I've tried tegretol, neurontin, ultracet, and vicodin none of which gave me much relief from my pain. One neuro put me on Lyrica which helped with the shooting and stabbing pains which were like pin pricks up and down my toes, feet, and legs, and sometimes into the back, chest, and head. She also gave me Ultracet but for me though nothing I've ever taken gives me any kind of relief from the constant cold in my feet and now my hands too. In addition, I gained some weight on the Lyrica.

After a 2nd opinion from a new neuro he weaned me off of Lyrica, I lost ~8-10 lbs and he replaced it with nortriptyline and substituted the Ultracet with Ultram - he didn't see a need to take acetaminophen together with tramadol (ultram) chronically if I didn't need to do so. I've read that for some people the Ultracet combo works better than Ultram itself - there can be a synergy between Tylenol and Ultram. In any case the combo of nortriptyline and ultram seems to help me with the shooting and stabbing pains but this neuro and a couple of other I've spoken with told me that the cold pain is very difficult to address - sometimes high doses of mexilitine, an antiarrythrmic can help but I've not followed up on this.

I've got an appointment at Johns Hopkins in ~3 weeks so perhaps they can offer me a cause or some relief.


I hope you find some real relief soon with as few SE's as possible but it's a real "crap shoot" at times to find a good drug or combo - doesn't help that neuropathic pain is about the most difficult to treat.

Alkymst