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Neuropathy | Last Active: Nov 3, 2023 | Replies (123)
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I have been off the Gabapentin wagon for years,noticed my brain had a bit of misfires. Dr just upped my next attempt to get some relief,using Wellbutrin up to 450mg,high dose I know. Only been a few days of this dose,been on 150mg 2 x a day with no change in mood or burn. I tend to get disinterested in people,places and things,maybe because I think my feet will burst into flames and hurt people. But alas it doesn't escape or show any signs of of external fires! Take Care everyone i need your thoughts to assure myself I'm not alone out here.
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@notborntoburn
You are surely not alone. None of us is born to burn. But a lot of us "feel the burn", just not the burn that comes from hard exercise.
I spent more than 3 years trying one antidepressant after another until I got to Wellbutrin. I've been taking it at 450mg since 2006, and it's made my life - well, I can't come up with the right word. The experts say, "depression is treatable". I wonder sometimes how they define treatable. Does it mean that at some point a depressed person stops being depressed because they find the right medication? Or do they no longer need an antidepressant? I'd say that the outcome is very much unique to every person.
I'm okay with the possibility that I'll need antidepressants the rest of my life to maintain mental stability. I don't forget what untreated depression felt like, and I don't particularly want to go back there.
A few years ago I was beginning to feel depressed again, so I talked with the psychiatrist about it, and he added Mirtazapine to my cache of medications. I guess Wellbutrin needed a booster. It did get me back on track.
Another way treatable is looked at is a combination of medication and therapy, which is the treatment plan that I follow. Statistics show that that's the most effective way to treat depression.
Then in around 2012 I started feeling pins and needles in my feet and legs. Tests showed that I have peripheral neuropathy and by now I have burning pain in my feet and ankles. I've tried a really long list of medications for it, but nothing has helped for very long. I had a spinal cord stimulator implant in June of 2017, and gave me 80% pain relief. I'd forgotten how it felt not to be in awful pain. It did the job for a year or so, but was starting to lose its effectiveness, and had to be adjusted every 3 months. Right now, I don't feel like it's doing anything, but I learned a few months ago that I have severe spinal stenosis in L4-L5. I'm scheduled for surgery in late September, and the surgeon tells me that it could give me some relief, but I won't know until I recover from surgery.
So, welcome to the club.
Jim