I was a perfectly healthy person when I retired. Three months after retirement one of the cervical discs in my neck moved to rest on a nerve that caused pain you cannot live with, thus the need for surgery. the neuropathy in my shins and feet started five months after my ACDF surgery to fuse three discs in my neck. It takes up to 6 months for those discs to fuse, oddly coincidental. My surgeon shrugs and puts me on gabapentin. I have tried many things for this neuropathy. Some creams and sprays give you relief for a short while. I sleep with flexible ice packs on top of my covers every night because the COLD from them deadens the burn some. I also use sleep aid occasionally when I need a good 6-hr sleep.
I've had all the neurology and circulation tests there are available. They were all negative, nothing shows up 'wrong'. But my 'ON-FIRE' legs and feet are very real every night when I lay down to sleep. I'm usually very active all day and wear all the correct shoes. The neurologist increased my gabapentin even though all my tests were negative. I took myself off of gabapentin shortly after. All it does is mask the burn a little and make me feel so drugged that it changes my lifestyle. It also adds so much cramping in my calves, feet, and toes all night long.
The timing of this neuropathy is odd, and somehow related to my surgery five months prior.
So.... next I have an appointment to start going to a clinic called "New Promise Neuropathy" for treatments that have shown results for some people. I'm only 70 years old, not diabetic, about 20 lbs overweight since my surgery, otherwise healthy my whole life. After several weeks of treatments, my next thing to try might be a low-does anxiety or antidepressant drug to see if stress is a factor or trigger. I can't imagine living with this for the rest of my life, so I am not willing to give up researching a way to make it better. I still feel so young.
Good luck to all of you with neuropathy, it's not fun! But also, by comparison to some others' issues, I don't like to complain much!