My advice is not to let others influence you too much in the way of being afraid to try something that may benefit you. Best to speak with your Doctor then form your own opinion through trial and error. Good luck with the process.

I suspect your concern is one that many of us have at least thought about. I have decided to cross that bridge when I come to it instead of fretting about it in advance - but perhaps that easier for me because 300 mg of Gabapentin per day is currently keeping my pain under control...

@tigreyes2004 I wish that any one of the medications for neuropathy had done something for my neuropathy pain. I'm always glad to read posts from those who have been helped by meds like Gabapentin, Lyrica, Cymbalta and so on down the list. I tried them all, with no success. At least some of them just didn't work, unlike those with side effects ranging from annoying to sending me to the ER, incoherent and totally out of it. After the neurologist crossed off all themedications in his arsenal, I started in on the pain specialist's list. Of course my pcp had tried the medications that treat pain before I saw the neurologist (actually I saw 3 of them, and a couple others at the university hospital). It's been a tedious process. At some point in the journey the pain specialist suggested getting a spinal cord stimulator. It felt amazingly wonderful to have 80% of my pain gone!!! That worked for me for a year or so. I wish that it kept going indefinitely, but I guess that all good things must come to an end. After that, I had to, and continue to get the controller adjusted every 3 months. It's been longer than that this time because the pain specialist started me on a new medication two months ago and didn't want me to make any changes in other medications, or any change to the scs, so we'd know just how much the imipramine was doing. I'm glad to say that the daytime pain in my feet is down from 6-8 to 2-4. Real progress. For some reason they hurt more when I lie down at bedtime, still at 5-7. The lidocaine cream numbs the pain long enough to get to sleep, and the Uber Numb cream I found on Amazon does almost as well as the lidocaine. I see the pain specialist next week. He'll ask a lot of questions that I'll have a hard time answering.

I mentioned Lyrica, and it was the first medication that actually helped my neuropathy pain. It's also the one that put me in the hospital for a few days. Bummer! I know that lots of people have pain relief from it. My 5 siblings found Gabapentin worked for them. Oh well. I've always been a little different. Whatever works.

So, we all keep plodding along in the search for the as yet undiscovered mystery magic pain pill. At least we know we're not alone in the search.

I hope this post makes sense. I know that the medications I take tend to make it hard for me to verbalize my thoughts. I get a little confused sometimes, and I can't chalk it all
up to being 69. I can get away with that for only so long. I think my wife is more aware than I am of how all my meds affect me. In some ways it would be nice to turn back the clock, not just an hour, but more like 20 years, before this body of mine started to fall apart. I surely don't want to go back to being a teenager. Once was more than enough!

I do hope that you find the right medications, @tigreyes2004 ,and as Rachel says, don't count on others telling you what to do. Form your own answers.

Enough rambling for tonight. My feet are telling me it's time for morphine.

Good night. May you wake up in the morning refreshed and ready for the new day.

Jim