... and asked my GP for pain medication.

I held back as long as I could. I was also feeling a lot better after starting the vit/supplement regimen (as reported here). Then, things went downhill fast, a sudden onset of arthritis was added, and I was in agony.

I just bit the pain for about 4 weeks. I became completely immobilized - unable to walk.

So despite wanting to be medication-free, I decided to ask her for something that could give me relief. That somehow felt as a defeat. Also, most of the pain I feel is the "deep pain", and not so much the burning that was so prominent a few years back. Which meant I didn't really believe the medication was going to work.

She decided to try Zaldiar - I think that's Ultracet in the US (?). I had been through most of the medication previously, and tramadol was the only thing that seemed to work.

Not expecting much, I can not tell you how much relief I'm feeling after taking 2 yesterday. I know it's not a high dose, but somehow it's not only working for the PN, but also for the arthritis. I did feel nausea at first, just like the first time I took tramadol, but I know that will go away in a couple of days.

I will of course continue with the vit/supplements. There is absolutely nothing wrong with them - they make perfect sense - and I still hope that in 6 months I can stop the pain medication. But given how much better I feel today (I could almost scream), I'm now thinking that it was rather silly to try to stay completely medication free. I feel good enough for a daily short walk, which makes more sense than staying in bed with a lot of pain.

I do know that the effect will become less over time, but I'm currently at 3 pills a day, so I have a buffer to up (max 8 a day) if needed, or switch to pure tramadol as there is a relatively high portion of paracetamol.

My GP also is going refer me to a "physical health" specialist. I'm not sure how they are called in English, but they work on both muscular as on a neurological level, are usually involved when you have arthritis, and this one is known to look a lot further than his own domain. The GP also agrees that there may be more to it than "just the alcohol", as the symptoms I'm having do not really make sense in the light of my 10th month of sobriety.

Anyway, in short, I feel it's a step back having to take the medication, but the joy of being almost pain free (even if it's just for a couple of days) is just incredible.