I do have insurance. Medical, dental, and vision through my 9-5 office job. Still, even with insurance the cost of medical treatment can be staggering. My most recent bill for a visit to an orthopedist cost me about $600. It was almost $300 just to walk in the door WITH coverage (and I was only in his office for about 8 minutes), while a cortisone shot injected into my shoulder bursa again cost almost $300, as they can apparently bill a brief 5 second shot as surgery – what a joke. And it didn’t even work. He misdiagnosed me as having shoulder bursitis. I might as well have thrown $600 down the toilet. So I’m feeling especially wary of doctors at the moment. It would probably cost another $200 just to see a neurologist, not including the costs of tests.

When I had the similar issue with my hands, it was shortly before I was scheduled to leave for a study abroad trip in China, so I was frantically trying to find help. No one suggested nerve issues – I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. However, I’ve had a lot of doctors since who told me that they doubt I have true fibro. At this point, I don’t even care.

I picked up some cheap B12 this past weekend while at Walmart grabbing a Naproxen refill. It’s the subpar kind of B12, though (which I found out while browsing this forum), but I’ll take it until I can buy something else, most likely online. I figure it’s better than nothing. I also have some fish oil at home. Anyone know if all fish oils are created fairly equal, or if there are certain brands that are far superior to others? Buying supplements and vitamins is so frustrating. I need to find a new multivitamin as well. I was thinking of trying Rainbow Light Women’s One a Day.

Any topicals that are recommended for neuropathy? Special types of socks, shoes? I currently wear rocker-style shoes to help take the pressure off my toes.

Also, my bottle of B12 says to take it with food, but I read here that you should take it on an empty stomach. Anyone know which one is right?

I’m hoping that like with my hands, this will eventually go away. But I read some of the stories here and it’s frankly terrifying. A medical site I stumbled across said that the outlook for PN is that it gradually worsens and isn’t reversible. I’m going to ignore that for now. You can’t trust everything you read, and I think the outlook for PN depends heavily on the underlying cause. It seems to me like not all PN is created equal.

My feet were throbbing and tingling so much today that I felt like each had their own mini heart. I took my shoes off at work since I was just sitting at my desk and instantly felt some relief. They were still throbbing, but the buzzing laid off a bit. Dunno if that means my shoes are too tight? They don’t FEEL too tight, and the guy who made my custom arches had taken a look at them and said they were pretty decent shoes. I don’t wear high heels or any other similar torture devices! My feet are also sweating more than usual, and I’m noticing some slight muscle twitches here and there.

My vitamin D levels were actually tested a few years back. It was weird. At first they told me it was really low, but then when I had a follow up appointment with the doctor she said no, your levels are actually fairly normal. Doctors never seem to want to do tests. I ask for something and they just brush me off and say it's not necessary. I wonder how hard it would be to insist on a B12 test...