Neuropathy is what happens when your nerves get damaged or stop working the way they should. Neuropathy can affect the nerves that help you feel, move, or even control different parts of your body. Because your nerves are everywhere, neuropathy can happen just about anywhere too.

If you’ve ever felt tingling, numbness, weakness, or pain—especially in your hands or feet—you know how devastating neuropathy can be. 

Radiation and chemotherapy work by destroying the genetic material that control how cells grow and divide. The goal is to destroy cancerous cells, while destroying as few healthy cells as possible. Unfortunately it is not uncommon for these treatments to destroy both healthy cells and healthy nervous tissue, which can lead to lasting negative effects on your health - including neuropathy. 

Many times your oncologist may tell you that these symptoms may last up to a year, and go away. And if they the symptoms have not gone away after a year that they won’t

Chemo induced neuropathy may show up during treatment, Radiation induced neuropathy symptoms may not show up until 4-6 years after your last treatment.