small fiber sensory neuropathy

Researching this as a new part of my crohns. After getting "tasered" this morning, that is the best guess I get. I was told that Cymbalta was already ordered at my pharmacy. Whoa I need to look into this more.....

Anyone with input specific to SFSN or Cymbalta as I wander thru the internet

I have small fiber neuropathy in my feet and lower legs. Definitely caused by Crohn's after extensive testing including punch skin biopsies. I have been taking Neurontin for 12 years now to deal with neuropathy symptoms. Tried Lyrica when it first came on the market but reacted poorly to it. Neurontin and Lyrica are the most common meds prescribed for neuropathy.

Feel free to pick my brain......

I don't take painkillers for the tingling numbness and burning that I experienced from my neuropathy . In fact painkillers like an opiate don't work on the symptoms in my opinion .

I started on 100 milligrams of the Neurontin and titrated upwards every three days until I reached symptom disappearance. After about two years the tingling and burning started to come back and I titrated up once again . I now currently take 600 mg of Neurontin three times a day . I usually don't have to remember to take it because if I forget, my feet start tingling and burning. Instant reminder! At one point I tried to titrate upwards once again because I started getting more breakthrough of the symptoms . The problem was as I got really bad brain fog when I was taking 700 mg three times a day .

I have no side effects that I know of from the Neurontin I know of . The Lyrica that I took gave me terrible thoughts and it didn't cover the symptoms, coourse you have to titrate up. One night I started expressing that I was going to the garage to get the saw to take my feet off and my daughter thought I had completely lost my mind but she said I appeared out of my mind and very intent on carrying out the act . That was the last time I ever took Lyrica . Many people can't tolerate Neurontin but do well with the Lyrica and vice versa .

One of my other problems stemming from neuropathy was having to learn how to walk. Not feeling my feet, not feeling that sensation of the floor on my feet . At one point the neurologist sent me to PT and those sessions really helped me get back on my feet so to speak up. I have to remember to walk barefoot or without shoes every day because if I don't Iose some of the musculature in my feet and lower legs and that makes me unsteady .

At the time of my diagnosis with neuropathy I felt it was one of the worst things I was going to have to cope with . Then over time with the medication and getting my Crohn's in control , neuropathy really now is just an afterthought. My neurologist explained that keeping the Crohn's in control was really important because otherwise the neuropathy could get worse .

Are they proposing to do punch skin biopsies and send those samples off to, I think to one of two labs in the US that do testing to count the number of nerves remaining in the sample? I only had 5% of normal remaining.

I will check back tomorrow. Please excuse any were weird spellings or sentence structures. I dictated this on my new tablet.

Ides....
-Those terrible thoughts are what is scaring me about all of these "anti depressant-but we'll use it for nerve issues too" meds. I am admittedly in a somewhat depressed state to start with...and there is a family history of major depressive disorder. I don't need a med that will spin those out for me.
-Your description on learning to walk is spot on. I am completely NOT confident that when I put my foot down there is anything there. I never thought about walking bare foot to increase sensation and muscle strength...I don't walk barefoot because my feet are always COLD and I have issues with sensitivity to stepping on things. I will start around the house though. I am thinking the cane may become more prevalent....mostly not using it to hide that I have an issue at work and socially but they may fall away.
-and you made me feel better about your acceptance of the neuro issues. I do think I am in a minor flare---my tags are out of control and that is usually a sign of flaring for me. I am pondering the option of taking stronger CD meds before I take the Cymbalta. Maybe I can live with the neuro if it is lessened by a better CD state. After all, I still have not moved up from pentasa in my cd care yet.
-I am assuming the punch biopsies are what they are going to do. It is the only way I know of to test so I did not ask.

Thanks everyone for chiming in.....not feeling as alone now