Peripheral Neuropathy

After 19 weeks of treatment with virtually no side effects, other than losing his hair, my husband finished his chemo the end of November. Last week he began to have numbness in his fingers and toes. Now it is moving into his entire foot. The doctor said to take extra vitamin B, vitamin e (2000 iu) and vitamin d (800 iu) daily. Has anyone had similar side effects and did they go away or get worse?

 

On 1/25/2008 chersesg wrote:

After 19 weeks of treatment with virtually no side effects, other than losing his hair, my husband finished his chemo the end of November. Last week he began to have numbness in his fingers and toes. Now it is moving into his entire foot. The doctor said to take extra vitamin B, vitamin e (2000 iu) and vitamin d (800 iu) daily. Has anyone had similar side effects and did they go away or get worse?

From what my oncologist told me, some people get neuropathy from the chemo.  I am on the oral Tarceva and experienced numbness and tingling in both hands and feet.  He gave me a prescription for Neurontin.  However, it only made me sleep so I only took it a couple of times.  But after a few weeks all the symptoms totally went away.  I haven't had any problems for over 2 months now.  I did also increas my Vitamin B and D in the meantime.  I also added 1000 mg of flaxseed oil 3 times a day.  That has helped tremendously.  Hope this helps.  Nancy 

YES YES YES! My husband has developed the neuropathy feet and fingers and diabetic Type 2. He has really had alot of trouble with numb feet and we tried the vit. route, Lyrica and magnesium with no help. As with yours his side effects from the chemo. were minimal and he has been off treatment for 16 months and doing well although the cancer has spread to the lymphs.

Read an interesting blurb yesterday about Vitamin E and Cisplatin.  300 mg/day decreased neurotoxicity dramatically when Cisplatin is used.  I know in our case this was one of the chemo drugs we used for EC, and if we had to use it again I would be inclined to use Vitamin E with it.  I'm guessing less neuroroxicity might result in less neuropathy.

Hi and yes. My husband 58yrs. old had 9 mos. of chemo. and radiation for Stage 4 EC with mets to the lymphs. After the chemo. he developed severe neuropathy in his feet and hands, feet being the worse. Also a few months ago he was dx'd. with chemo. induced diabetes type 2. You certainly have our sympathy for the pain. He has been on Cymbalta, Lyrica, Magnesium, and Vit. B shots that I gave him. I am sorry to say none of this helped. He takes a couple Vicidan 10mgs. if it really bad. Am always looking for help in this area. Thanks  Annie

I have recently been put on a chemo regimen of gemcitibine + cisplatin, and have been doing a lot of research about cisplatin side effects. The above poster is correct; there have been recent studies involving vitamin E and cisplatin, and vitamin E will help reduce peripheral neuropathy without interfering with the effectiveness of cisplatin. Also, cisplatin is notorious for "delayed" neuropathy; some people have no side effects until their treatment stops, but then develop neuropathy afterward. The neuropathy is supposed to be reversible, meaning that it eventually goes away once treatment is stopped. Do a "google" search on cisplatin and vitamin E, and you should be able to find plenty of articles addressing this issue. Good luck to you!

Rob in Texas