I have peripheal neuropathy, kind of an unusual case since we cannot find one pain med that works on me & that included a series of epidurals. I fall asleep purely from exhaustion because when I get in that bed at night I cannot lie in one position more than a few minutes. Its horrible.

I spent most of the last 2 yrs. in bed. Always with changes, skin problems, hives more intense pain. Its been crazy. SO we are now trying diet & exercise to see if I drop some weight & stop eating the foods that I have allergies too, whats going to happen.

To be honest I have had enough doctoring & enough setbacks from trying all these medicines that have made me sick. When I stop taking a med that makes me sick by that time its irritated my nerves & I'm in bed from anywhere from 3 days to 3 months. I decided to try the diet thing because Doc wants to insert an under the skin pain pump & see if that would work>>>>I'm not ready for that.

My pain use to come in little episodes, now in the last 4 months I use to have maybe 5 good days ......this month that ended. The pain( I mean intense #10 Pain) won't leave. SO I drug myself to the YMCA. My ex got himself a membership thru his insurance co.. While there the director gave me a free 2 weeks just for us to see if I could get there & get in the pool. Have not been able to drive for 4 yrs. so ex takes care of me & my disabled Veteran hubby.

Well I did it. Altho I had to wait 5 days before I could go cause I got sick & could not walk at all. But as soon as I felt better we went. The 1st week I spent 4 days in the pool. I use to teach water aerobics for seniors & heavy women so I knew what to do. BUT I'm out of shape so bad from being in bed everyday so objective was to go & just move.......carefully & slowly. IT worked & I was completely freaked out. All that night time tension in my legs, charlie horses, muscles jumping around & aching so terribly bad. IT ALL STOPPED.

Now it did nothing for the peripheal nueropathy in my feet & hands but just losing that aching in my legs helped me to calm down more at night. I stopped going only because I have not got the money yet to buy a membership & guess what the pain is all back. Also I noticed going every other day helped but if I missed 2 days in between they ached a bit.

Its really hard to drag myself out of the house for this. I don't go out. SO getting there w/ my cane or walker & getting undressed & then getting in the pool & then out & trying to get dressed after the swim. Well I just made up my mind no matter how much it hurts I'm gonna do it & see where it gets me in 6 months. There is a private handicapped shower bathroom so I have a chair in there so I can sit down while dressing. I bought pool shoes so I don't fall on the tiles & I also wear them right into the pool.

My work out: Still working on this. BUT...its important to make your time in the pool beneficial so ya gotta get aerobic. I walk in the pool for 30-35 minutes pushing water. Then 10- 15 minutes of easy swimming not a lot with my legs in the deep end. My feet hurt more as I am in the pool & when I get out I need help walking cause they hurt. Temp of pool is 85.

I stay away from heat cause I have a huge deep whirlpool/ jet tub at home. The jets hurt my legs & forget hot water dips. The heat really hurts my feet.
Hot tub is just too hot for me.

Believe me some days there I hated going out of my houser....but that pain pump idea is pushing me to try this. I will buy the membership April 1st. I will try to go everyday. Getting up & getting a shower (very hard for me) & getting dressed & out of the house everyday is gonna be a good start for me to break away from this ...."I'll never get better "attitude.

I also worked out on the circuit, nothing like the weights I use to be able to handle....remember the idea was to just move around & get my body working. I have no stamina at all. I did 10lbs. on most of the machines & needed help on & off of them. Some I just had to pull the pin with no weight. Most importantly was motion & getting the muscles to wake up cause mine are gone.After swimming and such I just felt stronger & even managed to get a few things done at home. I can't clean house anymore. I just can't stand at all & most of the time the pain is so intense that it makes me sick to my stomach.

My age is 52.