Hi Liser

I'm Daisy53 on of the Community Champions on this forum.  While I don't have experience of using cold therapy gloves and socks I noticed that you haven't had any replies yet so I thought I'd reply to you to move you to the top of the discussion.  Hopefully someone with the relevant experience will be along shortly with some advice for you.

Best wishes

Daisy53

Hi Liser

I wore flight socks and used cold mitts and boots for 9 x weekly Paclitaxel. I had slight tingling in my feet in the last few cycles but it corrected it self before the next treatment.
I haven't suffered from neuropathy.

My thoughts were that it was worth trying.

I looked at hiring a gloves and socks cooling unit from an outside company but it became very involved and my chemo unit wasn't keen. So I cobbled together a collection of stuff that worked for me.

I'm happy to give a list of what I bought or, if you live in NW London happy to give you the equipment I used.

Good luck with the next part of your treatment 

dx

PS there is a thread about 30 days ago called Paclitaxel and neuropathy where I have listed all the items I used

Hi there, 

I bought some small reusable ice packs from amazon and take them with me to chemo in a small cool bag. I put them in my socks and hold one in my hands to cool them down and swap them out when they warm up. So far I haven't experienced any neuropathy, after 4 infusions. Maybe give it a go, much cheaper than the special cold gloves etc.

Thank you Dandelion 6 for your advice. Will give it a go.

Hi deebee60 for your reply & your very helpful advice. Arrh thank you for the offer of borrowing your items but I live quite away in South London. I spoke to the oncologist & he said see how I go with first few treatments & if I get a problem will review. I think they have equipment at the hospital but I bought my own anyway. I will see how I go. 

Take care

L

Thank you

Great that you have got your equipment ready. I strongly suggest that you go ahead and use it from the outset.
I used compression socks as well as the iced slippers as there has been some research on compression gloves and socks with positive outcomes - although a small sample. There has been some research using compression and ice also with good outcomes (again with a small sample though)

It took a good few days for my stuff to freeze and I put it in a bit at a time over several days, so's not to overload the freezer.
I believe that it is important to wear socks when wearing the ice slippers/boots so as not to damage feet

Good luck with your treatment

dx

Hi Liser, just wondering how the chemo is going and if the cold therapy on your hands and feet is working out for you.

d xx

Hi deebee60

Thank you for your message. I unfortunately had an allergic reaction to the paclitaxol so have been swapped to nab paclitaxol. Had first infusion last week. Did use the cold therapy on hands & feet + the cold cap. So far so good no neuropathy. So will continue & hopefully will be ok. Thank you for your support. Hope you are doing ok.

Hi, I used both the gloves and the boots and I haven’t had any problems with numbness in either my fingers or feet.

you only have to wear them while you are actually have the chemo infusion, not the whole time. They also let me keep my socks.

you can get them on amazon and in my opinion they were worth it. You need to freeze the inserts at home as the unit can’t freeze them.

good luck, I hope your treatment goes well