Can Neuropathy be cured?

Posted by catstx @catstx, Sep 8, 2021

I’ve had P. neuropathy for 30 years. Just recently I’ve better controlled my blood sugar. So, I’m wondering if Neuropathy ever goes away, Or, if once the nerves are dead they’re just dead

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I have now had neuropathy in my arms, lower legs and feet for eight years. I do not take anything for it, but use Vick Vapour Rub at night to help prevent that awful itching burning in my feet - it works quite well for some reason. I now find it very difficult to walk, and have very poor balance. However, my consultant told me at the beginning that unfortunately there is no cure for this problem, and so I decided that all that Icould do was to try and adapt my life to live with it. I loved walking our dogs, so when things became too risky, my husband bought me a motorbility scooter, and the dogs and I go off for some wonderful walks, so I still have a certain amount of freedom and independence. Sleeping well becomes a problem, but I just thank the Lord that I am no longer having to get up for work, and can have a snooze during the day if I feel really tired. I hit the grand old age of 83 next month, and so count myself very lucky to still be here and enjoying life. Having lost several friends and relatives to cancer, and seen the horrors of both the illness and the treatment, I am thankful that my problem is not fatal (unless I fall and break my neck!!!) and that I caNSTILL ENJOY EACHDAY.

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@dbeshears1

Interesting Ed - Same idiopathic diagnosis, but I had a regular Neurologist prescribe the Lyrica not too long ago. I got home with it and just put the bottle away; after filling it, I wasn’t exactly sure why we added it. My fault for not asking my doctor what he thought the benefit of adding it would be; I didn’t report a change in my condition or anything other than hoping for a diagnosis & cure some day😃; my Neuropathy has been maintaining with all else I do and take. So I decided not to take the Lyrica and have to adjust to the possible unintended consequences of adding to my medicine list for my total health management, and will keep the pills in inventory until I see him in 6 more months when I’ll make sure we discuss the thinking on adding one more pill in my life. (At the moment I only take Gabapentin for Neuropathy, but I have some other prescriptions for other condition) Thanks for sharing your experience with Lyrica and the advice from your Mayo doctor.

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Debbie - I went to Johns Hopkins in Dec of 2021, the neuro doc said that in many cases like mine, idiopathic, the "belief" and...only a belief...by various docs is that it is caused by a genetic issue. I've had blood work done for CMT, tests at Mayo, MRI of brain, etc. There is a reason for my PN and tests can show what nerves are impacted but the why is the mystery. So, how many of us have PN possibly caused by a genetic issue? When we can't get a proven answer to resolve our curiosity, the genetic starts to make some sense.

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@njed

Debbie - I went to Johns Hopkins in Dec of 2021, the neuro doc said that in many cases like mine, idiopathic, the "belief" and...only a belief...by various docs is that it is caused by a genetic issue. I've had blood work done for CMT, tests at Mayo, MRI of brain, etc. There is a reason for my PN and tests can show what nerves are impacted but the why is the mystery. So, how many of us have PN possibly caused by a genetic issue? When we can't get a proven answer to resolve our curiosity, the genetic starts to make some sense.

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My father and one sister had the same symptoms so in my case I am pretty sure mine is genetic.

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@helenwalker

I have now had neuropathy in my arms, lower legs and feet for eight years. I do not take anything for it, but use Vick Vapour Rub at night to help prevent that awful itching burning in my feet - it works quite well for some reason. I now find it very difficult to walk, and have very poor balance. However, my consultant told me at the beginning that unfortunately there is no cure for this problem, and so I decided that all that Icould do was to try and adapt my life to live with it. I loved walking our dogs, so when things became too risky, my husband bought me a motorbility scooter, and the dogs and I go off for some wonderful walks, so I still have a certain amount of freedom and independence. Sleeping well becomes a problem, but I just thank the Lord that I am no longer having to get up for work, and can have a snooze during the day if I feel really tired. I hit the grand old age of 83 next month, and so count myself very lucky to still be here and enjoying life. Having lost several friends and relatives to cancer, and seen the horrors of both the illness and the treatment, I am thankful that my problem is not fatal (unless I fall and break my neck!!!) and that I caNSTILL ENJOY EACHDAY.

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I have N from chemo and I have been taking high dose B12
I have very little pain and minimal numbness in my feet also I am on Lyrica for my back
I take 1200 mcg sublingual

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My SFN is most likely genetic, because my sister has the same, and my Dad and Granddad have many similar neuropathy issues. I had genetic testing recently, which did not show a genetic cause, but they assured me that new variants were being discovered all the time. So I might be notified two years from now that the variant has been identified. I would like to know eventually, because I think one of my sons has some early signs.

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@julbpat

My SFN is most likely genetic, because my sister has the same, and my Dad and Granddad have many similar neuropathy issues. I had genetic testing recently, which did not show a genetic cause, but they assured me that new variants were being discovered all the time. So I might be notified two years from now that the variant has been identified. I would like to know eventually, because I think one of my sons has some early signs.

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Hi @julpat - I thought you might be interested in this past FPN webinar on Hereditary Neuropathy and Genetic Testing shared in another post here - https://connect.mayoclinic.org/comment/644353/

There is also this one coming up next month -- Foundation for Peripheral Neuropathy Webinar: Hereditary Neuropathy & Genetic Testing -- Thu, Oct 6, 2022 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM CDT that you can learn more about in a post in another discussion here - https://connect.mayoclinic.org/comment/749431/

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@fala

Hi,
Just one comment.
There are NUMEROUS tests to find out "what causes" this PN, but that the fact(jack) is:
There is NO cure. Find out from this site what takes YOUR pain away. We react differently to every different pill or treatment! Who cares what caused it?... unless it helps you emotionally or mentally. It doesn't do anything but break your pocketbook ... spend time and money getting RELIEF. ( Just my opinion) Good luck!

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Agree. I’ve found that Arnica helps. I rub it on my feet and legs before bed and I find it helps with pain.

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@julbpat

My SFN is most likely genetic, because my sister has the same, and my Dad and Granddad have many similar neuropathy issues. I had genetic testing recently, which did not show a genetic cause, but they assured me that new variants were being discovered all the time. So I might be notified two years from now that the variant has been identified. I would like to know eventually, because I think one of my sons has some early signs.

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I pray yours is not bad. I have it bad. Gabapentin is causing bad side effects.

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@catstx

Agree. I’ve found that Arnica helps. I rub it on my feet and legs before bed and I find it helps with pain.

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What is Arnica. My neuropathy is bad.

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Go to Wikipedia.com. Search for Arnica you’ll see a lot of info.

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