Peripheral Neuropathy Treatment

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9 years after breast cancer diagnosis and have been in remission for 8 years. Was on Paclitaxel for chemotherapy. 
Have suffered with peripheral neuropathy ever since and this is progressively getting worse - keeping me up at night, causing a lot of pain and discomfort. 

I understand that this is a common side effect, but it is becoming debilitating now. 

What treatments are available? How can I help myself and is there anywhere that I can be helped by professionals? 

  • Hi HWoo,

    Welcome to our Online Community. We hope you find this a warm and welcoming place to ask questions and seek support. I’m Kirstine, one of the Cancer Information Nurse Specialists.

    I’m sorry to read you are troubled by peripheral neuropathy. Some cancer drugs can cause nerve damage that causes altered sensation, numbness, tingling and sometimes pain, especially in the nerves at the ends of limbs, legs, arms, fingers and toes. For many people this will go away with a little bit of time, but some people unfortunately have longer lasting difficulties like you describe.

    You will likely know already that because this nerve damage changes the way you feel sensations like hot or cold or pain, you need to be extra vigilant in checking your skin for damage and protecting it. This will mean being extra careful to wear hard soled shoes or slippers in case you accidentally step on something sharp. Be careful when testing water temperature and consider wearing gloves for tasks like washing up and gardening. Use a good moisturiser to keep your skin resilient and check for damage or breaks regularly. There are further precautions and advice detailed in the link on our webpage above depending on your symptoms.

    There are currently no effective treatments to stop the peripheral nerve damage, but they are researching this area. There are however medications and interventions that can help reduce the pain and support you to manage your symptoms. This might include particular pain killers that help with nerve pain, a TENS machine, or acupuncture. If your balance or day to day activities are affected a physiotherapist or occupational therapist may be able to offer support too.

    The first step is always having chat with the GP who can begin to try things to help. It can take time and a little bit of trial and error to find a regime that helps you best so you may need to keep going back until it’s better for you. They may also refer you to a specialist pain team or a neurologist for additional assessment and advice.

    There are sadly not many support resources out there on this topic. We don’t have a dedicated channel for this subject but if you search ‘peripheral neuropathy’ here in the Online Community you will find other questions people have asked about it and the responses across a range of our forums. The British Peripheral Nerve Society is an organisation for professionals but they seem to have an interest in creating a patient support group – it could be worth reaching out to them to see if they have further details on that. The Foundation for Peripheral Neuropathy have good information on their website but are based in the USA. Pain Concern are a UK charity who may be able to offer advice and support.

    I hope some of this is helpful for you, and warmly invite you to contact us again if we can help with anything further.

    Wishing you the best with this moving forwards,

    Kirstine – Macmillan

    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 KDf/ LD