Neuropathy pain in my left foot and lower left legs

yes, it is the goto that i do after the pain patches...i am allergic to anything 'sticky' so i use each of them sparingly...thanks for the thought...

@margarettassmer Hello! I know simply the number of medications can almost get overwhelming. My wife was on a cocktail of 9 meds, taking 32 doses a day. She often tired of this and we had to remember to keep our focus on outcomes and benefits rather than the demands on her by the the matrix of the drugs. Not always easy for sure!

Strength and peace,

i have been on lyrica, gabapentin, for 4-5 yrs now...it was given to help with stress episodes, panic attacks...the panic attacks have all but stopped, stress episodes have lessened that i can think more clearly now...they told me it would also help with the neuropathy and fibromyalgia...i am on 200mgs, three daily...i have been able to cut one of the midday pills every other day...there are times i need more and times that this dosage is comfortable...i use the pain patches and the tens unit sparingly since i'm allergic to the sticky stuff...i make a choice when to use either of them--break outs that last seemingly forever or a lessening of the pain...i fell from the drom deck of the semi truck, about 4 feet, onto my tailbone and fell on back and hit my upper spine and fell on back flipping my head onto the pavement...i crushed a peripheral nerve that comes off my L-4 or L-5...then on my cervical spine which has not been addressed...i haven't had anything to go with my medicare, so i have been unable to seek further help on my spine...i have ankylosing spondilitis and arthritis in my spine, so they say...my mom and dad both had RA, so i try to keep a watch on all of it...i feel that meds should be given to one, if they need it, stay on it if it helps, go off if it doesn't help...each needs his/her meds to take care of their problems, not to try it out on us if we don't need it...i know medicine is an inexact science and testing is why thy call it 'practicing medicine', but overloading meds on us has negative effects that sometimes can't be fixed...o, my i have probably told you more than you wanted to know...but i cannot live without my lyrica...they tried it once in hospital and i had several nerves go ape____t on me...all the nurses would say was, '...i've heard those were extremely painful...' duh, they hurt like the devil...

i can't take neurontin...i don't have use of all my faculties when i take neurontin...

I have to take them at the same time every day.
That's not happening!
My lips are sealed.

I became incoherent, couldn't put a sentence together when I tried Lyrica, and was in the hospital for 3 days. That was the next to the last medication on the doctor's list of neuropathy meds, so he prescribed Cymbalta, which I've been taking for a few months, along with Morphine sulfate contin. I tapered off morphine, but after 3 weeks without it, I could see that Cymbalta wasn't doing much, so I started back on morphine, just 15mg twice a day. I had been at 30mg three times a day. I hope that 30mg daily will help. So far, it has reduced the pain fairly significantly. I might taper off the Cymbalta, to see if it's actually helping me, with the help of morphine. What a long process it is to find the right combination. I put Lidocaine HCI cream on the painful places at bedtime. It's a numbing medication that helps me be able to sleep. I've tried Capzasin cream, but it doesn't seem to do much.

Hi @jimhd I agree, pain management is so difficult and individual. With my wife it was a constant balancing act, which needed adjustments, rebalancing, and serious discussions with her medical team over and over.

I wish you strength and comfort along your journey.

Thanks for all the good advice. I wondered why my thoughts were foggy and my balance off. So--I will cut the intake of gabapentin and go back to Ibuprofin. At times I was so sleepy that I nearly ran off the road. Guess I will just have to learn to live with some pain.

I would like to know how to use a tens for my neropathy

@twinky i have seen people use it for tendonitis...in the elbow, one man, had two pads above and two pads below the elbow...said it worked great...i use my tens unit on my spine...usually the lower spine...the purpose of the unit is to interrupt the data that is causing the pain...9/10's of my pain is in my back; neuropathy is in legs, feet...some in my arms and two fingers...on the back one set of pads above the pain, neuropathy--one set below...or one set beside the pain or neuropathy and one set on the other side...whatever way is best to 'interrupt' the pain data...the nerves in the spine are the ones i concentrate on...thinking in terms of interrupting--you are at a party; a man approaches and starts a conversation; he fast becomes a bore; on one side of you there is a loud talker and on the other side, same thing; they begin a conversation with each other over your head...these loud talkers can 'interrupt' the 'data' from the bore...maybe a crude exhibit, but all i can think of...lol...