Increasing pain in my wrists and fingers,increasing from Chemo 8 years ago. Is there anything I can do to help the pain, and why does parts of my body ache since treatment?

Thank you for contacting us and welcome to the online community.

My name is Joanne and I’m one of the Cancer Information Nurses on the Macmillan Support Line.

I’m glad to see that you are a member of our Mantle Cell Lymphoma Forum and that you have had support from the members there.

Here at Macmillan, as we don’t have access to your individual health and care records, we can’t specifically advise on what may be causing your ongoing issues with pain but would always suggest contacting your cancer team or GP for assessment of your symptoms.

There are a number of different causes and types of cancer pain which you may experience both during your treatment and afterwards and these may cause different symptoms.

It can be useful to think about the questions you need to ask your doctor about the pain that you are experiencing. This will enable them to identify the causes and help you plan how to manage your symptoms.

One of the late side effects of chemotherapy can be damage to the nerves which can cause altered sensation, numbness and pain. This type of pain is known as neuropathic pain, and I understand from your conversation on our forum that this is something that has been mentioned by your team.

Whilst painkillers and other types of medications can be used to treat ongoing issues, you may also want to consider some other recommendations for Reducing cancer pain

Our booklet on Managing cancer pain and our pain diary can be useful in helping you to identify any patterns or things which make your pain worse or better and can be a good way to help you communicate with your healthcare team about the effects of any pain relief you may be prescribed.

I hope this information is useful and that you are able to have your symptoms assessed and managed soon.