Cold Gloves and Slippers during Chemo

Dear forum,

My wife is about to start chemo (EC x 3 and Docetaxel x 3), and is very keen to try wearing cold/ice gloves and slippers to try to reduce the effects of neuropathy.

We’ve read a few papers that suggest this does work and reports of some hospitals that have offered them.  

However, we can’t find any products online with good reviews (just some with a couple of flaky sounding reviews on Amazon).

Has anyone used ice gloves/slippers and do you have any purchasing recommendations.

Many thanks.

I’m using them now and have had no issues with my hands and feet thus far and my nails look great. Anyway the ones I use on my hands were the Healthy Hands brand off of amazon. I also bought the refills because you have to use them during chemo continuously. For my feet I used natracure cold therapy socks. I also bought refills and use coolers to keep everything cold. Not as impressed with those but my chemo nurse said those are just harder to keep as cold as you need. Anyway I put them on and then put my feet in a bucket of ice. That does it for me. It’s horribly uncomfortable and I need like three blankets over me with warm packs at my core to keep me from shivering but considering that I have no signs of neuropathy at the moment nor any signs of bad nails it’s worth it to me. 

I’m on my second time round on chemotherapy and found it was the taxol that causes the neuropathy not the EC. It wasn’t severe last time but second time round there is already damage present. I’m planning to use the cold gloves and socks for my paclitaxel infusions. I’m thinking to buy the Halo Mask gloves at the moment. Watching replies with interest 

Nancy

Hi, there and I hope your wife feels better now. I’m not aware of any specific cold/ice gloves and slippers that would be suitable for reducing the effects of neuropathy during chemo, but I recommend checking with your medical team for their recommendations. In the meantime, you might want to check out Nitrile gloves from harmonycr.com/nitrile-gloves/ as they are known for their durability, and chemical resistance, and they are also latex-free. They may not be cold/ice gloves but they are a good alternative for protecting your hands during chemo treatments. I hope this helps!