Neuropathy is a very real side effect of chemotherapy treatment. It was something my oncologist was constantly asking me about during each of my weekly visits, especially during my Carbo/Taxol treatments. On her advice, I began to flood my system with certain vitamins a week before my Carbo/Taxol treatments began.
What is Neuropathy?
Peripheral Neuropathy is a condition that occurs when you have nerve damage to your hands and feet. It can cause pain and numbness in your fingers, toes, hands, and bottoms of your feet. It’s a common side effect from the chemo coursing through your veins, and some chemo treatments can have a worse effect than others. If you want to see a complete list neuropathy symptoms, you can read about it from breastcancer.org. It’s something that should be brought up with your doctor as soon as possible. My doctor made it clear that even slight symptoms must be addressed quickly, because neuropathy can cause lasting damage.
How I Minimized the Effect:
I’ll tell you right now, I did everything my doctor told me to do. Whenever she’s recommended something to me to prevent a side effect of treatment, I listened and I did as I was told. I didn’t argue – I asked questions for my own knowledge – but in the end I’m not a doctor. The following is a few of the things I was told to do, and some I did on my own based on my own research or the recommendation of my doctor.
Drink Lots of Water
I was always drinking lots and LOTS of water during my chemo. Even now, while on Xeloda, this is something I’m continuing to do. It helps your kidneys and your liver to process the chemotherapy drugs out of your body in a much more efficient manner. It also prevents them from straining and having the chemo drugs build to toxic levels in those particular organs. I had a much easier time during chemo due to the amount of water I drank. All my doctors and nurses agreed that the amount of water I drank also made my chemo much more bearable.
Personally, I reasoned that since water reaches every part of your body, maybe drinking enough of it would prevent the chemo from sitting in my hands and feet the same way it could sit in your liver or kidneys. I don’t know if this is true, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to try.
Massage
From my first, nasty Red Devil treatment , I began to get full-body massages through my then-cancer center. Some centers offer them and some don’t. (If you’re reading this and you manage a cancer center that doesn’t, I highly encourage you to look into offering massage.) I’ve been a believer in full-body massage since I was in the Navy. The way massage wakes up your muscles, activates your lymph system, and helps your body pull out toxins is amazing.
My oncologist at the time told me there was nothing I could do to water down the chemo treatment or prevent it from doing its job. So, once the chemo had run its course through my body, I began getting massage to eliminate what remained in my tissues. In particular, I had focused massage on my hands and feet. Deep tissue, to be precise. My massage therapists were very familiar with neuropathy, and they really worked to make sure my blood was moving and flowing through my hands and feet.
Vitamins & Supplements
When I switched oncologists due to a move across state, my new oncologist had some interesting advice. She told me to begin taking vitamin supplements to combat the effect of neuropathy. Some also help with heart health, as my chemo regime can cause heart damage. I started after my last AC treatment, during my week “off”, which was one week before I started Carbo/Taxol. In particular, she had me taking:
- B-12
, for nervous system health
- B-6, for nervous system health and heart health
- Omega 3, for immune function and
heart health
- Vitamin D-3
, because Triple Negative breast cancer patients are usually low in vitamin D
The links will take you to the exact brands and strengths I am currently taking myself. I made sure to take these religiously during my Carbo/Taxol treatments. My oncologist told me that she hoped flooding my system with the vitamins would help protect my peripheral nervous system (aka, my hands and feet), from neuropathy. I’ve heard these work for some and not for others. However, I’m willing to give anything a try and right now, they’re currently working for me.
Exercise
I didn’t go out and hit the gym and power lift, but I sure kept moving. I was told that exercise can help fight off neuropathy because it keeps your blood moving through your body. Again, my theory is that it prevents the chemicals from sitting stagnant in your tissues. My boyfriend was great, because he would take me on walks to keep me moving. Just that small amount of exercise was enough to keep my blood flowing through my body. It was also all I handle at the time, so I was very happy to have someone there with me.
Food Choices
While on chemo, the goal was to get it out of my body as quickly as possible. The drugs go through your system so fast that it does it’s job on the cancer, and anything left is just toxic to your tissues. That being said, drinking water was key, but only if I could excrete it quickly. That’s where food choices comes into play. If you’re eating lots of salty foods, your body will retain water to balance itself out. I didn’t want to retain water – that water held chemo drugs that needed to exit my body! So, I stopped eating salty, fried foods. Anything that would make me retain water, I cut from my diet. Again, the goal is to keep things moving.
Lotions & Cream
Neuropathy is still an issue with Xeloda, so I continue to take my vitamins. However, there’s now another issue that I have to be vigilant against, and that’s Hand-Foot Syndrome. It can cause redness, swelling, pain, and blisters on your hands and feet. It even makes the skin become extremely dry, crack, and peel off. Again, drinking water to make sure my skin is well hydrated can help, according to my doctor. This time, along with the vitamins, she’s also having me use two additional products: Bag Balm
