Hand And Feet

I am on my 2nd session of sutent. the 1st month it wasn't bad. i had mouth irritation and slight hand and feet problems. this month 1/2 way through the 3rd week my hands got pretty bad. Did any one else notice the "sores" seem to come out on weaker spots, ex: where i had calluses on sides of fingers or a scrape that hadn't healed yet. My sores are not open. They are bright red marks 1/2 in. to 2 in. that look like blisters with no fluid and hurt to just touch them. So far nothing has helped. I just heard about icing them and i"m going to try that now.

Paula

On 4/12/2008 sean12 wrote:

I am on my 2nd session of sutent. the 1st month it wasn't bad. i had mouth irritation and slight hand and feet problems. this month 1/2 way through the 3rd week my hands got pretty bad. Did any one else notice the "sores" seem to come out on weaker spots, ex: where i had calluses on sides of fingers or a scrape that hadn't healed yet. My sores are not open. They are bright red marks 1/2 in. to 2 in. that look like blisters with no fluid and hurt to just touch them. So far nothing has helped. I just heard about icing them and i"m going to try that now.

Paula

 

Hi Paula- I am on about my 8th cycle of Sutent. My main side effects are with the hand and foot syndrome. Some cycles are very mild while others are extremly painful. The one time I had almost no problems with my feet is when I stayed at my house in Mexico where we have only a shower. In my house in Utah I take long hot baths. I have decided to try showers only to see if the problems are reduced. My Oncologist has me taking 2-100 mg vitamen B pills to help. If similar to me, your red sore spots will become less painfull within a few days of going on your 2-week break. My sore spots then develop into blisters and peel off before I start my next round. They then develop at the same spots within 1 to 2 weeks after starting my Sutent. Let me know how the ice pack works as that makes sense to me. Good luck.

 Walt

    Walt, the ice only seemed to last while I had it on. Maybe I did not leave it on long enough. Today I bought a pair of 100% white cotton gloves at walgreens for 3.99. I work the lunch program at my sons school.  These helped alot. I was able to do my job. Before I put them on I put lotion on my hands. I also had to put the vinyl gloves over the cotton because i was handling food. It still hurts but not as bad.

I'm just starting my 4th cycle on Sutent.

In cycle 2 my right thumb had a small Sutent blister but in cycle 3 most of my fingers blistered painfully. I use a range of gloves to protect the sensitive areas of my hands. I have not tried ice but I've noticed that the pain is relieved with cold water.

I've noticed that the blistering is associated with areas that get wear during any activity. For me it was some carpentry. I used gloves that covered the main part of my hand but left my fingers free and the blistering only took place where my hands were unprotected. It seems to me like the sutent stops the skin from recovering from wear so that the whole layer of skin above the growth layer dies off forming a hard dead layer of skin. For me so far it has recovered during the two weeks rest from Sutent. I'm a little anxious as to what will happen during my 4th cycle to the new areas of skin on my fingers that have just developed following blistering in the 3rd cycle. I'm wearing gloves and continue to do my carpentry and other physical work. I'll update this message when I complete the 4th cycle of sutent.

Of course I'm using the various hand lotions and the famous udder cream mentioned in other messages in the hope that they will help.

Keith