Forum Discussion

shs14's avatar
shs14
Member
6 years ago

Anyone tried Cold Therapy to prevent neuropathy in Taxol Chemo

Hi everyone,
I was diagnosed with Her2 positive BC in April. I have been having AC dose dense chemo for the past six weeks (3 x 2 weeks) and have my last one on Thursday. I've tolerated it well which I credit partly to walking every day, between 30-40km a week. 
I start Paclitaxel chemo 12 x weekly two weeks later and I have been reading about Taxol based chemos being very likely to cause neuropathy. I'm keen to do as much as I can to avoid this.
Online there are some new studies showing cold gloves and booties reduce these effects. I can see that it is commonly discussed on the UK forums.
Has anyone used cold therapy while having chemo? I know that there is much discussion and use of cold capping but I can't see anything on the forums about using it to prevent neuropathy. (I considered cold capping but was told by my oncologist it didn't work well with AC.)
The gloves and ice packs that are recommended (Elastogel, Chillpain) all seem to be made and sold in the US and not here, and they cost so much after the exchange rate, taxes and postage. I was wondering if there were any local alternatives people knew about, or if they had made their own alternatives, frozen peas, ice trays or ice packs?
Thanks
  • Hi @Deanne, 
    Thanks for sharing your experience x
    That's great that you were offered gloves. I'm going to ask at my hospital this week. 
    I think I will make the investment if they don't have them. Maybe I can sell them on afterwards.
    I'm most worried about permanent neuropathy rather than nail damage as I make art and craft with my hands.
    Did you just have one set of gloves? People talk about starting 15 minutes before transfusion (I think my dose will be an hour) and changing gloves after 45 minutes and keeping them iced for 15 minutes after.
    Oh and did you do anything for your feet or were they okay?
    Susie

    For anyone who is interested, this is the research info:
    https://academic.oup.com/jnci/article/4443215/Effects-of-Cryotherapy-on-Objective-and-Subjective
  • Hello @shs14,
    I had FEC followed by Docetaxel at 3 weekly intervals, 6 years ago. The hospital supplied ice gloves for use during the Docetaxel chemos. I had no issues with neuropathy and also believe it prevented nail damage. Once when the cannula was put into a vein on the back of my hand the nurse used an ice pack for that hand. The thumb was not covered well and that was the only nail that discoloured during my chemo. 

    So, from my experience ice packs can work but are not as easy to ensure even coverage with. It was just a standard ice gel pack that was used by the nurse but the gloves were easier. I needed someone to help me access a drink etc while my hands were out of action during chemo though.

    Best of luck with it. Take care. Deanne xxx