Originally Posted by glenntaj

--which is admittedly anecdotal--but I am involved on this board and others and with several neuropathy support groups--there is a lot of variation in the amount of recovery that people who have chemo-induced neuropathy get.

Many do get some recovery, but a lot depends on the chemotherapeutic agent and the duration and number of course of chemotherpay needed. The heavy metal agents, for example--platinum based drugs and the like--are notoriously neurotoxic (though don't count on an oncologist to tell you this going in). They are very powerful agents designed to disrupt the DNA of cancer cells and they do a good job of doing that to nerve and other cells as well.

The immunomodulating and monoclonal antibodies used for many blood cancers can also be neurotoxic but seem to be not quite as bad as the metal based drugs; the mechanisms by which they act are somewhat different, and, at least from speaking to people who've had them, their neuropathies on average tend to be less severe and they seem to recover more fully.

Of course, while chemotherapy is going on one should be doing everything possible to promote nerve maintenance and repair, from exercise to judiciously chosen supplements (likely essential fatty acids, methylcobalamin B12, probably some co-enzyme Q10, maybe others) to good diet.