Prickly sensation on inside of arms

Hi Alex As you say we can’t do medical diagnosis but a friend of mine got neural periphery after treatment which was a prickly skin issue without rash on his arms. To help honest it went as quickly as it came from memory it lasted a few months. Can you contact your cancer nurse or oncologist? 
Your bloods woukd have been checked during chemo on a regular basis. You should be due s check up soon I woukd imagine. 
mare you doing swallow exercises regularly thry do help. 
Hazel 

Hi, Alex, I remember after my treatment I had a strange sensation in my lower legs, when out walking, I can only describe it as like a fizzy feeling, after a while it went, hopefully yours will also. All the best.

Regards Ray.

Hi Hazel. Thanks so much for the response. I did call the hospital's adivce/assessment line and they said if it was due to the chemo then they would expect I would have difficulty picking things up, so therefore it wasn't. That didn't particularly match my expectations, but for whatever reason that is what the consultant on call thought. My bloods were checked during chemo regularly and stayed pretty good as I understand it. I haven't had any blood tests since June 30th though, and am still on strong pain killers and other meds. Not sure if they'll do them for my follow-up next week. I have a review with my oncologist in just over a week's time and will definitely discuss it then. They are on leave currently so can't talk to them beore then.

Hi Ray. Thanks for sharing your experience. I think there's a good chance whatever is going on for me will get better on its own too. It would be nice to have some kind of diagnosis though for peace of mind. Hopefully in my monthly review with the oncologist next week, they might have an opinion.

Hi Alex what you describe sounds a lot like the "pain" I had/have in my right chest after neck dissections.  This appears to be as a result of destroying the nerves giving sensation to that part of the chest - I describe it like sunburn.  After some time it has morphed into something more comfortable and liveable with.

The reason I say this is that when I was discussing tongue surgery with my consultant and the desire to avoid radiotherapy he mentioned that surgery can totally "destroys" the taste nerves whilst radiotherapy "disables" them and over time much returns to near normal.  Thus I would guess that the radiotherapy has upset the nerves running to your arm, but over time they should settle down and become much more comfortable.

Not a clinical diagnosis but putting 2+2 together and drawing some parallels. As ever, check with your team at the next appointment.

Hi Peter! Thanks for sharing your experience. Some kind of nerve damage or nerve inflmation does sounds like a plausable potential cause. Whether caused by the radiotherapy or the chemo, or the stiff/sore neck as a result of the radiotherapy. That's why I was a bit surprised that the (not my team) consultant at the hospital was so dismissive of the possibility. I don't have enough medical knowledge to know if they were right or not, but I'm really hoping that my own consultant engages more with this when I have my review with them next week, and can take the time to explain their conclusions in a way I can relay convincingly to the GP if necessary.

Hi Alex that prickly sensation sounds really annoying. I had something similar after my radiotherapy on my arms and even down to my hands and it was getting really annoying as it was so itchy but no rash was evident.  Initially I thought I might be allergic to something I was eating but that was not the case. I decided to try an antihistamine working on the possibility that it might be some sort of allergy and I was pleasantly surprised that the antihistamine worked for me.

Might be worth a try as nothing ventured nothing gained. I took the antihistamine for a couple of weeks and the itching went away and did not come back.

Let’s hope that it is something that simple.

Best wishes

Lyn

I made it sound that I had radiotherapy on my arms the way I worded it but that was not the case. The radiotherapy was to my mouth. Hope you did not misunderstand. I worked on the premise of discounting the more simple causes first before thinking about something more complicated.

Best of luck

Lyn

Hi Lyn. Thanks for your comments. Very interesting. My GP helpfully suggested trying moitsurizer, which I am doing, but am doubtful it willl help. I might try an antihystamine and see if that has any luck. Feels like a long shot but if it help you then who knows. :-)

A quick update on my symptoms: the sensation has now spread to strech across the top of my back beteween the shoulders a few inches down. A quick google search for nerve dermatomes seems to indicate that this area lof skin is served by the same set of nerves as the areas that areas of skin on my arms. So I'm beginning to think some kind of neve inflamation or damage in the neck area may be casing this. Unfortunately the assessment unit at my cancer hospital were quick to dismiss the idea that this may be related to my treatment, without asking me much about my symptoms at all. And the latest doctor I spoke to at my GP practice decided it didn't sound urgent so I'm now waiting for a routine appointment in 3 weeks before I'll see the GP. That leaves me with my review with the oncologist at the end of next week being my best bet of getting professional help with this. I'm hoping she will be able to help explain what it is and whether I should be doing anything in terms of self-care or treatment for it.