Hi All.

Alan and I went into NYC to the CBS building for our monthly PN Support Group Meeting. The law firm that gives us the room REALLY went all out with the table settings. They had cookies, hot coffee, beverages, half and half, milk, set-ups. VERY NICELY DONE

I brought a carrot cake that I baked (couldn't touch it because I'm diabetic), and others brought goodies too.

We had a really good turnout. About 20 people attended. That's a good meeting. We went all around the room and everyone spoke about their experiences with neuropathy and what worked and what didn't work.

I brought my balance board and demonstrated how I balance on it. And given the fact that I am going through a bout of sciatica, well, let me tell you, I GIVE MYSELF SOME CREDIT. lol

Actually, balancing on a balance board makes you use your muscles and it actually feels good. With sciatica you have to MOVE. I mean, you have to know what you are doing when you stretch, etc, but if you just sit, THEN YOU CAN'T MOVE.

And everybody there had a story to tell about their experience last week when the temperature dropped from 89 to 35 overnight. Golly!!!! everyone had a story.

And last night in NYC it was 71 degrees. Beautiful!!!

This morning it was in the 40's. HELLO!!!!! BACK PAIN!!!

Yesterday morning, I purchased a roll on version of something that is made by Bio-freeze. It's called Perform. It's not cheap either.

I have Bio-freeze in the house and Alan uses it for his neuropathy but I tried it for my sciatica (as well as various non prescription pain patches, and rubs, etc.).

Well, you would have gotten a kick out of me standing up in front of 20 people asking "how many people here have Sciatica?" and all the hands SHOT UP.

I then took out my new bottle of Perform, passed it around so all could see and explained that I had just started using it AND IT MADE A BIG DIFFERENCE.

There's no miracle here but let me tell you, compared to all the other stuff I've used, this stuff is GREAT.

I have tried to go online to see how this is different from Biofreeze but can't find the information.

They both work by cooling the nerves, and this was has (under active ingredients).

NATURAL MENTHOL USP 3.1% - Purpose - Cooling Pain relief.

I don't know how this works, and I don't care.

I'm using it. And I'm functioning better.

So at the meeting, we had people who developed neuropathy from simply taking an anti-biotic. One girl (she was in such pain), had previously had a UTI, been prescribed Bactrim, and on the second pill, her hands got tingly, numb, then her feet, and it progressed to her groin. She was in a lot of pain.

She is allergic to D-Mannose (the stuff I took when I had a UTI, it's in Cranberries), but she IS able to take cranberry pills and she drinks lots of water. The both of us were drinking water all night long.

Another nice gentleman had neuropathy and he remembered that he was given Bactrim from his doctor after he developed MRSA from his massage therapist. he got it on his back during a massage. (Amazing what you hear at these meetings).

I told him about this site. Hope he comes here and visit.

So he now will look up Bactrim and Neuropathy, and perhaps discuss it with his physician.

We all spoke about balance, good balance, bad balance, IVIG treatments, (the girl with the UTI excitedly looked at me and said "Oh, would IVIG stop my pain?" and I had to be brutally honest and say to her "Actually, not really, Alan went on IVIG because he thought it would help his pain and then the doctor explained that it's an immune booster and helps with balance but it not directly linked to pain relief.

So we continue to attend these meetings, try and laugh and share stories and information. We have all kinds of people with various types of neuropathies from many different reasons. We learn a great deal from these meetings.

The next meeting is on May 20th at the CBS building.

Hope some of you can attend.

Take care,

Melody