Seeking Help for Severe Foot Pain During Cancer Treatment

Hello I as well have been diagnosed triple positive... Have you ever taken Lyrica...? It's for neuropathy but it helps with my feet pain... Way Big Love Always, Hang in there Warrior 🩷💙

Hi Anthony, I’m sorry we’re in the same boat. I haven’t taken Lyrica yet. I worry about side effects of meds which seems ridiculous given chemo! I’ll ask about it though. Thank you!

I understand, I'm myself Anti-Medication.. I will share with you that my Doctor wanted me to take Lyrica 3 times daily .. I take it once a day, actually at bedtime, because it does make you drowsy until you get use to it .. Keep up the fight Warrior & remember you're not alone... ~AJ

I am ER+HER2+ diagnosed in 2021 with lumpectomy and chemo and radiation. I could not finish my chemo because of the side effects, mainly neuropathy. I too was afraid of the side effects from the meds I was prescribed for neuropathy so waited (maybe too long) before I decided to try anything. I started with a low dose of gabapentin which didn’t help much. They then added in Lyrica which didn’t help so switched to Cymbalta which made me jittery. I am now taking just gabapentin 800 mg 3x a day. I still have a lot of tingling in my feet and get cramps in my toes and legs and often have weak legs. I’m better than I was but it’s taken a while to get even this far. I know everyone reacts differently to medications but I would suggest you try one of the meds and if you have bad side effects or don’t see any improvement ask to try something different. Hope you can find some improvement. Things will get better.

My wife was told to take over the counter Claritin for pain in her bones from the chemo.

I've not heard about taking Claritin for pain before.. Very interesting. Does it help her ?

She has only taken one round of chemo so far. She experienced a couple of days of lower leg & foot pain. She thought it seemed to help some. She only took it for 4 days, though. The actual dosage for Claritin or Loratadine is 10mg per day for seven days in the morning. Day 1 is the day of chemo treatment.

Neuropathy can be permanent, your oncologist may want to delay or reduce your dosing! Please make sure they are aware!

Try putting ice packs for both your hands and feet (can be bought on Amazon) while the Taxotere is being infused. I believe this is the drug that causes neuropathy. It reduces blood flow to your hands and feet while the chemo is being given. ! I hope this is helpful.... Good luck!!!!

I also added IV with extra b12 and zofran on about day 6-10 after each treatment to help me with hydration and nausea and I don’t think would have been able to do it without. I am 2 years out and still have neuropathy in my feet, so please ask oncology team to address it.

Also oofos recovery slides are amazing for easier walking with foot pain

Audra I am on TCHP . I had a bad reaction for time. The one that starts with T made me feel like I was being pinned with needles all over the back side.. then later that week it attacked my digestive system. I was miserable. The 3 time around was to bad. I have had all the side effects and now dealing with not able to chew anything. It feels like eating sawdust . I'm now eating soups I just swallow. I lose weight all the time because my appetite has slowed down. I live with diarrhea. I take immodiam a lot. It slows it. But it comes back. Working is getting harder. I'm trying to find a way to get disability so I can quit working. I'm tired all the time and it's affecting my job. Can anyone tell me if they worked through this. I have 3 more treatments and then surgery and radiation after that. I have her 2 positive carcinoma breast cancer . Any suggestions on getting disability would help. I wish you and everyone the best of luck getting through our cancer. May you have a blessed day.🩷🩷🩷

Harriet I’m so sorry it’s affecting you like this. It’s nasty stuff. I’m about to do round 4 of 6. They’re reducing my dose to help with the side effects. Maybe they can do that for you? Also, the perjeta might be the culprit behind the diarrhea. My oncologist told me they could eliminate that drug if that happened to me. Worth an ask. Have you considered acupuncture? I did one treatment so far and the practitioner focused on my feet, headaches and digestive issues and I think it did help. The Claritin trick plus Advil works to help me with bone pain after the neulasta shot I get the day after chemo to help bones generate white blood cells. It might help with regular joint pain too, might be worth a try.

Erin, I’ve been using those ice booties and gloves and had high hopes but had issues despite that. I bought a machine from polar products in Ohio that does continuous cooling to hands and feet at the same time through a pump built into a cooler. I’ll update on how that works, I’m hoping it stops things from getting worse. I’ll use the booties and gloves as backup. I’m doing PT and they said the ice is a way to treat neuropathy once it starts.

I had the same experience- I used ice packs

Audra, the ice machine sounds amazing! I would love to hear if and how it helps you! Here's hoping you get some success with it!

I have read about adding compression to hands and feet to help prevent neuropathy. I believe you also use cold water it

I’m hoping it helps! I’m getting foot cramps today that are super fun. 🤦🏻‍♀️

@Anthony Claritin helps and has been recommended throughout my treatments

Harriet my financial advocate told me that I may qualify for disability being stage 4. What she said was to call and ask about compassionate allowance. Make sure to say those words when you call Compassionate Allowance. Hope this helps

Have you tried icing your hands and feet and using compression sock and gloves?

I was told to take Claritin for a week and if the pain persisted I could take tynelnol. Was able to restrict my tynenol intake to two days only

Harriet.. talk to social worker/ navigation team at oncologist office or Infusion center to help you with disability. They can help make it happen

I had this issue with kadcyla. I told my doctor and he stopped the treatment. Maybe they can change the chemo to something else. I feel for you. Hang in there. BTW I did 20 months of chemo/immunotherapy. 👀

Oh yeah. Forgot about lyrica. So much for chemo brain.