Neuropathy after stopping chemo

Hello Addie12,

Thanks for getting in touch and welcome to our online community.

It’s understandable to have concerns about neuropathy becoming worse.

For most people, symptoms gradually start to improve when treatment stops, but sometimes they can continue to get worse for a few weeks. If this happens, it’s called ‘coasting’ and according to UpToDate (a resource we subscribe to) it can worsen for a few months after treatment stops.

Pain relief, physiotherapy and occupational therapy can help.

However, as nurses on this type of platform, we are unable to say if your mum’s worsening symptoms are due to coasting, or something else. You’ve mentioned being concerned about your mum’s mobility, and this is something that needs to be assessed. Your mum’s specialist hospital team or GP are best placed to do this as they have access to medical notes, and they know what type and stage of cancer she was treated for. We’d recommend that this is done today.

It’s not unusual to experience a range of emotions when diagnosed with cancer. Our booklet ‘How are you feeling?’ describes some common thoughts and feelings, and it contains tips which can help. Your mum should let her GP know how she’s feeling and if she’d like to give us a call on our Support Line, we can speak to her about our free BUPA counselling service, and refer her if she's eligible.

I hope this help.

Best wishes,

Carole (Cancer Information Nurse Specialist) 

You can also speak with the Macmillan Support Line team of experts. Phone free on 0808 808 0000 (7 days a week, 8am-8pm) or email us. 

Ref/FS