Cold Therapy for Hands and Feet for Taxotere

Upheld

I've been reading a lot about peripheral neuropathy and nail damage/loss here as well. Did you use cold packs on your hands and feet? What cold packs or solution did you use? Where did you purchase them? if so, what were the results? If not, did you experience neuropathy?

Kicks

Nope - did not use ice/cold packs on feet or hands. I could not have used anything to lower the temperature in my extremities as that would have lowered my already very low body temperature

Did not develope neuropathy.

Did not have nail problems.

I did use OPI Nail Envy on them and they actually were better after TXs than I can ever remember them having been. I did get a large blackened spot on one big toe but it was from a bruise I got driving in a Mud Bog 2 days after 2nd A/C.

stephincanada

Hi,

I did four cycles of Taxotere and did not develop neuropathy or nail problems. My hospital fills plastic bags with crushed ice and has patients put the ice bags over their fingers and toes. I cut the tops off an old pair of gym socks so that most of my feet would stay warm while my toes were covered by the ice bag.

Good luck!

Artista928

I did the ice packs just in case. I wanted to do everything I could to possibly prevent se's, just like just doing Claritin day of and 3 days after the Neulasta shot just in case for bone pain. Had my hands and feet on ice packs at all 4 txs. Didn't get it. I'm willing to try anything that can't hurt to try to prevent possible se's.

BellasMomToo

I did not ice my hands or feet. I did not have neuropathy. My nails were strong during chemo. But after chemo, my fingernails became brittle and are still brittle. My toenails were, and still are, perfectly fine.

Wildflower2015

I had four rounds of TC and did not ice my hands or feet. I had no problems with my nails at all. I might have had a little bit of temporary neuropathy in my hands and feet. I remember them having a passing feeling of numbness at times but it went away soon after chemo ended. I used cold caps to prevent hair loss and there was no way I was going to add icing my hands and feet on top of that.

Melrosemelrose

I iced during the Taxotere infusion for all 6 rounds of chemo. I made round ice balls ( about the size of a gum ball) and put them in a sandwich size ziplock bag. I had 4 Neoprene wine bags that I purchased at Target and put one ice bag in the bottom of each. I wore some thin socks and put each foot in a Neoprene bag. I wore some fingerless gloves/hand gauntlets and then put each hand in a Neoprene bag. I iced 15 minutes before the start of the infusion, one hour during the infusion and 15 minutes after the infusion (for a total of 1 1/2 hours). Yes, the idea of icing does not appeal to everyone and the first few minutes of icing can be uncomfortable. It is a personal choice to ice. I chose to ice because I thought it was worth the risk of possibly minimizing the chemo side effects to my hands and feet. I figured it would be better to be little uncomfortable during the 6 rounds rather than deal with the possible long lasting side effects. I did not experience any nail damage... no nail bed pain.... no darkening of the nails... no nail loss. I also haven't experienced any neuropathy.

I know some who did not ice and did not experience any nail damage or neuropathy. I also know some who did not ice and experienced nail damage during chemo and are still dealing with neuropathy issues. What this means is each of us reacts different to chemo and there isn't a way to predict exactly how one will react.

Wishing you the best.