for folks to stick needles in my body, not counting those Neulasta shots).
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1 comments:
Neurontin worked for me, it really just mutes the pain. Once it get into your feet, you'll probably not have much choice but to go on some meds.
I don't have to take meds for it anymore, but I'm still real sensitive and have some numbness.
I've found the best information about Neuropathy on the www.livestrong.org website.
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