We talked about Cymbalta, and my doc is not in favor of it (nor Lyrica etc.). In her experience - anecdotal, yes, but it seems to confirm studies - they don't really help and cost a lot of money. She has quite a few patients who have PN, and she really follows up on what seems to work or not. However: quite a few of her PN patients are alcoholics who frequently relapse, which makes it much harder to judge the medication given.

Amitriptyline is dirt cheap, has well known/understood side-effects, and sometimes helps (none of these pills work for everybody). Given that I'm also experiencing a slight depression (but it's a chicken/egg thing: does the PN get worse because of it, or did the PN relapse cause it?) it seems like a good option to try.

I think there's no shame in discussing marijuana for pain medication - especially if it has been legalized or condoned in your area. Truth is, it's not a miracle drug: for me it didn't do anything. I tried it, bought some high CBD content weed, used it in a vaporizer, really wanted it to work, and ... it just didn't do anything for me - this after several tries. But I'm sure it works for many others, and it can only be a good thing to have many options.