Peripheral neuropathy

Some breast cancer treatments, especially some chemotherapy drugs, can cause peripheral neuropathy.
Symptoms include pain, numbness and loss of sensation in your fingers and toes.

Unfortunately, there is no way to predict whether you are likely to experience peripheral neuropathy.

About peripheral neuropathy

Peripheral neuropathy is the general term for the pain or discomfort you feel when nerves of the peripheral nervous system are damaged.

The job of these nerves is to deliver signals about physical sensations back to your brain. Damage to the nerves can prevent them from working normally.

This can affect the way the body sends signals from your brain to other parts of your body, such as:

• fingers and toes
• hands and feet
• arms and legs
• internal organs
• mouth and face.

For example, they might send signals of pain when there’s nothing causing pain, or they might not send a pain signal even if something is hurting you.

How long peripheral neuropathy may last

Chemotherapy-induced neuropathy can start any time after you start treatment. It may become worse as you continue treatment. Some people have worse symptoms than others.

Severe problems are uncommon but neuropathy can last for months or even longer.

Causes of peripheral neuropathy

Some anti-cancer drugs can cause peripheral neuropathy during and after treatment. These include:

• drugs in the taxane family such as paclitaxel (Taxol), docetaxel (Taxotere) and Kadcyla (TDM1)
• eribulin (Halaven)
• capecitabine (Xeloda)
• vinorelbine (Navelbine).

Neuropathic pain can also happen if the cancer damages nerves.

Symptoms of peripheral neuropathy

Usually, neuropathy begins in the toes or fingers. It can spread upwards to the feet, hands, legs and arms.
The most common symptoms are:

• pain, tingling, burning, tickling or numbness in arms, hands, fingers, legs and/or feet
• unable to feel touch
• sensitivity to pain and hot and cold temperatures
• trouble using hands/fingers to pick up objects, fasten clothing, or type on a keyboard or a mobile device
• muscle weakness
• loss of balance.

Find out how to treat peripheral neuropathy. 

The impact of peripheral neuropathy

For some people, peripheral neuropathy can have a significant impact on their quality of life.

It can affect any activity or job where you need to use your hands and fingers for fine or detailed work, such as:

• playing music
• creating art
• doing crafts or needlework
• working regularly with a keyboard.