Neuropathy Pain at Night: What helps?

Good afternoon @martyk, Thanks for the post regarding nighttime pain from SFN (small fiber neuropathy). As you may have noted, my post was from a couple of years ago and I kind of said that things may change. And they have.

I now use almost two droppers of 2:1 CBD/THC tincture at bedtime. if it is a rough night I can start earlier in the evening with some 1:1 CBD/THC tincture earlier in the evening and then only have half of the normal two droppers of 2:1 CBD/THC tincture. If you have access to a good topical, you may wish to rub some into your hands to help with the tingle tangles and numbness. The topicals from P and B, http://www.papaandbarkley, come in a 3:1 CBD/THC for chronic pain and a 1:3 CBD/THC for acute pain.

Since that post, I have found a new medication for neuropathic itch and it is called Dupixent. For me.....the bi-weekly injection eliminates the itch completely. What have you found helpful that can help you have a restful night's sleep?

May you have comfort and ease.
Chris

Thank you. I will try the socks as well

@amandajro I do sleep in a cool room at night. I have always been much more comfortable sleeping in a cool room even before my neuropathy set in. I find that I don't breathe as well in a warm room. In fact it feels stifling. One of the symptoms of my particular neuropathy has been sensitivity to fabric which includes whatever I am wearing during the day and the sheets on my bed at night. I have a night time ritual that involves setting the AC at a lower temperature, (I live in a state that has very warm weather) turning the bed covers down to the very end of the bed and allowing them to get cool. I test it out after a while and if I am still irritated by the fabric of the bedding then I have to let it cool down a little longer. Once they get cool enough then I can start to try getting comfortable enough to sleep. Having my hair on my neck is also irritating to my skin so I have to push it up out of the way.
I just do better all the way around with things that are cooler.
I am on my 5th week (I think) of gabapentin and I think it is starting to help, but ever since I've had this neuropathy I find that after a shower I've had much more stinging, and sharp, shooting pains in my body. It's not that it bothers me when I am in the shower, but I can tell the difference when I get out of the shower. I takes a good 36 hours to get back to my normal level of discomfort. Obviously, I don't use hot water in the shower but I do use warm water just because it is more comfortable than taking a cold shower.
I use a ton of body lotion after a shower, which helps to some degree, and I use body lotion two to three times a day every day which seems to help somewhat with the irritation from my clothing.
I have read articles, and also things written by other people in this group, saying they don't seem as bothered by their neuropathy when they are busy or distracted. For me it doesn't seem to work that way. For whatever reason I can be just as bothered by it when I am working and distracted as I am when I'm not doing anything. I think one of the things I am learning is that no two people with neuropathy are alike, and that, unfortunately, there are no hard and fast rules to neuropathy. I've read many stories written by people participating in this forum and am amazed at the differences in how we are affected by neuropathy. Reading them has also made me very grateful that my neuropathy is not nearly as bad as some others. My heart goes out to those who have it much worse than I do.

@johnbishop
Hi John,
You may have seen my reply to
@amandajro about my night time ritual that helps me get more comfortable. I mentioned there that I put lotion on at least two or three times a day, as that seems to help with the irritation my skin has from fabric.
You asked about pain medications. I am into my 5th week of gabapentin, and 3rd week of amitriptyline. After being on the gabapentin for a couple of weeks I had to shame my neurologist (literally shame her) into giving me something for pain. Her suggestion was to take ibuprofen or tylenol. I didn't hesitate to tell her that those don't make a dent in the pain. (I think I have mentioned before that I am trying to find a new neurologist. Still working on that.) After shaming her into it she prescribed a low dose of amitriptiline, starting me on 10 mg at night for two weeks, and then 20 mg nightly, which still did nothing for the pain. At a recent visit to my primary care physician he asked how I was doing with the pain so I told him what was going on and he immediately sent in a prescription for amitriptilyne at 50 mg. I've been on that dose for about a week. I honestly can't tell if it is helping, or if I've now been on the gabapentin long enough for it to be helping. I still have to go through my nightly ritual of getting my bed as cool as possible to keep the bedding from irritating my skin but I am seeing a difference as to how I feel during the day and on into evening. My prescribed dose of ativan and the occasional muscle relaxer also help at night.
Thanks for mentioning the article on why neuropathy pain is worse at night. I had actually already read it after scouring the internet for information. Again, as I mentioned to @amandajro, how busy or distracted I am during the day doesn't seem to lessen my neuropathy. I may be the exception to the rule when it comes to that, but then again, I don't think there really are any rules when it comes to neuropathy.
BTW, I still do not have an acutal diagnosis for my neuropathy. I had all the usual blood work done which didn't help much, but I need to have a nerve conduction study done. I have delayed that because you have to have that test done after you have showered and with no lotion on your body. For me that was an absolute deal breaker. Without the lotion, especially after a shower, my pain is much worse, bringing on the worst of the sharp, stinging, stabbing pains I've experienced since having had neuropathy, even after a mild, lukewarm shower. I am hopeful that I am getting better enough to the point that I will be able to have that test done soon.
Always glad to hear from you.
Take care.

Agree totally with these comments.
Vince

Also that helps with my pain is 5mg of Prednisone once a day. It will not hurt you with that low milligrams and it reduces inflammation. My morphine which I take every day does not help as much as this.

I have had foot neuropathy since TKR, PROBABLY GOING TO HAVE TO accept it and live with it.
Nights are clearly the worst. During the day I wear the low-cut ankle
Bitly compression socks. They are white and don’t appear as the normal
compression tan longer socks. They look like normal ankle type socks.
On line at Amazon or from the company, sometimes on sale or around
$12.
I wear these all day, take one 600-mg gabapetin in the evening and it
helps me tremendously. The socks come off at bedtime.
I’ve never had neuropathy so this is. New experience for me and it does
the job.
Vince

I use Blue GEL as a pain reliever at night [it allows me to get to sleep] and although I still have some pain in the morning I can carry on through my day.

Yes-I take Gabapentin and that helps some . The more I move around during the day the less I notice it . That said , I have long Covid and that has made the neuropathy worse .

I do this every night before bed and it seems to calm my “hot/pins and needles” feet down before sleeping.