How is peripheral neuropathy treated?

Currently there is no treatment that can reverse nerve damage.

To stop chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy from getting worse, your doctor may change how much or how often you have chemotherapy. In severe cases, chemotherapy may need to be stopped altogether. If peripheral neuropathy is caused by the cancer itself, symptoms may ease once the cancer has been treated. For some people, the damage may be permanent.

You may be worried about telling your treatment team that you have symptoms of peripheral neuropathy because you want to complete the cancer treatment. But not telling them could mean that you miss any chance to reverse the nerve damage and symptoms. If your doctor recommends pausing or stopping chemotherapy, they will talk to you about other ways to treat the cancer.

Medicines to manage symptoms

Doctors use various medicines to help relieve symptoms including:

• pain medicines – you can try over-the-counter pain medicines (e.g. paracetamol, ibuprofen) but these may not be helpful; your doctor may prescribe stronger pain medicines (e.g. tramadol), but the side effects may mean that these are not good long-term solutions
• duloxetine – sometimes this antidepressant is recommended for managing peripheral neuropathy; while some studies have shown that it helps relieve numbness, tingling and pain, other studies have found no benefit
• other drugs – because treatment options are limited, some other types of antidepressants, the anticonvulsant pregabalin, and the topical creams capsaicin or lignocaine are sometimes recommended by doctors to relieve symptoms such as pain, but how well they work is not clear
• laxatives or stool softeners – these can help manage constipation.
• See our Understanding Cancer Pain booklet.

You may see a range of health professionals to help manage peripheral neuropathy symptoms, including a psychologist (or sometimes a pain specialist), exercise physiologist, occupational therapist, physiotherapist or podiatrist.