Palmar-plantar

Hi

Some types of chemo carry a higher risk of PP than others - The list of culprits is fairly long  :-/  Quite a few of the breast cancer ladies get this debilitating side effect from Docetaxel chemo.

You should inform your Onco Unit as they may wish to reduce your dosage levels by 10% or so as this can be accumulative.

Hand / Foot syndrome also known as Palmar Plantar (link) with helpful advice.

One thing that can make this worse is friction, so try to keep feet flat when climbing stairs or hills to keep the weight off the balls of your feet. Be wary of unscrewing bottle or jar caps as this can also affect the hands.

Keeping your feet creamed will also help but a better one to use is Udderley Smooth with 10% Urea (Amazon stocks this) but if you order some make sure it is the type that contains urea. It was developed to protect cows teets in winter from cracking and getting sore.

There is some info about it on their website here

Hope this is of some help, G n' J

Thank you so much I’m off to take a look now 

Hi Brenda 

Just noticed you mention being at work - does this involve much walking around or are you fairly static ?

Which chemo drug are you having, as I just had a look at your profile and was wondering if this chemo/rad therapy is the trial you mentioned or if you didn't sign up for the trial in the end ?

G n' J

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Hi Brenda. Are you taking capecitabine tablets along with the radiotherapy? I found my feet started to feel a bit gritty - felt like I was walking on sand - but it started to pretty much go after I finished the tablets. However, when I had the tablets again as part of my post op treatment my feet started to get prickly again and the nurse wouldn’t let me have my last session. My feet now feel permanently sunburnt - like my skin is too small and tight for my feet and although reflexology helps a bit, I think this is as good as it’s going to get.

Youve had some brilliant advice from dream thief but please do mention it to your team as it may continue to get worse even after lowering the doseage.

Take care

Karen x

Yes I did sign up It’s called Star Trec Saving the rectum by active surveillance or TransAnal surgery after (chemo) Radiotherapy versus Total mesorectal excision for early Rectal Cancer. 
I take 1650 mg of Capecitabine in the morning, have Radiotherapy later in day and 1650 mg of Capecitabine 12 hours after am dose. Mon-Fri  with sat and sun off. I have done 17 days and only have 8 days of treatment left, I really don’t want to have dosage reduced as I’m scared my ca won’t go. I’d rather find ways of coping. 
mum a finance officer so job is quite static but have to climb 2 flights of steep stairs to get to my office. Last week I only managed to work 6 hours Thursday and 4 hours yesterday.My colleagues have been amazing at helping to keep my workload down for me.  Apart from my feet today is a good day. With less soreness at rectum and vagina 

Hi Karen yes taking Capecitabine and thank you so much x