I really have no idea how I got PN. I'm not diabetic but my younger brother is. Mine started with mild tingling and numbness in both feet. From there it spread to major numbness and severe tingling in my right arm and hand. Thank god that has gone away but now I have severe aching in both feet if I stand or walk for about an hour. It's weird because the pain won't go away until I go to sleep that night. The next morning, no pain in my feet so I try to stay off my feet as much as possible. I went to a neurologist when the numbness and tingling in both feet first started and was diagnosed with PN. I have no idea what type and I have had the PN for about 4 years now.

It's kind of a mute point now since I was diagnosed with lung cancer last November so my PN problems got put on the back burner. After lots and lots of tests during the diagnosis of the cancer it was found I had a vitamin D deficiency. Maybe that had something to do with it but I don't worry about the PN anymore since I have a much bigger problem to deal with. I just do my best to live with the PN. One thing I found is that I am on a narcotic pain medicine (10mg of Norco twice a day) for the cancer pain but it does nothing to lessen the PN pain. At first they had me Oxycodone 5mg twice a day and that would totally take away the PN pain after about 30 minutes but sadly I had to stop taking it due to some side effects.

I should mention that I take Carbamazepine (Tegretol) 600mg a day for the Trigeminal Neuralgia Trigeminal neuralgia - Wikipedia that I have had for about 8 years but it has no effect on my PN. I tried Gabapentin when first diagnosed with the TN but could not get adjusted to the side effects so taking it for the PN is not an option.