* * * HELP!! Bad nerve pain in feet

I take Neurontin - 600mg three times a day to control my neuropathy pain. I have neuropathy in both feet and up mid-calf in my left leg. Mine was caused by Crohn's disease. A biopsy showed that the nerves were dead and gone.
I have no side effects from the neurontin. Without it, I want to take a saw and cut off my feet.

I tried Lyrica but it did not relieve the pain. I know some that have had great relief from it though. Each of us is different.

One technique I found helpful at night was to wad up several pillows at the bottom of the bed to create a tent like space at the bottom of the bed to keep the covers off my feet. I found covers touching my feet made the pain much more intense. Eventually I bought a 18" foam cylinder and used that because it stayed in place better.

Hi Jimm, welcome to Healing Well's chronic pain forum. I am sorry to hear that you may have neuropathy in your feet, I know the pain can be terrible. I urge you to reconsider the medications the dr has offered you. Regular pain medication has very little effect on neuropathy pain or any type of nerve pain. Many people get a great deal of relief with these medications. All medications come with the potential of side effects. No one can say if this will happen with you or not, as Ides said, everyone is different. If you read the side effects on regular Tylenol you would never take it again, lol. Sometimes a person may have some side effects and they go away in time. So, please don't throw all of your options away. No one likes to take medication for sure, but sometimes this is the only way we can live a decent life.

Again, welcome aboard and keep us posted on how you are doing.

Hi Jimm welcome,
I have the same feelings in my leg.I have FBSS,degenerate disc dis. I have tried those meds and they didnt work for me. Im taking cymbalta lowest doase and havent had werid side effect but did when PM upped it.
My pain and those sinsations the PM tells me r from the FBSS. My hubby is dieabetic and has it as well and got to say we have tried everthing over the counter. I would as i have with hubby suggeste that you might try see if you can find one that will work for you. like has been said everyone is different. If you do find something that works please pass info my way. thanks stumped.
hope you find some releif today

I HAVE TERRIBLE FOOT PAIN ESPECIALLY AT NIGHT AND EARLY MORNING.  I HAD FIBROMYALGIA AND ALSO HAVE SOME NEUROPATHY FROM THE RECENT CHEMOTHERAPY TREATMENTS I HAD TO GO THROUGH. 

I HAVE BEEN ON LYRICA AND FIND IT TO WORK VERY WELL.  I AM AN RN AND HAVE READ THE SIDE EFFECTS AS WELL AND HAVE EVEN EXPERIENCED SOME OF THEM, BUT THEY WERE TRANSIENT.  THE LYRICA IS A GOOD DRUG AND LIKE SOMEONE JUST SAID, IF YOU READ THE S E OF TYLENOL YOU PROBABLY WOULDN'T TAKE IT EITHER.  YOU HAVE TO TRY IT FOR A MONTH AND THEN DECIDE IF IT IS FOR YOU.

ALSO THERE IS VOLTAREN GEL THAT IS A TOPICAL GEL THAT HELPS WITH THE FOOT PAIN AS WELL.  YOU NEED IT TO BE PRESCRIBED BY YOUR DOCTOR THOUGH.

HOPE I HAVE BEEN OF SOME HELP.  BEST OF LUCK TO YOU.

LINDALOO

Thanks all for the replies.

How long did it take for the Inositol to work in?

Some of the information on inositol is out of date, as one of the forms (isomers) is no longer considered a B-vitamin, and another is not considered an essential nutrient because the body makes it. Since some of the forms are also not digested by the human body, and others are readily available in fruit, I think I'll opt for the fruit.

I'd take fish oil if I could, but all the brands I've tried give me the reaction I get when I consume sulfite. This leads me to suspect that since fish are often sulfited right on the boats, maybe the oils contain a lot of it when they are made into capsules. I didn't tolerate flax oil, didn't like the taste either. I do tolerate krill oil, but haven't seen any effects in my blood work or how I feel.

I seem to get more benefit from just eating nice green salads, what vegetables I tolerate, a few meats since I don't tolerate beans or soy products well. Greens are the only source I have of vitamin K, which seems to make me feel better than anything else. I had to have expensive K pills for a while and noticed they helped, but it's cheaper and more healthy to just eat real food, avoid snack foods, convenience food.

some doctors can do that but i would estimate 15% so sometimes it takes looking around and going from idiot to idiot. first of all; if i had to pick one of all the doctors i have ever been to as far as finding out exactly whats wrong i would pick the neurosurgeon that did my fusion surgery, thats one that comes to mind out of 25. with neuropathy in your lower extremities and normal blood sugar it may be RSD. as far as ways to control this type of pain they either don't work or have horrible side-effects. i do not know how out-dated the research on Inositol is but i do know that after taking it as directed by this DC from the EDGAR-CASEY INSTITUDE who was also a kineseologist which was 3grams per day in divided doses (3000mg) for 2-3 months and then back off to 500-1000mg on top of a good B-complex which applies to in the beginning as well. the B vitamins work in a team in many reactions and the Inositol may make your hair thicken in and get vibrant and you get a energy increase. it reduced my neuropathy by 40-50% after 3 months at 3 grams. i do not know about combinding some of these things with SSRIs or SNRIs or Lyrica/Neurotin but the amino acids: L-tyrosine, DL-phenylalnine, GABA, 5-HTP, L-glycine. high omega-3,6. ALA, Taurine. finding the right med cocktail is hard but many options are out there so keep at it.

Jimm -
I'm having nerve pain - needle-like stabs in both my feet, from heels to toes. They're from my spine. I also have dull nerve pain in left hip and thigh, right calf. These are also from my spine.

I've had spine MRIs that show a herniated disk, extraforaminal protrusions and annular tears, all of which can be the cause of the radiculopathy, as noted by straydog. I know this is the cause of the pain because I've had injections in my spine that has stopped the pain. Unfortunately the pain comes back. It's not a permanent cure. It worked for nearly a year at first, then for a few months, now only for a few weeks.

As straydog said, the nerve tests didn't show much.

Hi Jimm, I am no doctor or nothing, but I went through something similar after my son was born. My arms and legs went numb and I had a bad prickling feeling and burning sensation at times in them. What helped me the most (believe it or not) was steroids!!! They tried a slew of other things at first and quite by accident found out that gave me FULL relief... I don't know if this would help you or not, but if they haven't given it a shot yet, I would see... it could also help to figure out what the problem was. It took me almost 2 years now to realize that I had Lupus... and the symptoms were very UN-lupus-like at first and there are a host of other autoimmune disorders that often start with that prickling, tingling, numby feeling. Have you had an H1N1 vaccine recently? If so, what you are describing sounds very close to CIDP or Guianne-Barres Syndrome which the vaccine can induce (in fact, that is what they first thought was wrong with me last year as I did not have any real pain--just the frustrating pricky feeling, numbness and all that)... but they can do a nerve-muscle test for that. I would get a good neurologist involved and possibly a rheumatologist or endocrinologist if you cannot get any answers soon. I would hate for you to have to go through this many years as I have trying to find out what is wrong.

Are you tired a lot by any chance? Do you feel a pricky feeling? Is it worse at night when you lay down (even start itching real bad?) Do you have any urinary symtoms (real thirsty, frequency..etc..?) Do you have a lot of unexplained numbness in your hands/feet or other areas at times? chest pain? Dizzy? Ringing in your ears? Low potassium??!!! Do you have any unusual rash or sores anywhere? (Scalp, mouth, face, chest?!) (Rash on face may even just look like a bad sunburn across your cheeks and nose especially and possibly chest). Do you have bruising for no reason anywhere on you? Swelling in your lymphnodes? Swelling in your hands/feet, wrists, ankles or anywhere? do you have any abdominal pain? If you are answering yes to a lot of these questions--GET A RHEUMATOLOGIST before you go through all the things I have over the past 2 years not knowing!!!! It will only get worse. Pain meds help a lot, but real relief comes from steroids if you are experiencing what I have!!! (not low doses either--higher doses of steroids)... you may have to get them to give it to you IV in ER or doc's office to start with if so... You may not have this at all... but want to be helpful as a lot of what I saw you describe is very similar to what I have gone through recently!!! Feel free to answer/or ask more (you don't have to answer all those questions to me but ask yourself... ) and if you have more questions I will keep an eye on this thread and try to answer what I can from MY own experience--not that it is what everyone else goes through or any kind of real medical advice. But I would sure like to help if I could.

Either way, I really hope you get some relief soon. It is miserable to feel bad for so long--and I am with you on all those meds--I can't stand anything not natural unless I have to.. and I sure had to recently break down and take 2 things: steroids and pain meds so that I can get over this!!! All the best, Nicki

Out of curiosity have you ever had a nerve conduction study done? If not it is something to consider as it may help locate where the pain is really coming from.

Just had an MRi done, need to see the neurologist for details but my doc said something wrong with the L4 L5, wonder if thats whats giving me the neuropathy pain in my feet?

Jim69, if you have something showing up at L4-L5, yes that can cause the pain in your feet. The nerve conduction test is an old test, some drs still order them. Not as many drs order them now because of they are about 75% accurate in dxing a pinched nerve in the lower extremity. I saw lots of normal nerve conduction tests done and when the person actually had surgery, once opened up they saw where the nerves were compressed/pinched. Meaning the test can come back normal but that doesn't mean there isn't a pinched nerve.

I saw someone mentioned steroids, they have been used for years to help with inflammation. I just recently was given a steroid shot trying to get some the pain down in my neck. It has helped a little, not as much as I would have liked for it to do.

Let us know what the dr tells you about the MRI. You should also ask the dr to give you a copy of the written report, you need to get copies of these reports to build your own home file.