Treating polyneuropathy in feet

I wouldn't say you have done anything wrong, certainly one treatment isn't enough to make the patient worse. Patients who have weak kidneys are going to experience these problems and one acupuncture treatment will have no effect on that. Also chemo induced neuropathy is a very difficult condition to treat in many cases and requires treatments over a long period of time.

What I would say about your points, however, is that they are not very specific. For example, LV 3 and LI 4 (together the 4 gates) are very strong moving points. They are incredibly overused generally in acupuncture and you would use them rarely if at all on a patient that is this weak constitutionally. That goes for other more moving points like GB 34 perhaps and maybe even SP 6.

I would focus on the case you have in front of you. Deep kidney qi/yang deficiency with dampness and focus on more tonifying points, ideally with a fair amount of moxibustion on the UB 23 and perhaps CV 4 as well. For the neuropathy we usually focus much higher up the spine to facilitate circulation so we use the huatuo of T7 (where nerves innervate abdominal blood vessels, etc. which effect circulation in the lower part of the body), and huatuo of L2, L3, L4, L5 area along with outer bladder points for the kidneys (UB 52, UB 54 as appropriate).

Yes, the tuina can be too much for many patients with neuropathy. We focus the tuina on the T7 and lower lumbar area to facilitate the nerve function and usually do some work in loosening the calf as well. If the patient cannot tolerate the calf tuina then they should be shown stretching exercises for that area. Loosening the calf is an important part of allowing the feet to heal. This is due to an improvement in circulation, but also because less tension on the achilles is beneficial to releasing the fascia on the bottom of the foot.

I think its pretty clear that the Kidneys are the root problem here.

Classically, Chinese doctors used very few needles, 1, 2, sometimes 3 needles in a treatment, because acupuncture uses the patient's energy to work. Your patient is very clearly a deficient person, which is all the more reason to try to save her qi. Her negative reaction after your first treatment is to be expected because with the number of needles used, she was drained further. If you continue with needles, I would recommend picking 1, Kd3 (not bilateral).

I would only do moxa on this person. Indirect stick, 5-10 minutes on each point. As for point selection, keep it all below the knees and keep the heat level mild and you will not have to worry about any side effects from the heat. If you were to pick points on the torso, I would be absolutely sure that her blood pressure is ok and that she could tolerate the heat.

General points to strengthen: St36, GB39

Help circulation in the legs and feet: Lv5, Kd7 - this is a classical moxa prescription used for poor circulation in the low extremities due to deficiency. I use this very frequently on patients going through chemo, and diabetics.

Build Yin and Blood, strengthen Kidney: Kd2 - textbooks say this point is for reducing fire. But, indirect moxa here clears deficient heat by building Kidney Yin and blood.

As for putting these points together for treatments, when her foot pain is severe, I would do Lv5, Kd7 bilaterally, then moxa 1 Kd2. If her foot pain isn't so bad, I would do St36/GB39 bilateral with 1 Kd2.

Finally, at the end, I would always put some burn cream (Ching Wan Hung) on the points just to protect the skin.

SP 9 would certainly be appropriate for neuropathy cases that involve dampness. Not all cases, do however, particularly those that arise more from chemo induced damage. Diabetic induced neuropathy usually has more signs of dampness as they relate to the condition overall. Chemo induced neuropathy can exhibit with more signs of yin deficiency. Personally I find LV 8 more effective generally for either case as well as for knee problems and anything circulation issues in the lower leg.