OUR resident specialist and NHS GP, Dr Zoe Williams, shares her expert advice.
Today, Dr Zoe helps a reader who has painful feet after being diagnosed with myeloma.
Q: I WAS diagnosed with myeloma in June 2020 and had weekly doses of chemotherapy and daily thalidomide capsules for nine months.
Twelve months later, I had a stem cell transplant.
For the past three years, my feet and calves have been painful and tingling and it’s also painful to walk.
Is there anything I can do?
A: It sounds like the symptoms you’re describing are likely to be due to peripheral neuropathy when nerves in the extremities – most commonly feet – are damaged.
It is a condition that can be caused either by the disease multiple myeloma itself or by the treatments used.
Many types of chemotherapy cause it.
Thalidomide is a known example of a neurotoxic drug, too.
This means it can be toxic to nerves in the peripheries, furthest from the central nervous system and more vulnerable to damage.
For a long time, doctors thought that peripheral neuropathy caused by drugs was completely irreversible.
But new research and advanced treatments are challenging this idea.
But the reality for many, especially where the symptoms have been there for some time, is that the nerves will not improve, or only slightly.
There are many things you can do to make living with neuropathy more tolerable.
Nerve pain-relieving medications such as amitriptyline, duloxetine, pregabalin and gabapentin can help as can physiotherapy or acupuncture.
Capsaicin cream or patches can help interrupt the pain signals that are heading for the brain.
See your GP to see what you can access in your local area.
