Quote:
Originally Posted by leondas
I have the least burning pain in my hands and feet when they are cold, and I actually like to have cold hands. When I have more pain my hands are invariably warm and have a reddening due to increased circulation. Does anybody else notice this effect and why does it happen?
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My PN is very old now, and has considerably healed, but cold is still comfortable and heat painful. My wife can't understand how I like to walk barefoot on our tile floors in the morning!
Cold generally reduces the rate and intensity of nerve firing whereas heat generally stimulates nerve firing. That would be no problem with normal nerve patterns, but with our damaged nerves heat just causes the brain more distress from the increased abnormal stimulation. Over the years, that's been the general experience in these forums, that cool is soothing and heat increases pain.
Neuropathic pain is in the brain, not the nerve endings, and is self sustaining as the brain target areas get more and more irritated and hypersensitive. In general, anything you do to reduce the irritating signals to the brain will reduce pain long-term.
A caution is that cool is good, but freezing isn't. Please always take care not to further damage your already damaged nerve endings. The same applies to microelectric stimulation therapy and other types of massage. A little soothes and heals, but too much can irritate and prevent healing.