Neuropathy After Chemotherapy: What to Expect

Chemotherapy is an effective treatment for killing growing cancer cells. This helps the spread of cancerous malignant in other parts of your body. However, on the downside, it has many side effects, which include neuropathy, also referred to as chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) after chemotherapy as a side effect. It affects your nerve fibers and increases their sensitivity to pain, temperature, or touch.

Understanding the different types of neuropathies makes it easier to identify a safe and effective treatment approach. Below is everything you need to know about neuropathy after chemotherapy:

What is Neuropathy?

Neuropathy is the damage to your peripheral nerves outside your brain and spinal cord area. This defect can result from traumatic injuries, metabolic issues, infections, or chemo. The condition is majorly signaled by numbness, prickling, and burning sensations on your feet and hands.

 

Types of Neuropathy After Chemo

The types of neuropathy vary depending on the nerves affected by the chemo-treatment. It can affect your motor, sensory, or autonomic nerves.

• Motor Neuropathy: This is the chemotherapy damage affecting your movement muscles.
• Sensory Neuropathy: It affects the nerves that transmit information like pain or touch.
• Autonomic Neuropathy: Damage to the nerve fibers of your digestive and breathing systems.

 

Why You May Experience It

Chemotherapy damages some of your healthy cells and nerves as it destroys the cancerous cells. Cancer cells grow faster than healthy ones. Chemo drugs do not tear cancer and health cells apart, exposing them to damage and leading to neuropathic pain.

 

What to Expect From Neuropathy after Chemotherapy

Neuropathy alters your peripheral nerves responsible for carrying sensation and controlling the movement of your arms. Due to this damage, you may experience the following:

• Decreased sensation on your legs and hands
• Burning pain that comes and goes
• Tingling sensation
• Increased sensitivity to pressure, temperature, and touch
• Muscle weakness affecting your stability as you walk

 

How This Pain is Treated 

The treatment goals for this condition are to relieve pain and treat the areas affected by chemotherapy. Some of the most effective treatment approaches include:

• Perivascular Cellular Therapy: Helps in treating your damaged nerves by repairing them. Your physician injects stem cells in the area of your damaged nerves, which release neurodegenerative and neuroprotective factors in your body.
• Spinal Cord Stimulation: This is used to relieve pain from your spinal cord by blocking the nerve causing discomfort.
• Physical Therapy: If your muscles are weak, physical therapy helps strengthen them.
• Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation: Treats pain using an electric current of varying frequencies deepening with chronic pain.

 

Get an Effective Treatment Approach Today!

You don’t have to worry if you’re experiencing pain after your chemo treatment. Neuropathy after chemotherapy is normal, but it’s treatable. You need to work with an experienced specialist to identify the type of neuropathy and administer a personalized treatment.

At Southeast Pain & Spine Care we offer interventional treatments and cellular therapy to treat damaged nerve fibers. Our experienced specialists use advanced treatment approaches to make sure you lead a painless life after your treatment. Please fill out the form below to get in touch with our physicians.