Connect
← Return to Neuropathy after TKR: I'm 68 and fearful of future
Discussion
Neuropathy after TKR: I'm 68 and fearful of future
Neuropathy | Last Active: Oct 22, 2023 | Replies (112)Comment receiving replies
@lubelle Hi Lubelle, welcome to Connect. You are amazing for reaching out as a proud, protective mamma bear to learn more about SFN. I commend you!
As a mom, and as someone who was diagnosed with SFN in my mid-forties, I understand your concern for your son's future at such a young age and having a toddler.
I can't answer your specific question about benzos for anxiety causing SFN, but I'm drawn to respond to you and offer up some other info about the potential reasons behind onset of chronic pain and symptoms, anxiety, stress-management, etc...
You may find the following video presented by Mayo Clinic's Dr. Sletten, interesting. It's about Central Sensitization Syndrome (CSS) and how it relates to neuropathies and many other chronic conditions.
Also, it might be worth a watch for your son as Dr. Sletten discusses ways to achieve better life quality despite chronic pain and educates on Mayo's Pain Rehabilitation Center (PRC).
https://www.mayoclinic.org/departments-centers/pain-rehabilitation-center/sections/overview/ovc-20481691
Here you will find a conversation about my personal Mayo PRC experience in 2020. I hope it's helpful.
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/mayo-pain-rehabilitation-program/
Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance or if you have any questions about what I've provided. I'm rooting for your son, grandchild and you on this untraveled road.
Replies to "@lubelle Hi Lubelle, welcome to Connect. You are amazing for reaching out as a proud, protective..."
Hi Rachel, Thank you for your kind words and information. I just watched the video and found it very informative and also very scary. We are all still trying to understand why this would happen and realistically know we will never get to the cause. After watching video I see our approach has been to look at the SFN as though it was acute and not chronic. My son is still talking to doctors that want to treat this acutely so I'm struggling with exposing the reality it may be chronic.
Logistically we are on opposite side of the US and he in a location which does not have great health care options. This was part of our frustration in even getting a diagnosis.
How are you managing now? I believe your post for the pain rehab program at Mayo was in 2020.
Curious to hear if you are trying any treatments at all? I so appreciate you responding and the hope and positive energy you are present. Thank you!
Connect
Rachel - thanks for sharing and allowing others to learn from you. It makes sense that part of your success was being helped to see the need to focus on yourself in order to reset your mind and body, which appears including you taking a sabbatical from Connect for awhile back then (before I found Connect)
You no doubt understand the stages of grieving we go through on here, and you have been wonderful in staying positive and helping us stay focused on positives than using our valuable energy being negative. I can see where a lot of us, myself included, can pull others more down at times instead of up. Thanks for being part of the good group of coaches on here that have overcome the negativity and are sharing your energies in helping us overcome ours!