Originally Posted by Ivpound

Well, went to see Dr. Latov at Cornell Weill as a follow up to my January appointment. I am currently on 3600 mg of Gabapentin and 60 mg of Cymbalta. The good news was that he did office tests, and said the SFSN had not progressed at all. No numbness, and he felt that since it was relatively static that it would not progress to motor etc. That was indeed good news. The only lab tests that I had had that pointed to anything was low B6, but he said even that maybe even that was not the cause (I asked about the car accident Iwas in, and he said it could have been due to a trauma to the CNS etc, who knows??). Anyway, I told him that a had a somewhat decent response to Cymbalta (sometimes there are even weeks when I dont think about the overal pain, but there are flareups, and it seems to be coming back somehwat), but still had pain, especially temperature sensitivity (cold bothers it much more than heat). He said that more than likely, there was some inflammatory process going on, that caused it, and that it wont get worse than what it is.

He said there is no reason for me to be as uncomfortable as I am, and he said we can go up to 120 mg daily on the Cymbalta. I told him I read that there is nothing to indicate that doses higher than 60 mg are any more efficacious. He said due to my size (although I have lost 25 lbs, 50 more to go), and how I might process these drugs that that was not the case. He then lapsed into different medical literature and studies he has written etc. I also complained of achiness, and he said it is safe to take the 12 hour aleve if I wanted to (studies have shown that it ups the bioavailability of Gabapentin--he did not seemed concerned by this). He also said that I did not need to see him for another year, and felt confident that the cymbalta increase would help. Any thoughts on this? When he told his nurse that, she smiled at me and said that that was a good thing. I thought maybe he did not like my cologne or something.

Any insights,

Thanks,

mark