Chronic Nerve pain

I have had chronic nerve pain in both my arms for three years and have seen at least a dozen doctors of every specialty. The nerve pain runs from my fingertips to above my elbows. Last year I had surgery in both arms for nerve compression but there is no change and the pain is still there. It is as if a switch is "on" and nothing will turn it off. I have tried Gabapentin - to no avail and started to have side effects to it, so I stopped taking it. I have had all the blood work for inflammatory diseases, all the EMG tests and x'rays and CAT scans with and without contrast - but all tests have come back showing negative. I gave myself painful B-12 injections for a month - but had no relief.
I am now going to a naturopathic dr because I don't know what else to do -any ideas?

I had read that on an earlier thread and am looking into Beth Israel Medical Center in Boston, A Harvard Medical School affiliate hospital - thank you for the reply

Actually, I had put all my records together last year, went to Lahey Clinic, in Boston and saw a specialist who really thought the surgery would fix the problem, but it hasn't. My life is on hold - I go to work but spend the rest of the day when I return home with my forearms in ice packs to numb the pain. He said nerves heal very slowly and perhaps that is what is happening but I don't feel any relief at all.

There are several medications used to treat nerve pain. Have you tried any other than the Gabapentin?

What about topical treatments? Lotions, gels, creams, that kind of thing? There's a topical Lidocaine patch called Lidoderm that does a pretty good job. It might help.

Also, pain medication generally doesn't work as well as a nerve med to treat this sort of pain, but it could at least take the edge off. Have you ever been prescribed any pain meds?

And the last method I can think of that might help would be a TENS unit. I don't know if you're familiar with them, but basically its a machine that uses electrical pulses to replace the "pain" signals being sent to the brain with a "non pain" signal... because the brain can only process one or the other, not both at the same time.

Sorry for all the questions, just trying to get a better idea of your situation. Maybe one of us here can offer you something new to try!

I have been loaned a TENS unit but haven't tried it yet. Thank you for explaining it a bit.
When I tried a low dose of Gabapentin I developed an eye twitch and stopped the med when I learned that was a possible side effect - so didn't want a higher dose. Yes, I take Oxycodone once a day for pain but would really rather not take meds as the side effects can be so awful..
Obviously my body is trying to tell me something is wrong. I want to find out what it is not just mask the pain....
Thanks again for all the advice - I really appreciate it.

So very sorry you suffer from nerve pain. I also have this problem,not fun at all. I also had burning in my leg.s and I'm not sure but my mouth was burning felt like I was on firer. I was told I needed to start taking Vitamins that the blood test's that I took said I was low on.i've been taking Neuropathy Support Formula B1&b12 vitamins and R-Alpha Lipoic Acid.Then I have been taking Nerve Repair Optimizer 100 percent pure R-alpha Lipoic Acid. I'm not having the burning now, so all I can say is that it might be something you can try.Sometime we have to live in pain,but if you can get relief this might be good for you. Take care and know we care.

Fell from ladder to concrete in 2007. After surgery CRPS appeared. Recovered over 6 year period then BBQ Grill exploded and I quickly pitched it half way across back yard to keep it from killing wife and burning down house. Brain did not like nerve and muscle stress. CRPS arrived but this round was a nightmare. My question to JudahLion is - Did you hurt yourself at some point? It could be as simple as hitting your thumb with a hammer. If you do that, and your brain does not like it, CRPS can arrive in your system. CRPS is extremely painful. Child delivery is ranked at 30 but CRPS nerve pains are ranked at about 42 on a scale of 50, 50 being worst. Child delivery pain goes away over the months but CRPS is 24/7 and you can't phone in and take the day off. Is it possible that you have CRPS. The pain is unbearable. I've had it since November 2012 this time. I've been prescribed everything from Lyrica, Cymbalta, Prednisone, etc., but Gabapentin is the only thing that seems to help. Physiotherapy helps more than anything. I've seen Endocrinologists, Orthopedic Surgeons, Rheumatologists, Neurologists - 100s. I have gone from 6 x 300mg daily and just cut to one daily this morning. The Gabapentin for chronic pain may be messing with my eyes though so I will try to go to being a daily therapy addict in order to get off all the medicine. Oh, Pain Management Specialist was also a big help. He is the one who prescribed Gabapentin. Anyway, it would not hurt if you looked up CRPS on the Internet because it is at least a close cousin to what you say you have, PAIN PAIN PAIN. Hope this helps.

JudahLion,

Your nerve pain is a trademark symptom of lyme or coinfections. If you head over to the Lyme board and view some of the topics, you will be able to see how common it is. Depends on all your other symptoms of course.