A member asked:

How can you cure needle like sensation and ball like feeling in the legs and hands caused by chemotherapy?

2 doctors weighed in across 2 answers

neuropathy: Certain chemotherapy agents, specifically the taxanes, can cause damage and irritation to nerve endings. This can often leave patients with numbness or tingling in their hands and/or feet. There is a medicine called Neurontin (gabapentin) which can help relieve this but it's main side effect is drowsiness and can sometimes impact quality of life also. These nerves do heal but very slowly. Time improves some.

Answered 6/30/2014

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Dr. Muaiad Kittaneh answered

Specializes in Addiction Medicine

Difficult to treat: There is really no known therapy that works. Chemotherapy induced neuropathy (cin) is common and nothing really works except from treatment vacation and allowing it to heal over time. Several things are tried but there is no evidence that anything works well. Gabapentin, Lyrica (pregabalin) and venalafaxine are often tried. Vitamin b 6 , calcium, magnesium are also tried but no evidence that any thing works.

Answered 6/27/2014

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