I've been taking gabapentin and lyrica for a couple of years. No discernible side affects. I did therapy for a few years in the 80's and worked through all my childhood issues. I'm okay with the fact that we all die some day, I will too. I'm not okay with living in relentlessly accelerating pain. I take as little medicine as I can - just enough to numb the pain enough so I can ignore it and live my life for awhile longer.

People on this Mayo Clinic Support Group have helped me tremendously with seeing the big picture of Neuropathy: its symptoms, remedies, and where we end up. My "pain specialist" also helps. He actually listens to me and prescribes meds to help what I'm concerned about. Some doctors read from their computer and digress into side issues that their computer tells them are important. One of them began our first and last appointment by telling me that he wanted me to gain 10 pounds. I told him that my weight is perfect for my bone structure and I didn't come in to have my figure critiqued - and I left. He was a gastroenterologist recommended by another doctor who thought that colon cancer screening was what every patient should have regardless of their symptoms, complaints, or requests for help.

I have had to remind some "health care providers" that the Hippocratic Oath begins: "First, Do No Harm". Peggy