Neuropathy from Chemo: Prevention and Tips! 

I experienced neuropathy on my thumbs and a few toes. I completed chemotherapy in Dec of last year. Happy to say, no more neuropathy. Thank God!!!

I filled two hot water bottles, put them in the freezer and used them to freeze my hands & feet during chemo. Likewise a couple of bags of frozen peas can work

I currently am in treatment here in AZ at cancer treatment centers of America. My oncologist was the one that told me about the importance of icing hands and feet during chemo. They provided the ice “socks and mittens” during each infusion. I don’t have any neuropathy so far thankfully. I am being treated for stage 3B triple negative breast cancer. I have double mastectomy surgery coming very soon. I am hoping and praying my scans come back with no Mets and that I will have pathological complete response!!

wish i found you months ago just finished rchop 6 treatments talking to a survivor is valuable ,people who dont go through this just think your complaining. Please also speak of loss of breath ,constipation, emotional weakness and in the beginning the terror you endure when your body reacts to the treatment.My daughter is an Oncology nurse and she got me a watch that measures heart beat,respiration,and h2o levels.A game changer when your by yourself and sick.Thank You your for making a difference,Peace and Health,namaste.

Taking L-glutamine supplement daily in a smoothie or cereal or perhaps juice was also recommended to me by my chemo educator at my cancer center and I think together with icing has helped a lot. I still have some neuropathy but it’s not terrible. I have 2 more Taxol treatments and then will begin radiation so I’m hoping it doesn’t get any worse. I wish everyone well out there! Hang tough. 💕

Thanks, Marina!

Thanks a lot for your videos 🤗🤗

I just found this channel, I am a breast cancer survivor of about 3 1/2 years. I am experiencing neuropathy in my hands and feet. I wish I had knew about the ice pack.They didn’t help me with nothing but chemo, I was in stage 3, I think they didn’t think I was going to pull through, FOR GOD BE THE GLORY, “I DID”. The social worker was telling me I need to get my business in order. I told her God has the last say so.

Just finished chemo on Thursday! Yay! The neuropathy is doable but can't wait for it to go away.

Finished Chemotherapy end of June and I have neuropathy-Tingling and throbbing in my toes and the top of my feet on both feet. I’ve been using a roller on my feet and that brings me some comfort.

Thank you!

Just a quick thank you for making me feel like I'm not alone. I so appreciate you and the things you share. ❤❤❤

❤🎉 the best info...feeling very hopeful n praying n creating positive energy 🙏

Great advice Thank you

Thank you so much

Very informative. Thanks I completed chemo a month ago 😊

I love your links and channel! So glad to have found you. The doctor and nurses said the ice gloves/socks were effective but only really used during taxel. Do you also recommend using it for A/C? I start that round next week (TNBC).

Big inspiration you are, love from Pakistan 🇵🇰

I am so happy to have found you! Your videos have been so informative, THANK YOU! I will start my first chemo very soon and I am overwhelmed and a little scare to be honest.

Great tips Marina and always such an emotional boost watching your videos:) I'm done with chemo, did 4 AC plus 1 Taxol which I had a very bad reaction to and spent the week in hospital. So Taxol dicontinued and on to Radiation. Now I'm checking out your videos dedicated to your radiation therapy :)

I an starting my first infusion of vincristine tomorrow and I wasn't sure that I wanted to even go through with it because of neuropathy. This video popped up and I am so grateful 🙏.

Definitely going through this now. 2 more infusions. I know it takes time to get back to what you were use to. Appreciate your posts during this journey.

Hello Marina Had my 2nd treatment today and I took ice packs for my feet and hands. Your advice is such a blessing Thank you.

Ty I was onky told about the cold packs in the toes and fingers not the rest. I’ll be doing my first chemo in two weeks after finding out I have idc triple negative two weeks ago.

Oh yes, I have the same problem on my right hand only. My right thumb is the worst. And now my right foot has been acting up a bit. So far its been bearable, though. What has been more of a problem is the itching and burning of my hands. I‘ve noticed that I trigger it off when I use my massage glove on my feet when I shower. Or holding things too tight like the vacuum cleaner or sponge while cleaning. But wearing loosely fitted gloves while cleaning has really helped and I will need to get a massage brush with a handle for my feet. Can‘t touch no scratchy surfaces anymore. Thank you for the well appreciated tips.

Thank you so much. I'm having itching in my hands and feet, which the nurse said is also the beginning of neuropathy from chemo.

Hi Marina, please share any tips about Xelodax....Thank you for all your videos.

8 months since off infusion chemo..but now taking Xeloda.. feet are better from neuropathy but need a cane for uneven surfaces…I hope I can get them back. I agree our health care system does not help us much with these kinds of things…Thanks for your channel!

I had 4 rounds of platinum based chemo 15 yrs ago. Hospitalized twice during chemo for horrible pain all over. It was so bad that I only did 4 of the 6 rounds. Then I was fine until about 4 yrs after the chemo. Then burning fire nerve pain started in my feet. It progressed over the years and has spread over my whole body. Nothing stopped the progression of the fire. I did every kind of health protocol out there. Then 3 yrs ago it spread to my GI tract. Now my GI tract is almost non-functional. No medical help for me. Looks like I'll either die of toxicity from intestinal failure if I eat, or starvation if I don't. Hindsight, I would have never done chemo.

Thank you for your videos! They have been so helpful and comforting in this challenging journey! I had my 3rd chemo taxol infusion this past week Tuesday and have been using the ice for head, hands, and feet, but so far I am finding my feet are numb and frozen the whole time without seeming to need to switch ice packs (though I still do change them 1-2x during the 60 min Taxol infusion). 🥶 Almost painfully so that I worry about frostbite because they're sensitive a few days after! Might try to wear a thin sock to add more direct protection in addition to the ice socks next week... 🥵 My head is hot though so I'm changing out Icekaps (I purchased several to freeze the whole thing with packs in, plus extra packs to swap out... Which is expensive! But I plan to donate them once done so feel it's worth it) every 20 mins! I have chronic migraine so the ice feels good/I'm already used to it on my head. My hands stay pretty cold with the gloves, changing every 30 mins, plus handling the ice packs to swap out head packs keeps them numb too! I was told to start icing my head an hour before the infusion itself, but that I only need to start icing hands/feet 10 mins prior (not sure why this is? Shutting down hair cells functioning vs. just reducing blood circulation?) So I have started icing my head once I get settled in the room because by the time they take labs, meet with my doctor, and start premeds (plus saline drip) it's been at least an hour before the Taxol infusion itself. Then they say to ice as long afterwards as possible while the drug is circulating heavily in the body, but I have focused on hydrating and have only done a half hour after at most with the cap because it's easier to keep ice on my head than icing hands (much less feet) on my way home. Though I ran out of cold packs the first time because I started using caps too early (before getting to my appointment). Have had no hair loss so far apart from the usual shedding pre-treatment so hoping it's working... The next couple weeks will be the test! 🤞 My cancer was caught at the end of May this year by a routine mammogram, which I started doing at age 32 after a benign dermoid cyst in my other breast- and if it were not for that, the doctors wouldn't have recommended I start yearly screenings until age 45 per the current "standard" recommendation-- I'm 42 now-- as there is only a distant history of cancer in my family!! I'm BRCA negative, hormone positive x2, and it (invasive lobular carcinoma) was caught early at stage 1a (pea-sized mass deep in my already dense breast tissue that I would have never felt until much, much bigger/worse!) so I did a lumpectomy, now doing 20 weeks of chemo, then radiation... Chemo was recommended because of my age and because I learned I have a mutation on the (autosomal dominant) CHEK2 gene predisposing me to higher likelihood of breast and colon (and prostate if I had one of those 😋) cancer... Colonoscopy was clean (phew) but again, I would never have known I had the gene mutation because it is not one of the standard genes they test for with breast cancer, but it was an "add-on" sequencing panel with 22 other potentially involved lesser-researched genes that I requested the genetic counselor do-- now my siblings know they should/could get tested and/or get screenings for breast, colon, and prostate cancer!! And my 8-year old son when he gets older, too. 🤔 My cancer clinic did not seem much informed about the icing/cold-capping (not upfront offering ice as part of the process at the clinic though they offer snacks/fluids, so I have a big wheeling cooler I bring and dedicated small freezer at home so no food smells) and I agree with you, Marina, that we need to be our own advocates, which also (sadly) includes doing our own research as the health care system (at least in US 😞) is just not invested enough in prevention or adequately informed enough... Thank you for bringing awareness to all these aspects of fighting cancer!! ❤️❤️❤️ Best of luck to you and your family, and to all who take the time to read this comment!

Thank you for your tips. I’m a month plus from my last chemo and my neuropathy in my feet are pretty bad. Six months For it to get better 😮

Thank for sharing all that onformation I am going to start my chimo soon🙏

Hi Marina! Thank you for so many useful videos. I’ll be doing the chemo after next week. I’m so nervous about neuropathy. I’m a calligrapher & crafter. I use my hands a lot. I’m just wondering if you get neuropathy, will it happen all day long or on and off? I just want to prepare myself. Thanks in advance. Mona x

Thanks for your tips. I completed 6 rounds of chemo two weeks ago. I developed neuropathy on fingers and feet after 5th round. It seems to be improving but very slowly. I will also definitely pursue PT. But most of all, thank you for your assurance that time will heal these side effects, which is so true but so hard to accept when I desperately want to feel better soon. ❤

I just started Taxol treatments today. I iced feet and hands during chemotherapy, but I’m wondering do you also do it on non-treatment days. My nurse was so impressed on all the information I obtained from you. Thank you so much for doing these.

Thanks for sharing!! I am going thru chemo and having neuropathy now. Did your doctor prescribe medication to manage the pain?

Hi Marina, Thanks for ur lovely tips regarding to neuropathy i wanted to ask u we go to hospital early and chemo starts later so the mittens and socks will stay cold till then the fusion start plz guide me i wanna buy it

Hi Marina I hope your well I just wanted to ask what supplements you take to stay NED 🙏🙏🙏🇦🇺💚

Personally, I refuse conventional treatment, but I still like to learn about it for the sake of insight into what others go through. 💜 Also, I will definitely share your delightfully informative videos!!

Thanks for the tips. Having neuropathy on my feet is the most annoying/painful side effects of chemo for me. I don’t mind losing my hair, but the tingling on my feet is unbearable. I cried every time it happened. I’m having my 3th round on the 26th so I’m going to ice my feet and hands. Hopefully, it works for me🙏

Glutamine!! my integrative wellness doc highly suggested taking this daily during chemo! I used it along w/ the gloves/booties and I did not get it.

Gift of time...I've had Neuropathy for nearly 2 years now also due to chemo. In arms, legs, hands and feet. Will this pain ever go away?

How long after chemo did your eyebrows and eye lashes grow back?

Does neuropathy lead to losing fingernails? My sister had 6 rounds of chemo and lost half of her nails on each finger, she also describes the sensation of having binder clips clipped onto her fingers all the time..we always wonder if the cold gloves would prevent the loss of fingernails or only prevent the numbing/tingling sensation

I was keeping my hands super cold during the infusion that I could barely tolerate it. Then, I started feeling strange sensation afterwards - I don’t know whether it was from chemo or hypothermia from gloves

What kind of chemo? They did icing on my hands and feet when I did doxy, because it can cause a rash. But no one suggested it when I started Taxol. And yet now, after the first treatment, I’m having numbness in my feet and a little bit in my hands. Why would they mention it with one, but not the other?

Icing didn’t help me🙁 I did it for every treatment. It has been 10 months and not better. 😢 I am wondering if my body is going to recover from it. I have it in my hands and feet. Some days it’s is unbearable for me and seems worse.

It has been a year my hands pins and needles my feet feel I'm walking on Chanelle socks I have to walk on a cane my balance is off. Taxol did this to me before I start them nurse said not to do it it hasn't been proven so now I can not walk I'm 75 which is a problem as well.💔

Unfortunately your links do not work :( I’m trying to get the link to the ice gloves and socks

what about balance issue from chemo

I'm so happy I found this video because this neuropathy is about to take me out..smh. I wish I iced my hands an feet..

Organic Tart Cherry Juice NOT FROM CONCENTRATE

What of electrotherapy.?

I guess I will go with time🙂! I used the gloves and still got neuropathy, mostly in my feet. Dry needling! No thanks, don't need anymore pain😅

All the amazon ice gloves and socks I see say it only stays cold 20 minutes so what to do I am confused

Cold cap did not work for me

Hot showers help. The pain moves up my arm and that's what help with pain killer

which cancer chemo drugs was she on?

Where is your loving kids