552 days sober
2.2.2013 was exactly 1.5 years.
Made it through Superbowl 47, didn't bat an eye at the bar :)

581 days sober.

Ain't that something?

Congrats to you. You are an inspiration here for sure!

what can i say....
 

:yahoo::yahoo::yahoo:

judi

Sure is! Just found this thread, you are such and inspiration. Must be nice walking on your own! How is the numbness and tingling/pain did that get better?

Numbness and pain are gone. Every now and then I may get a cramp, but it dissipates quickly. My cane is in my Land Rover if I need it, but I have not touched it in weeks....

I still have a little trouble walking a long distance, get tired quick, but if I stop and rest I can handle it.....

One of the cool things too, I can stand on one leg to put my socks on now :) Hey, its the simple things.....

This info is what I have been looking for for so long,thank you icehouse!I too was a heavy drinker for years and developed this life robbing condition.have had it 4 or so years been on gab 300x4 amitriptyline 150 , oxy 5mg x3. I have quit drinking but I have not seen any relief.my numbness is still the same,but the neuropathy has seemed to have receded from above the knees to my lower legs which I feel any improvement is a huge plus! My dr. Doesn't think it's alcohol .from what I have been reading from people like yourself it has to be.I really am glad I found your posts, thank you for sharing it gives me hope for tomorrow! You are right it's the simple things that count.Good luck with your recovery !

No, good luck with YOUR recovery. I am not familiar with the meds you are on, but MrsD will hopefully chime in. It is good to see that you are slowly getting better, I think the recovery time frame is different for everybody, perhaps I just got lucky :)

Icehouse

As a fellow hardcore drinker to another you didn't get lucky you fought and clawed your way back into life! I know how hard it is to quit drinking and you are living proof neuropathy gets better! I know it takes time to heal nerves , gives me hope, thanks for sharing your timeline.

The reason I say "lucky" is that I have read numerous reports on nerve damage being deemed as permanent. Maybe there is a fine line between when its recoverable and when its not....

That is what I am worried about the most ( being permanent ), since I waited for over 4 years to go to the Dr. About it. What finally brought me to my knees was the incredible pain , I really thought they were going to cut them off.I had never heard of PN before that. Yes your right,my neurologist told me it was permanent so I am hoping I will get " lucky" too ! You don't talk much about your pain or did you go numb without the pain?

Permanent is not necessarily true. Even Dr. Young at Rutger's says that replacing the lost nutrients will reverse most alcoholic PN.

You can search him, Wise Young, MD., on Google.

Stop the alcohol, eat smart with Omega-3s and good protein.
Avoid sugar.

Do Benfotiamine, magnesium, B-complex, B12, Vit D and see what happens. Take some time, but there should be small improvements along the way.

I found Benfotiamine,R-Lipoic Acid,B-12 Methylcobalamin and Slow-Mag today thanks mrsD for your help!I am excited about the future, it has to get better now. My B12 level is 883 they took me off injections said I was on the high end of normal,worked out tho rather take the 5000 mcg anyway.My pain is just horrific at times,I can only pray it was the alcohol that caused this because I have control over that.If this is what I must do to get my life back it is a small price to pay.

Well, not to burst your bubble here, but I did not have any pain. For me it was mostly numbness and tingling (pins and needles like) in my feet and lower legs. Add to that poor diet, massive amounts of alcohol (I liked my Vodka neat, no glass) and I lost the use of my legs. I could hobble from a bed to a bathroom but walking was out of the question.

When I was incarcerated (3 months) I was given a walker for 1 hour a day. When I was released I took it with me (dont tell them) and used that for about 3 months.

I ditched the walker in Feb 2012 for a cane.

Now I eat well, take the vitamin regime and walk about a mile a day just for giggles.

Oh, and NO alcohol....none.

Wondering how you are doing Icehouse. Care to tell us how you are doing here a year later?

I would, but its been fairly well documented in the last 5 pages...I kinda hijacked this thread on page one I think :D

But, without tooting my own horn, I think I am doing pretty damn good considering....

I am still pretty excited I can walk again!! :cool:

Read through this whole thread from page 1-6.....it shows the monthly progress in steps....

20 months or 608 days of sobriety. Easy? No. Worth it? Yes.

Hardly ever use the cane anymore, still not 100% but time will bring that along. I am going to post a picture of something that I never thought I would never be able to do again. I was far from the high scorer, but I bowled two games before I decided to take a rest :p

wow! I congratulate you! you are an inspiration to us all.Great that you went bowling, I bet you had a great time!!!!
bizi

Congratulations Icehouse on your awesome journey & remaining sober! And Beachbumb... I hope that you are finding much relief with your supplements. How are you doing today?

Although far from fully recovered - I was feeling a good bit better after 2 weeks of no sugar/alcohol & a bunch of new (Mrs.D approved) multi-syllabled vitamins. But last night I had 2 glasses of delicious red wine & a small piece of cheesecake at dinner and BAM! I woke up with leg pain that I haven't had in weeks. It's lasted all day & I am struggling between being happy that I now know that alcohol must definitely play a major roll in my suffering and being sad that I probably can't enjoy wine ever again.

Try using in moderation (one drink to start), some quality filtered Vodka. Skyy...is quadruple filtered. See if your feet react to it. They make it in pints, so you can buy just a little.
Quality vodka in moderation does not set off my feet. But any kind of wine sure does! So does beer. Beer in fact upsets my GI tract as well. Smirnoff is a close second to Skyy. (avoid all the flavored vodkas)

I've learned to drink the vodka, because I need a relaxer now and then. My old fave, Canadian blended whiskey has become history for me however, along with the other alcohol sources.
It is not always just the alcohol, but what comes along with it that can be so problematic.

When you drink however, you will need that Benfotiamine (or regular Thiamine) to help metabolize it.

I wish I had the guts to try it but at this point I am going to just steer clear of all alcohol. This relapse has given me enough fear to realize that taking the edge off or loosening up isn't worth the repercussions.
After my wine excursion on Friday - I suffered all day leg & foot pain. It had subsided finally around bed time & I was able to enjoy almost all of my Saturday with minimal affliction. Until about 8pm when the foot pain became almost crippling & the pins & needles came back in not only my legs but also my arms & hands (and it is still going on now! :-(). I haven't had that unpleasant sensation since starting on the vitamins over 2 weeks ago. It kept me up all night feeling uncomfortable & stressed. I'm wondering if this is still the effects of my alcohol intake on Friday or if perhaps I overdid it yesterday planting cold weather crops in the garden & doing spring clean up outside all day in the yard. Any thoughts. I'm a pretty active girl, so I'm inclined to thing this is all part of the 'healing' process but I'm scared because I was doing so well before the drinks. I mean my pain & discomfort had gone from a 10 to a 2 & now I'm back up to a 7. I hate PN!!

Now is the time to try an anti-inflammatory... like the AlkaSeltzer original formula...

When you start an inflammatory cascade the chemicals released are called cytokines, and they get into the blood stream and
cause inflammation all over. If you have this type of trigger, say from some congener in the wine, it will continue until the cytokines are metabolized away.

Testing with the AlkaSeltzer, blocks histamine receptors (the bicarb part) and the cytokines, because aspirin blocks those.
So it is a double whammy solution.

There are always flares with PN... it is very rare to have it go away 100%. Those with early deficiencies may have a near 100% resolution with supplements, but all the rest have left over problems that may flare up at times.

Next time you feel the need to drink, try the filtered vodka. That will tell you if it really is the alcohol, or something else dissolved in it (like the wines and beer or aged whiskeys).

Watch the video I just put up here, with the stories from patients low in B12. Their symptoms, etc, are very revealing.
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread186580.html

Thank you :-) OK, I'm off to get some Alka Seltzer. How much should I take? I'll say that when this started - my podiatrist had me take 3 Ibuprofen 2x a day for a week to see if that would help because it is anti-inflammatory. It didn't do a thing. Won't my results be similar with another type of anti-inflammatory?

Next - I'm still so confused on how all of this can be happening. I understand that alcohol can block absorption of essential B (and other) vitamins. But honestly - my diet other than wine has been pretty impeccable for years. Every time I tell someone what has been going on with my health recently they always say 'But you eat so healthy!!' Which is so true. Can years of drinking 2/3 glasses of daily wine seriously & completely override the vitamin swallowing, yoga bending, organic juicing lifestyle I lead? Seems just crazy!!

Thank again... I hope you are having a wonderful day!

I find that one packet (which contains 2 tablets) is enough for a whole day. But you could take it twice a day if you need to.

You cannot use aspirin if you use a blood thinner, or have a bleeding disorder or ulcers of the stomach.

If it works for you it will work very quickly. The aspirin goes into your bloodstream within 5 minutes or so.

Just don't get addicted to this, because the aspirin should be used only with a doctor's supervision long term.

I get mine at WalMart-- their Equate brand. It is soooo inexpensive! When used in solution this way it is the safest way to use aspirin, to avoid stomach irritation.

When it works for you...that hints at an inflammatory cause to your PN.

Don't get the "cold" versions...they have different ingredients. You will want Alka-Seltzer Original formula (the generic is right next to it)...and read the labels.

Alas Mrs.D - I guess that the Alka Seltzer isn't my 'drug'. It didn't really make a dent in my pain. But my pain is weird so it might be hard to discern if it helped at all or not. Some days my legs hurt all day long, others they hurt for an hour & then not again until bed time or not at all. Some days my appendages feel 'electric' and sometimes it's only in the morning & gone before I realize it. I see no rhyme or reason to this affliction which is doubly disturbing to someone like myself who craves order ;-)

So it will be 1 week tomorrow since my wine indulgence & I am sorry to say that I'm still having pretty strong issues. Back when I started on this thread about a month ago I was a 10 as far as pain, panic & numbness. After 2 weeks of no drinking & starting the supplements I was down to a 2 on most days. A really wonderful reduction in symptoms I'd say. Do you think that the 2 glasses of wine, almost a week ago now could be causing this great of a rise in my symptoms? I am at about a 4/5 most days now. I really thought that the alcohol was the major cause of this PN but I'm starting to wonder :-(

Any thoughts as always are appreciated. Thanks for listening.

Well, I've used my AlkaSeltzer 3 times this week. That is more than usual for me. The weather changes, the LOWs that swoop in with storms, really affect my pain levels.

There are weather triggers for pain for many people.

Everyone is different... the AlkaSeltzer does work for some posters on the PN forum. It is always worth a try.
Try it once more just to see if you needed a loading dose.
Then you can discard it.

638 days sober today. Did not go bowling this month, but I did move to a 4br house on 2 acres with a garage. That means yard work, grass cutting, tree trimming, snow shoveling (the one day a year it snows) and raking leaves.

Excited I am to be ABLE to do that crap!!!

See, I am getting life back. I am getting MY life back. It is a bit of a slow process, but as my sobriety counter climbs, so does my health and in my case I am being blessed.

I am booked for a trip to the Turks & Caicos Islands next month and I fully plan on scuba diving, snorkeling and finding my future ex-wife :D

Now, I have decreased my vitamin regime in half in the past 2 months, just for giggles, and I have NOT noticed a decline at all. I am going to stay with that for a couple months and then dive down to just a multivitamin.

This is the first time in 38 years I have taken any sort of medication\vitamins for any length of time and if I don't "need" them I would rather not take them.

I am taking a Centrum Silver daily and a Benfotiamine (150 mg) every other day.

Will see how that pans out.

Congrats, Icehouse!

I'm 4 months without a drink and I've been drinking for about a decade heavily. I've just been diagnosed with PN due to drinking excessively over the years. I've been losing feeling in my hands and been stumbling with picking things up. My hands and feet are often dead cold.

Did you suffer from cold hands and feet? and if so, did the Benfotiamine and B12 fix that?

Welcome! Myself, I did not suffer from cold hands or feet. My troubles were with the 'pinky' fingers going numb and then having trouble grasping like you mentioned. In my feet it was mostly the pins and needles feeling.

Fix is a strong word at this point as I am not 'fixed' quite yet. I am well on the way I believe but it will a while yet before I am 100%. Although I do attribute a part of my success to the above vitamins. I don't think they can hurt in any way so its worth taking what is needed for you.

Like I have said before, in my case, complete abstinence from alcohol and moderate exercise are what worked for me so far.

I am at 650 days sober today...creeping up on my 40th bday and 2 years sober...what a great gift to me :p

Keep it up, it IS worth it in the long run.....

Don't laugh... I only managed to do this again after 3 years this week. I was happy as a child when it worked.

Mind you, if all is good I'll never be able to catch you, as I'm only on day 340 today. :) But I know there is no going back, and I'm amazed at how relatively easy it gets.

This thread was one of the motivators for me, so I looked it up today, and join you in saying it can be done. Oh, I do have pain today, but it's muscle cramps from working in the garden, and, true to form, overdoing it. :rolleyes::D

Why didn't you tell me earlier!?

Oh wait, you did. ;)

I'm still improving daily, so much so I can hardly believe it. And, like Icehouse, I do hope people find this thread and get some inspiration out of it. It definitely worked for me. :cool:

If I was the emotional type I would probably cry right now, but I will find a sappy emoticon instead....wait for it.....:Sob:

Ok, I am good now.

Very proud of you (despite that fact you are just words on my screen) and I am beyond ecstatic that I have may have helped and inspired just one person. That makes the posting more than worth it.

Keep up the great work and follow me on the sobriety ladder....you will never catch up with me, you may surpass me, but it will be an absolute journey.

;)

Heheh, I know what you mean. I'm an IT grunt myself, have been online for 23 years now, and learned that not everyone is who they say they are. ;)

Still, I suppose you'll have to take a leap of faith in this case: I do exist, and my words (and thanks) are true. :cool:

669 days sober. Not much to update here.....just sayin..

That's 3 better than 666 days, right? ;)

I'm at day 356, and I'm seriously worried about day 365. That's because... I'll stop smoking on that day. It is not going to be easy, but I'm gonna try to apply the same mindset that was helpful in quitting the drink.

Anything is better than 666!!

I have been a social smoker for 20+ years, I have no addiction to nicotine and can 'forget' about them for days.....strange, I know.

All the best on quitting, but don't feel bad if you fail. Baby steps!

I hear ya, I'm not going to beat myself up over it. The most important at this point is staying sober.

That said, I would really like to stop and give it a fair chance - if only for the money they cost me! :eek:

And yeah, we're not all the same when it comes to addictions. For me, for example, marijuana never worked. It's legal here (sort of, with restrictions), but I don't like the buzz, and it did nothing for me when it came to pain relief. I tried several times, with "good stuff", and it just didn't work/feel right.

Anyway, baby steps... ;)

WIDE-O!!!

Did you get your 1 year under your belt??

Inquiring minds want to know.

AYE! :D

367 today. I'm coming after ya! ;)

To add a bit more... I'm finally starting to feel a bit proud that I managed to do this. I'm also feeling incredibly liberated and elated.

In a convoluted way, the PN is some kind of safeguard against me ever trying a stunt like that again. There is just no way - now that I'm starting to feel so much better and am living mostly pain-free - that I'll go back there.

I don't know if that makes sense to you?

Does it make sense. Oi veh.

I drank myself into a wheelchair in 2010, thus the PN that I had. I am now walking, bowling and have not touched my cane in months.

Yes, that makes sense to me. :)