We have a philosophical difference. I medicate my animals, but as little as possible to help them through rough spots. Instead of, let's say Rimadyl or another non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug for arthritis pain, I gave my dogs glucosamine-chondroitin and a fish oil capsule twice a day with meals, and exercise them daily. We recently put down two 17 yr old large dogs for reasons other than arthritis. Both were walking a mile or two a day with us until the end. My remaining 15 yr. old 60 lb. mutt is doing fine, though she is getting a distinguished gray snout. I'm not anti-drug per se. When one of my dogs injured his foot and needed surgery, I gave him all the pain killers he needed. Same for myself post surgical or post injury on a short term basis.

People don't die of PN, though they may die of the underlying causes. Drugs that reduce pain, while appropriate for the short term, come with a heavy long term cost. There are no effective and safe drugs for PN pain that don't have unexpected negative side effects. All cause dependency in that they are very hard to quit because of extreme pain when use of them is stopped.

One thing to realize is that PN is for most of us a chronic disease. We can learn to live with it, and even be happy while still having PN. It makes more sense to me to come up with attitudes and strategies for the long haul that will serve us well and promote general health for the rest of our lives while at the same time reducing pain, and either slowing the progression of or reversing our PN.

There are many effective non-drug healing and pain relieving strategies that are not only safe, they are good for your general health and vitality, good for your heart, and even reduce the risk of cancer. They encompass changes in diet, daily exercise, massage, stress reduction, learning to live in the moment and not worry so much about the future and getting emotional about it. I believe this last part is why animals handle extreme pain so much better than we do. Strong emotions such as fear, worry, anger, hate, or frustration make our symptoms worse for days and prevent healing. Good emotions make our symptoms better and foster healing.

Doctors are trained to prescribe drugs and do surgery. That is their hammer, and you look like a nail to them. The first thing most doctors do when confronted with PN is prescribe anticonvulsant or tranquilizing drugs, usually before getting a differential diagnosis. We've had people here almost die because their doctors didn't go beyond prescribing drugs.

Ultimately, you are responsible for your health, not the doctors and not us. I'd recommend learning all you can about PN in general and your PN in particular before getting on the drug train.

A good place to start learning is our "Stickies" section. There are links to other web sites, book recommendations, medically oriented articles and links, the excellent charts at www.lizajane.org to organize your labs and other tests and as a guide to help your doctor diagnose the causes of your PN, and product recommendations. Another bit of free advice is to push for a differential diagnosis of the type of PN you have, what kinds of nerves are involved, what are the causes, and are any of those causes reversible.

Let me throw out a couple of "what ifs".

- What if your PN is caused by entrapment of nerves leaving your spinal chord. That would cause pain in your feet and legs, possibly your arms and hands also, and possibly some or total loss of motor function. Eventually the nerves die from the pressure, but the pressure is remediable with physical therapy, the right exercises and stretches, nerve healing diet and supplements, and possible surgery.

- What if you never find out if nerve entrapment or something else remediable is causing your PN because you're taking Cymbalta and it relieves the symptoms to a tolerable level so you stop learning and stop pushing your doctors to find out what and why. What if you could have gotten back to your beloved horses, but instead you spent the rest of your long life with diminished physical capacity from whatever is causing the PN, and mentally diminished from the powerful drugs you're taking.

- What if your PN is painful small fiber idiopathic that was caused by one event: an infection, a course of Cipro or some other PN causing antibiotic, a reaction the statin drugs you're taking, or other physical or chemical trauma.

Instead of helping your nerves and brain heal from this (healing has happened with many of us here), what if you are spaced out on Cymbalta, Neurontin, or some other drug and feeling sorry for yourself and a bit bitter and angry and that's who you become.

That was the route all three of my neurologists suggested. Only the last one had done a thorough enough workup to know what exactly was wrong and which nerve fibers of what type were involved. The cause of the damage remains unknown. All three gave me a negative prognosis. All three neurologists told me variations of this line, "You look just like the nail I've been trained to recognize. It's hopeless. The pain and disability will slowly get worse and worse until the nerves die and you're crippled. Meanwhile, this drug (Elevil or Neurontin...this was a few years ago) will take the edge off of the pain."

They were all wrong. I feel tingling and warmth in my feet and legs at this moment, but am not numb, walk daily, work physically, and sleep pain free most nights. I have a few areas of numbness, but less that a decade ago.

You have choices and decisions to make. There is life after PN, and you can have a good life with PN. You can follow your fears and worries and passively go along with whatever the doctor says. That's the path of least effort and least resistance, but I think you can do a lot better for yourself.

You can empower yourself to take charge. learn about PN, do all you can to heal yourself, get the help you need, and thrive. Part of taking charge may involve taking drugs, but that would be your decision, not ours and not the doctors. You can once again be a powerful woman instead of a victim or a disease.

P.S. I just had the thought that anybody who can control a thousand pound semi-tame animal has nothing to fear. I bet it took longer than a few months and a passion to succeed to get good with horses, right? I used to ride a lot, and know that's the case. In the same way, with time, effort, and passion you can learn to powerfully deal with PN. Believe me, the effort is well worth it. In a way, PN can be a gift, the start and the motivator for an adventure of new learning, self discovery, personal power, and spiritual growth.