Bob,
I have been taking L-Glutamine for a couple of months now but not at the levels that were recommended from another post (10-20grams). I chose to go easy as I have found that I might have Hep C (possibly from the blood transfusion from my surgery last april). Jury is still out on that one as they are testing for the virus as we speak. I have definately been exposed to it at some point in my life. So as far as the dosage, I ddn't want to get too many new things going in the mix until I was sure if I have Hep C or not.
I take 1gram in the morning and 1 at night along with 200mg of B6 both in the morning and night. I found during my treatment with Oxaliplatin, the B6 really helped with the symptoms. I was only taking 200mg a day so I've bumped that up a bit since stopping the Oxaliplatin last Oct.
I feel I'm early on in this process and have the mind set that it could take 1-2 years before my fingers and feet get back to normal. But. . .
Here are somethings that I have discovered that help the feeling:
1.)Oxaliplatin is a derived from platinum (thats why it cost so much per application - $4K each). I and others have found that the metals collect in the fatty tisues of the body. So we're thinking that massage is the way to go to help get this stuff out of the body. I checked with my nurses at the Oncology office and they said that there isn't conclusive research to show this to be true. But it makes sense to me. So I massage my fingers, hands, arms, legs, feet and toes regularly. At least twice a day. It sure has helped my sensitivity to the toes being touched as well as my fingers. (used to really hurt to type. Now I pretty much type all day, part of my job).
2.) Get plenty of rest. I stopped Oxaliplatin in Oct (2 applications short of 12). Stopped the 5FU a month later (finished treatment). Fatigue was very evident when I went back to work. Tired by 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon to the point of not functioning well at all. Now, I can make it to 4-5 o'clock pretty regularly. I get 9-11 hours of sleep at night. As far as the Neuropathy, I have found that if I stay out too late it seems to effect this stuff even more. I had a celebration party about 3 weeks after completing my treatment. Stayed out too late and had a bit of wine. Felt it for many days after. Same on New Years Eve. So, I now make sure that I'm in bed early and sleep at least 9 hours.
3.) Stress effects it too. I had a couple of bad days at work last week and found that the stress made my hands and arms worse. Actually not a bad thing as stress causes so much damage to our health.
All in all, I feel a lot better than when I stopped the Oxaliplatin treatment. Back then, I had trouble scratching an itch becuase it hurt my finger nails, I couldn't type much at all, I couldn't begin to rub my toes (also hurt too much). So I guess you could say either the Glutamine is helping or I am learning to live with this stuff. I think its a little of both.
Hope that helps.
LeRoy