How Do You Know Cipn Is Getting Better

March 14, 2022 Post a Comment

Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy

What Are the Symptoms? And How Can I Manage this Mutual Side Effect of Chemotherapy?

past Robert Knoerl, PhD, RN, and Grace A. Kanzawa-Lee PhD(c), RN, with Ellen M. Lavoie Smith, PhD, APRN, AOCN, FAAN

Chemotherapy treatments for sure types of cancer may cause a common nerve condition called chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, or CIPN for brusque.

What are the symptoms of CIPN?

The symptoms of CIPN can feel like your hands or feet are falling asleep (numbness) or are getting poked by pins and needles (tingling). Sometimes, it tin feel like burning, shooting, or electrical shock-like pain in your hands or feet. CIPN symptoms occur considering some kinds of chemotherapy may impairment your peripheral fretfulness, which are the nerves farthest from your brain, such every bit in your hands and feet. This peripheral nerve harm is thought to cause CIPN.

Who is at risk of developing CIPN?

Notable CIPN affects about 68 percent of cancer survivors receiving neurotoxic chemotherapy drugs, such as paclitaxel, docetaxel, oxaliplatin, cisplatin, carboplatin, vincristine, bortezomib, and thalidomide. This includes people with breast, ovarian, GI, lung, bone, and blood cancers (like lymphoma or leukemia). GI cancer survivors receiving oxaliplatin are also prone to experiencing severe cold sensitivity in their face up, throat, and hands. CIPN is less common in individuals receiving carboplatin or other non-neurotoxic chemotherapies.

Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy affects nearly 68 percent of cancer survivors receiving neurotoxic chemotherapy drugs.

The risk of developing CIPN increases with each infusion of chemotherapy received. The symptoms of CIPN can begin as early equally after the outset infusion. Commonly, CIPN symptoms are well-nigh astringent during the commencement week afterward a chemotherapy infusion and and so begin to decrease. While CIPN symptoms should decrease after yous've completed all your chemotherapy treatments, some survivors even so written report CIPN that lasts months or even years after chemotherapy treatment is over. You lot may be at a greater take chances of developing CIPN if y'all already have neuropathy from other causes, such as diabetes, earlier starting chemotherapy treatment. Some lifestyle factors may also increment your run a risk, such as smoking, consuming a lot of alcohol, not getting enough vitamins in your diet, and a lack of physical activity.

How can CIPN impact me?

After several cycles of chemotherapy, CIPN may go so bad that information technology affects your usual activities. Although numbness, tingling, and pain are most common, other symptoms of CIPN, such as muscle weakness and cramps, can also occur. CIPN symptoms can get in hard to write, climb stairs, concord a fork or pocketknife, play sports, or do other activities without tripping or falling.

How is CIPN prevented or treated?

Researchers are continually working to discover new treatments for the prevention or treatment of CIPN to decrease the negative issue of CIPN on cancer survivors' quality of life. Right now, no effective medicines to prevent CIPN are known. If CIPN starts to get in the way of your usual daily activities, your doctor may subtract the dose of the chemotherapy causing the neuropathy. For long-lasting, painful CIPN, duloxetine (Cymbalta) may help to alleviate your symptoms, especially if your CIPN is caused by paclitaxel or oxaliplatin. However, less is known about whether duloxetine works to improve nonpainful CIPN symptoms, such as numbness or tingling, or CIPN that is caused past other neurotoxic chemotherapies. If duloxetine does not help your CIPN symptoms, your provider may prescribe some other medicine such as gabapentin or pregabalin. These medicines accept not been shown to significantly amend CIPN but have been helpful in treating other types of nerve pain not caused by chemotherapy.

Research is starting to show that nonmedical treatments might assistance reduce CIPN. Nonmedical treatments include practise, cognitive behavioral therapy, electrical nervus stimulation, and acupuncture. More research is needed to decide whether these therapies are truly effective and worth the investment. However, you lot should talk with your healthcare provider to encounter if whatever nonmedical treatments could help your CIPN symptoms.

What precautions should I have if I have CIPN?

No affair how bad your CIPN symptoms go, whatsoever change of awareness in your hands or anxiety may make you more likely to injure yourself. Injuries may occur because yous cannot feel the ground beneath your feet, hot or cold temperatures, or sharp objects. Here are some of import safety tips to follow if you have CIPN.

To avoid tripping on objects you lot cannot feel beneath your anxiety:
• Utilise nightlights or other lamps to make sure your house is well lit when y'all get up to walk at night.
• Utilize nonslip rugs, and tape down carpet corners in your domicile.
• Avoid or take extra circumspection when walking on uneven surfaces.

To avoid burning, freezing, or cutting your easily or anxiety:
• Wearable gloves when treatment hot or sharp materials.
• Go on your hands and feet warm when yous are working with cold objects or are outside in the cold.
• Wear well-plumbing equipment shoes that completely cover your feet.
• Check your hands and feet regularly for injuries. You may not feel when your hands or feet are cut or scraped. If these kinds of injuries are not properly treated, they may lead to infections or other complications.

The most of import thing for you to do when you notice CIPN symptoms is to talk to your doctor or nurse. It is important for your doctors or nurses to know nigh your CIPN symptoms as before long as possible, fifty-fifty if your symptoms are not notwithstanding bothersome, so they can monitor yous and help yous manage your CIPN before the symptoms become also troublesome. CIPN tin can exist a worrying side effect of chemotherapy, but the symptoms can be managed if you address them early and often with your physician or nurse.

Dr. Robert Knoerl (@robknoerl on Twitter)is a mail-doctoral fellow in integrative nursing at Dana-Farber Cancer Found in Boston, MA.

Grace A. Kanzawa-Lee (right) is a PhD student at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI. They are both interested in studying the use of nonpharmacological interventions to improve quality of life in cancer survivors with CIPN.