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Fingers, feet and mouth

Anji
  • 2 replies
  • 40 subscribers
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I have found a help for the problems with mouth and chemo - Folinic Acid  (not Folic Acid) helps with the blistering etc, although things still taste awful.

I am looking for help with fingers and feet...... I have gone through around 4 months of chemo - first fortnightly and then weekly and getting to the end of treatment hopefully.

My feet are painful.... I have been wearing thermal socks and thought it was time to get some new ones, then realised it was actually my feet that were hurting and they are quite red on the soles.   My fingers are another problem.... the ends tingle, I drop everything all the time.... have difficulty typing most of the time.......

Anyone any remedies please 

  • Hi Anji,

    Thank you for getting in touch. My name is Penelope and I am one of the Cancer Information Nurse Specialists. I am sorry to hear about the side effects that you are having from chemo.

    You have mentioned that your feet are red and sore and that your fingers are tingling and affecting your grip. These are thing that the hospital team need to be aware of. You do not mention what chemotherapy you are having but if it is in tablet form then we would suggest not taking any more tablets until you have been assessed by the chemotherapy team. If you have a 24-hour contact number for the chemotherapy team, then we would suggest contacting them straight away to inform them of your worsening symptoms. Please do this even if they are already aware as symptoms can worsen over time and may need to be reassessed.

    If you do not have a 24/7 number or are unable to speak to anyone promptly, please speak to your GP or NHS 111 today and ensure they are aware that you are having chemotherapy.

    It may be that you have hand-foot syndrome or palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia (PPE) caused by chemotherapy. If so, it is important to tell your cancer team so that they can help.

    I have also linked to our information on mouth problems which has some tips on managing taste changes in case it is helpful

    Please do speak to the hospital team as soon as possible about your painful feet and tingling hands.

    Best wishes,

     

    Penelope, 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 send us an email. 

     

    Ref/ DT

  • in reply to Penelope - Macmillan

    thank you.  Will speak with the team 

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