I had a lumpectomy and chemo and radiation. The chemo was 3 infusions of A/C 3 weeks apart, then a dozen weekly infusions of TAXOL, followed by 25 radiation treatments. Towards the end of the TAXOL, I began to get numbness in my toes and fingers, and taste-buds. Felt like I was walking barefoot on pepples.
It is nearly a year later, the pebble feeling is gone, there is still some numbness in in finger tips but the numbness and sharp needle pain in my big toes and on the knuckle of the other toes is still strong. My balance is not as good, I walk slowly, and frequently I get areas of my skin that feel like they are covered with briars or mosquito bites. Occassionally the mosquite itch is even painful.
I take 600mg, 3x day, of Neurontin (Gabapentin) but aside from it making my head cloudy, I don't think it is doing anything for the nerve pain.
Got any suggestions? I pulled a paper off the computer: Chemotherapy-induced Peripheral Neuropathy Fact shee, at WWW.cancersupportivecare.com/nervepain,php which was quite informative on the diagnosis and measurment techniques, but not the treatments. It also said... "...there are no published studies that have examined these questions." Thats quite a shocker I think.