There have basically been two types of pain - the burning/stinging, and sharp pains that seem to have little in common with the burning/stinging. The sharp pains range from being hit with a hammer on top of my feet, crushing pain that surrounds the entire foot, including the toes, and what feels like lumps on the soles of my feet - which have been described as walking on rocks in your bare feet, such as you would do on a beach, for instance. The only thing that helps the sharp pain are traditional painkillers. I take tramadol, and also hydrocodone (vicodin). My pain doctor here in Florida told me that while hydrocodone was in the 4th class of narcotics, tramadol landed in the 5th class, making them some of the least addictive painkillers on the market. These two help greatly with the severe pain. I had x-rays and an mri with the podiatrist, and there was no trauma found. It's all generated by the nerves that are responding to the dead nerves we now apparently have. The neurontin (gabapentin) usually works for the stinging pain, and supposedly lyrica does too, but people have had different experiences with them where one works and the other may not. The day I took tramadol was the first day I had gotten ANY relief from the pain. The neurtontin is helping with the stinging as well.