Exactly. The situation is a little more complicated than I described. Actually, the areas of the brain stimulated by constant chaotic signals become irritated and hypersensitive. With constant 24/7 stimulation, what would have originally been itching turns into pain, burning, and moments of intense shocking pain, even though the stimulation from the feet aren't that intense. Neurontin is an anticonvulsant which works by generally damping brain activity at the synapses. That's how it reduces activity in the specific hypersensitive brain areas, by reducing brain activity all over. That's also why it makes you tired. Your attentive skills can compensate for this to a degree, so that you can learn to function at work, drive, etc.

As I've posted elsewhere, neurontin and other drugs have many drawbacks. PN is a long lasting chronic condition for most of us. Even if it gets better, as mine has, the healing process and brain relearning takes many years. Do you really want to take large doses of psychoactive drugs for years and years? All drugs are toxic to some degree, and interfere with normal bodily healing processes. So, while neurontin and other similar drugs partially address the pain of PN, pain-reducing doses of neurontin actually hurts long-term nerve healing. That's my idea, not confirmed by research because most neurologists still believe that PN is invariably progressive, so little research is being done on healing from PN.

I posted a complete program for PN healing a few years ago. It needs updating, but you might find the broad outlines helpful. The link is: http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread177-2.html , listings #18, 19, and 20 at the bottom of the page.