Beatle, I'm so sorry to hear about the extent of your PN. I wonder often if that's my eventual fate as well, and wish you - and all of us here - the best in dealing with it.

As for CET. I asked my neurologist about it although was fairly sure he wouldn't encourage it. I was correct. I'd sent him quotes from a Podiatry Journal I found online. Here's the gist of his reply via voicemail:

"The article and quotes are kind of vague, there's no data that helps and no trial that helps. I think they're writing what you need to hear. It's probably not dangerous, although if you're paying cash that's another story. So it may be ok to try but insurance will probably not cover it. I think it's very questionable if it's going to improve the situtation. I try to deal with stuff that's been proven, FDA approved. From what I can say that stuff hasn't been approved."

I'm paraphrasing but you get the idea. For those interested here's the article (maybe someone has already posted this earlier in this thread):

http://www.podiatrytoday.com/can-com...ral-neuropathy

HINIGuy - sorry to read that this didn't help you. I guess we can't expect miracles. I'm hoping others who've had the procedure will weigh in. If I find someone who can do it in my area, particularly for the hands, which I haven't read about in the various accounts, I'll certainly post about it.

Here's an edit based on more research:

Today I spoke with someone at the Las Vegas office of the Dr. Odell who seems to be one of the pioneers in this, his name is on several of the articles. So far no one has been able to tell me if anyone practices this is Los Angeles.

They told me that most people who come in from out of town stay in the area for 2 weeks and have daily treatments, 3x/week with anesthesia and twice only on the machine. But she allowed as how they only go the anesthetic route for foot patients. As I'm primarily looking for relief from hand PN that's a bit troubling, particularly in light of H1N1Guy's comments about making sure the treatment is the right one. She said there were two diagnostic type treatments that run $200 each and that each subsequent machine hookup is $40. It remains to be seen if my insurance (Anthem CA) would cover any of it. Knowing how bad they are I'll assume not.

I'll continue to research and post any further info. I do have a friend who lives in LV so could basically stay for free which of course helps. But would love to find someone local before taking the plunge of uprooting my life and work for a couple of weeks, especially considering that additional treatment might be necessary. Assuming any of this works of course.