I am Walter K. I have peripheral neuropathy. I would like to know if A

I've tried gabapentin, but I can't take it. It makes me like a zombie. Glad you found relief

The person I was responding to said he had peripheral neuropathy - not degenerative nerve disease. I suppose what you are speaking about is a disease which causes nerves to die. But nerves can die from systemic problems like being pinched and crushed. When relief is brought, then the nerves have an opportunity to regrow. It can take ten years. As in my case. Just had an epidural last week which brought feeling to the left side of my shin which has peripheral neuropathy - caused from issues with my spine.

Mike, bear in mind that I am not a doctor. I take the R-LA in the morning, 15 minutes before food. It took a week to 10 days to feel some impact and at least 4 weeks to judge its effectiveness. I have read that others are taking 1,200 mg with effect, so I'm guessing I may have to increase it at some time. Note: I consult with my primary to ensure agreement, especially to identify any conflicts with my other meds. I have just initiated a month trial with 50 mg of Biotin daily this month (also with the blessing of my primary).

I’m sorry to hear about your debilitating neuropathy, Walter K. I tried to gut it out until I finally asked for help. I did not know what idiopathic peripheral neuropathy was and when my primary recommended gabapentin after getting the EMG results, I resisted. She finally convinced me by calling it a trial.

My primary sent me to our local pain center and for more than a year, I’ve worked up to 900 mg, basically considered a minimum dosage.

At least for me, gabapentin has been effective at dulling the fire, deep pounding and throbbing down both legs without the common side effects. I consider myself fortunate as many who suffer with neuropathy cannot tolerate it. I feel a little dumb and slightly dizzy but that is acceptable in light of the relief. 😅

Although feeling my feet on fire and icy at the same time sounds contradictory, I also use a heating pad to fall asleep. On low only. Because of the numbness, beware of burn risk and use a pad with an automatic turn off.

Best wishes for relief.

I wanted to take the opportunity to correct myself. I was commenting on what should’ve been ridiculopathy and not neuropathy in my comments from a couple days ago. It’s probably buried in the history here, but sometimes they can be confused with each other and also have symptoms that mimic one or the other. Two of you called me on it and you were right my apologies!

I’m 73 and am dealing with similar symptoms as you.
I’ve been dealing with this for 10 yrs now, and I’ve been on many of the usual drugs with no relief.
The pain in my feet is terrible, can’t walk because it hurts so much.
Was recently put on pregabalin 50 mg for nerve pain, when I take it I’m so dizzy, and my vision is blurry.
Now I’m starting to take 50 mg at bedtime for 2 weeks, then I’ll take it in the am if I’m ok!
It did seem to help my foot pain but I couldn’t even drive to a doctor appt yesterday.
Had to have my husband drive me.
By dinner time I was better, so I guess the med wore off.
I’m hoping this drug will work for me because I’m losing my patience.
I also have MGUS along with the CIDP.
I know my strength is getting worse in my legs.

I developed peripheral neuropathy just over a year ago. Apparently no one seems to know the cause. I am receiving B12 shots. 3 months ago my legs started to feel really weak and I have a lot of fatigue. Has this happened to anyone else. Emotionally I'm finding this difficult.

Yes I know the feeling as I found out in April of 2024. I also have unbalanced gait and tingling and numbness in feet, legs and hands.

I take 2 large Magnesium, Super Vitamin B-12, Vitamin D and a Senior Multivitamin.
I also wear compression socks at night which really help!

I have been taking pregabalin for 2 years now and it was prescribed by the Pain Mgmt. Clinic at the hospital near me. It was initially prescribed for IC (Interstitial Cystitis) as that bladder pain was so debilitating that I spent a lot of time moaning and groaning in bed with only my heating pad for relief. I tried direct catheter pain meds to my bladder and those worked for a few days only so that is when my urologist advised me to make an appt. with the pain clinic. So the long and short of it is "yes" the pregabalin is like any other pain med in that it makes me somewhat dizzy and generally not as sharp as I would like to be. However, I have said in other posts for PN, I do not find pain to be noble, character building or any other desired personality trait so the tradeoff for me is worth it. I sometimes cheat by not taking the pain meds for a day and I find that I have enough in my system to ward off the pain (for both PN and IC). I would never drive if I felt in any way incapacitated so I think my judgement is overall good. I can function well (I am 77 yrs. old), play a mean game of Scrabble and just overall prefer any side effects from the pregabalin to pain that keeps me in bed all day. I think that in the long run, each of us must make the decision for ourselves with no shame or blame. All pain sucks and I wish there were different treatments for it but I have found that in the long run, I am better functioning on the meds than anything else. Good luck everyone in making this difficult decision.