Hand/foot syndrome?

topazil · Senior User Joined: 26 Aug 2009 Posts: 108

Okay, better emotionally and things are looking up with me packing a little each day for our move on December 1st (grin)

Thank you so much all for bearing with me. (and bless you all for your thoughts and prayers) My Oncologist is putting me on an antidepressant so hopefully once that gets in my system (about a week) there will be no more meltdowns.

So, last night I noticed my hands are redder than usual (usual being not red at all) and my skin is starting to peel a little bit. I didn't think with the chemotherapy I am taking that that was a side effect but when I have time (am doing laundry now then have to run to the drugstore) will do research here on the net to see what is going on, and any ideas or help from ya'll will be greatly appreciated also.

So will report back later today and read the other posts and comment where I can and give support/prayers and hugs where I can ...................... Have a great and wonderful day everyone.
_________________
Total hysterectomy July 23 2008, mass felt in colon during surgery.
Colonoscopy Aug 2008
Colectomy Sep 2008
Stage IV Colon Cancer metastasized to lungs and liver. (T3,N2,M1,G2)
Started chemotherapy: 09/14/09
Latest chemotherapy session: 11/09/09 - Folfox 6 = Oxaliplatin, 5-FU, Leucovorine with
Avastine.
Started CEA Level when first diagnosed = 10
Highest CEA Level so far 409 on 9/21/09
Most recent CEA Level = 113 on 11/09/09

Vee Smith · Moderator Joined: 12 Feb 2006 Posts: 1003 Location: UK

My great sympathy is if is hand/foot syndrome. I had to come off chemo last year as my hands became unusable and my feet were so bad I had to buy special shoes designed for diabetics and could not walk with any comfort.

I could not find anything that specifically helped. I had a battery of lotions and potions, but in the end found that a "baby butter" made of chamomile oil and pure olive oil was the only thing that seemed to help. Others may have alternatives, but that was the one that worked for me.

sheila · Senior User Joined: 24 Jul 2008 Posts: 265

that happened to mom after the xeloda pills -she too got very sore and peelrd and her feet were dore peeled and numbish.
the doctor had to cut her back for awhile then she couldnt finish the dose because she ended up with every single possible side effect-(the doctor said it was unusual to get all of those) make sure you tell your doctor-all they give is a cream but it only helped her somewhat-I think maybe something that hs aloe would help-but dont use just anything without consulting your doctor first because without realizing it-so many otcs and natural things can interfere or even cause problems while taking chemo or doing radiation.

topazil · Senior User Joined: 26 Aug 2009 Posts: 108

Thank you both very much; here is what I found:

"Hand-Foot Syndrome
Other terms: Palmar-Plantar Erythrodysesthesia; PPE

What is hand-foot syndrome?

Also called hand-foot syndrome or hand-to-foot syndrome, Palmar-Plantar Erythrodysesthesia is a side effect, which can occur with several types of chemotherapy or biologic therapy drugs used to treat cancer. For example, Capecitabine (Xeloda®), 5-Flurouracil (5FU) (FRICK A DUCK, THIS IS ONE OF THE DRUGS I TAKE), continuous-infusion doxorubicin, doxorubicin liposomal (Doxil®), and high-dose Interleukin-2 can cause this skin reaction for some patients. Following administration of chemotherapy, small amounts of drug leak out of very small blood vessels called capillaries in the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. Exposure of your hands and feet to heat as well as friction on your palms and soles increases the amount of drug in the capillaries and increases the amount of drug leakage. This leakage of drug results in redness, tenderness, and possibly peeling of the palms and soles. The redness, also known as palmar-plantar erythema, looks like sunburn. The areas affected can become dry and peel, with numbness or tingling developing. Hand-foot syndrome can be uncomfortable and can interfere with your ability to carry out normal activities.

Things you can do if you suspect hand-foot syndrome (Palmar-Plantar Erythrodysesthesia):

Prevention: Prevention is very important in trying to reduce the development of hand-foot syndrome. Actions taken to prevent hand-foot syndrome will help reduce the severity of symptoms should they develop.

This involves modifying some of your normal daily activities to reduce friction and heat exposure to your hands and feet for a period of time following treatment (approximately one week after IV medication, much as possible during the time you are taking oral (by mouth) medication such as capcitabine).

Avoid long exposure of hands and feet to hot water such as washing dishes, long showers, or tub baths.

Short showers in tepid water will reduce exposure of the soles of your feet to the drug.

Dishwashing gloves should not be worn, as the rubber will hold heat against your palms.

Avoid increased pressure on the soles of the feet or palms of hands.
No jogging, aerobics, power walking, jumping - avoid long days of walking.

You should also avoid using garden tools, household tools such as screwdrivers, and other tasks where you are squeezing your hand on a hard surface.

Using knives to chop food may also cause excessive pressure and friction on your palms.

Cooling procedures:

Cold may provide temporary relief for pain and tenderness caused by hand-foot syndrome.

Placing the palms or bottoms of your feet on an ice pack or a bag of frozen peas may be very comforting. Alternate on and off for 15-20 minutes at a time. (UH DUH I ALSO TAKE AVASTIN AND GET NEUROPATHY FROM IT SO HOW CAN I DO THE COOLING PROCEDURES?)

Lotions:

Rubbing lotion on your palms and soles should be avoided during the same period, although keeping these areas moist is very important between treatments.

Emollients such as Aveeno®, Lubriderm®, Udder Cream®, and Bag Balm® provide excellent moisturizing to your hands and feet.
Pain relief:

Over the counter pain relievers such as acetaminophen (Tylenol®) may be helpful to relieve discomfort associated with hand-foot syndrome. Check with your doctor.
Vitamins:

Taking Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) may be beneficial to preventing and treating Plantar-Palmar Erythrodysesthesia, and should be discussed with your doctor.

Drugs/treatment changes that may be prescribed by your doctor:

Chemotherapy treatments may need to be interrupted or the dose adjusted to prevent worsening of hand-foot syndrome.
When to call your doctor or health care professional:

If you notice that your palms or soles become red or tender. This most often occurs before any peeling, and recommendations for relief of discomfort can be given. If you are on chemotherapy pills, you may be asked to hold treatment, or need your dose adjusted to prevent worsening of symptoms.

Note: We strongly encourage you to talk with your health care professional about your specific medical condition and treatments. The information contained in this website is meant to be helpful and educational, but is not a substitute for medical advice."

So since Monday is my next chemotherapy session I guess I talk to my oncologist about this, and here today was going okay and now am in tears again as I don't want anymore pain or discomfort but I don't want to stop the treatments especially since this will be my fifth treatment and then the sixth one they do the PET scan to see if the mets have shrunk enough to do other things (ablation, surgery, etc) and I don't want all the time I have put into this to mean nothing.

I am sorry to sound like a cry baby but this is very upsetting to me and I guess I thought I wouldn't have any side effects but maybe fatigue, well there goes that idea. So will talk to my Oncologist on Monday and see what happens.

Am doing a bit of packing so will come back later and read and respond to other posts to take my mind off my own chit and maybe help others ((((((((((((HUGS))))))))))))))))))
_________________
Total hysterectomy July 23 2008, mass felt in colon during surgery.
Colonoscopy Aug 2008
Colectomy Sep 2008
Stage IV Colon Cancer metastasized to lungs and liver. (T3,N2,M1,G2)
Started chemotherapy: 09/14/09
Latest chemotherapy session: 11/09/09 - Folfox 6 = Oxaliplatin, 5-FU, Leucovorine with
Avastine.
Started CEA Level when first diagnosed = 10
Highest CEA Level so far 409 on 9/21/09
Most recent CEA Level = 113 on 11/09/09

DulcimerGal · Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 11:02 pm Post subject: Re: Hand/foot syndrome?

Marsha - are you taking the B6 already?

If not - you should, my Onc Doc had me taking that from day one on chemo - along with iron pills. I still got the hand foot problems with sore skin and cracking, but I managed to keep working. I was very careful about shoes, went to low and comfy - had to put away the high heels. It does go away though, or at least improves once you stop the chemo.

My feet are so much better now, and I still keep on with the B6 and iron.
Oh - and the udder cream - I am a big fan of that stuff.

So glad to hear you are feeling better, those low moments like that are the worst!
Cheers
DulcimerGal
_________________
Rectal Cancer diagnosed Valentines Day 2008
Finished 6 weeks of radiation and chemo 4/23/08
Surgery to remove tumor - June 18th 2008
Colostomy Reversal August 20th 2008
Five rounds of Xeloda (chemo) to ZAP anything left!

topazil · Senior User Joined: 26 Aug 2009 Posts: 108

No DulcimerGal my Oncologist never mentioned the B6 so I will talk to his assistant who I see this monday before I get my 5th chemo treatment about the B6 and maybe iron pills.

Where do you get the udder cream? I have looked in the commisary (Tom's ex military) so we do most of our shopping there and cannot find bag balm or anything like it.

Thank you so much for the responses and suggestions. I hope everyones day is bright and beautiful.
_________________
Total hysterectomy July 23 2008, mass felt in colon during surgery.
Colonoscopy Aug 2008
Colectomy Sep 2008
Stage IV Colon Cancer metastasized to lungs and liver. (T3,N2,M1,G2)
Started chemotherapy: 09/14/09
Latest chemotherapy session: 11/09/09 - Folfox 6 = Oxaliplatin, 5-FU, Leucovorine with
Avastine.
Started CEA Level when first diagnosed = 10
Highest CEA Level so far 409 on 9/21/09
Most recent CEA Level = 113 on 11/09/09

sheila · Senior User Joined: 24 Jul 2008 Posts: 265

moms doctors never allowed her to take suppliments of any king-they aid get it through the food you eat .
and she didnt feel much like eating.
and we had bougt some udder cream in a hardware store-Ive also ordered it through vermont country store-they have a website too.

JodyB

Know it sounds crazy, but it helped. I used Triple Antibiotic Lotion on the cracks in my feet and put on socks, including I have been sleeping in them. Fortunately for me, my hands aren't like my feet which, (I'm exaggerating slightly here) had numerous craters in them on both heels. It hurt to walk, and I limped everywhere. My doctor suggested the udder cream too, which you can buy at a tractor supply store, but once I started wearing the socks, I never had to look it up.

Hope you find something that helps.
_________________
Diagnosed with State 3 Colon Cancer April 26, 2009,
Had Half of Colon Removed and more than Half of Right Bowel, then Reconstruction Surgery May 8, 2009,
Cancer found in 4 adjacent lymph nodes.
Began Chemo June 24, 2009, including the clinical trial available.
I'm on Flourouricil, Oxaliplatin, Leucoverin, and Cetuximab.
I've had 7 standard treatments so far, and I think 16 Cetuxmab treatments.

topazil · Senior User Joined: 26 Aug 2009 Posts: 108

Thank you all for your suggestions and believe me they will ALL be tried ((((((((((((((Hugs))))))))))))))) to all.
_________________
Total hysterectomy July 23 2008, mass felt in colon during surgery.
Colonoscopy Aug 2008
Colectomy Sep 2008
Stage IV Colon Cancer metastasized to lungs and liver. (T3,N2,M1,G2)
Started chemotherapy: 09/14/09
Latest chemotherapy session: 11/09/09 - Folfox 6 = Oxaliplatin, 5-FU, Leucovorine with
Avastine.
Started CEA Level when first diagnosed = 10
Highest CEA Level so far 409 on 9/21/09
Most recent CEA Level = 113 on 11/09/09

JodyB

I was on an antidepressant in the hospital after my surgery, and if this doesn't beat all, my surgeon would not give me a prescription for it when he sent me home. Well, I fought him like a demon over and eventually my oncologist did give me a prescription, but by then I had not had them for six weeks, and I decided to try the Stress Tabs and Vitamins C & D instead. Vitamin B is fantastic for people under stress and was one of the things on my list to try for the hand & foot syndrome anyway. Vitamins C & D are like getting sunshine in a pill.

I'm not going to say I haven't had a few melt downs. One morning I was registering at the reception desk at University of Iowa Hospitals Oncology Department and I just started crying and couldn't stop. The poor receptionist wanted to send me to a private room. I think she was afraid it would be contagious with a lobby full of maybe 50 cancer patients on chemo, but I told her no thanks. I figured if I found a private hole to crawl into, they might never get me back out of it. I cried for about ten minutes and then started visiting with the wife of another patient instead.

We were discussing my 7 year old son who had radiation for an inoperable brain tumor when he was 4 years old. Hunter is doing fantastic now, but it was a long haul to get here, with many miracles along the way. Maybe 10 minutes into our conversation, I realized other patients were getting up out of their chairs and making a circle around the two of us so they could hear everything we were saying. Six people had come over to listen to us talking about it before I got called back to see my oncologist.

I told my nurse what had happened and she said it is an uplifting story, and in a place where people can feel depressed and hopeless, to hear something about a reason to hope is exactly what they need to hear. I realized I had been privileged to share my son's struggle and healing, and maybe that was the biggest reason why I needed to be optimistic now and have hope that all of this was going to be successful.

That doesn't mean I don't still have meltdowns, and moments that I get scared, because I do, but I've been privileged to see a miracle, and right this minute that is my light at the end of my tunnel, and I'm getting by without the antidepressants. Now in the middle of December or January when we haven't seen the sun for a week at a time, I may change my mind about that. We'll just have to see.

If you want, I'll try to find a link to my blog that tells some of the things we went through when Hunter was going through all of this. Just let me know.

Hang in there. We celebrate life and living it at this house, and Hunter and I are living with cancer, not dieing of cancer. It's all in the perspective and it sounds like you have a lot going for you.
_________________
Diagnosed with State 3 Colon Cancer April 26, 2009,
Had Half of Colon Removed and more than Half of Right Bowel, then Reconstruction Surgery May 8, 2009,
Cancer found in 4 adjacent lymph nodes.
Began Chemo June 24, 2009, including the clinical trial available.
I'm on Flourouricil, Oxaliplatin, Leucoverin, and Cetuximab.
I've had 7 standard treatments so far, and I think 16 Cetuxmab treatments.

star · Senior User Joined: 02 Sep 2006 Posts: 232 Location: Ohio

Hi Marsha,

Praying that chemo tomorrow goes well and your Cea is coming down,

What is good for red skin and peeling skin and works great is...
VITIMIN E OIL ... Barb used this and it worked really really well..
That Udder cream, I am sure you can get it from wallmart,,

Keep going.. its long road but we are all together with you and each other...

Best Wishes Rob

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