Nothing wrong with that. :D Just don't go overboard. :p

Adding an Additional Battle
 

Yeah, Icehouse & Wiix,

If anyone in my life had ever tried to tell me there would someday come a time when I was marking the days since my last Hershey's dark..........

One Two, One Two. This is not a test. But 1212 days for me.

So after all this time you STILL lead with 311 days. Bah! ;)

Not doing well pain wise - in fact a serious setback. No idea where it comes from, apart from stress. No drinking, healthy diet, supplements, lots of sun, no smoking, no benzos, and still. :confused: Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised, PN is an ever changing condition.

I was quite disheartened, and went (how on topic!) into a sugar binge. Soda, cake, chocolate, pie, fries,you name it. It didn't even make PN matters worse. Oh well, I'll snap out of that one in a week or so, but a relapse into junk food is the lesser of two "evils" I suppose. The good news probably is that I didn't even think about/consider alcohol (only just realized that while typing); the only visions I had was of apple pie with loads of creme on top.

Currently starting amitriptyline again (went to the doc of course for that) to be able to take a rest on the Zaldiar (tramadol) for a while so that it starts working again for me.

So, not really good news, but I have to stay honest.

Honesty makes this thread work , seems to me, thanks for the superb post, Wide-O, although I wish you were feeling better, and have confidence you will soon. As you note, this stuff is ever changing. I haven't been doing that well either, and look forward to that day when we have all kicked PN's rear! On a different forum, a few folks were singing the praises of Cymbalta, I thought I might check with my doc on that one. Have you (or anyone else) tried it or heard of it being used? As for alcohol, I never think of the stuff either. I doubt I would even like it.

Cymbalta scares the crap outta me, but that is based on the 45 minute blurb in a monotone voice regarding side effects. But, I look forward to seeing how others react to it....

Cymbalta
 

I tried Cymbalta and gave up on it quick because of sexual side effects. I know the are a lot of side effects, but most have the potential to go away after your body adjusts. Some, like sexual side effects have a tendency to not go away and therefore Cymbalta won't work. It can be very effective for nerve pain and is probably worth a shot. My doctor got me to try it by saying that if it does cause problems, just stop and it will be out of your system in a day.

mmj
 

Since we have a few posts on meds, I can report that my state has approved MMJ for several illnesses. A few weeks ago, the Medical Advisory Board recommended that diabetic and peripheral neuropathy be added to the list of approved ailments. Our Governor ignored the advise cause basically he is clueless, but it's no secret that one can try the stuff. I was really surprised to see that it really did help. I thought it was just a bunch of old hippies and young stoners looking for a buzz, but that appears to not be the case at all, not at all. It is no cure all, but it helps. ....not endorsing, just reporting.

We talked about Cymbalta, and my doc is not in favor of it (nor Lyrica etc.). In her experience - anecdotal, yes, but it seems to confirm studies - they don't really help and cost a lot of money. She has quite a few patients who have PN, and she really follows up on what seems to work or not. However: quite a few of her PN patients are alcoholics who frequently relapse, which makes it much harder to judge the medication given.

Amitriptyline is dirt cheap, has well known/understood side-effects, and sometimes helps (none of these pills work for everybody). Given that I'm also experiencing a slight depression (but it's a chicken/egg thing: does the PN get worse because of it, or did the PN relapse cause it?) it seems like a good option to try.

I think there's no shame in discussing marijuana for pain medication - especially if it has been legalized or condoned in your area. Truth is, it's not a miracle drug: for me it didn't do anything. I tried it, bought some high CBD content weed, used it in a vaporizer, really wanted it to work, and ... it just didn't do anything for me - this after several tries. But I'm sure it works for many others, and it can only be a good thing to have many options.

I will ask my Doc about amitriptyline. I sorta have the same opinion your doc has, Wide-O, from reading comments about all these drugs. (lyrica,etc). Their effectiveness sure seems spotty , at best. A couple of them apparently cause a lot of weight gain, the last thing I need. I took amitriptyline (brand name Elavil) for depression many years staring in the late '70s. It worked well for that, but I replaced it with prozac when it came out. (Incidentally, I wouldn't be the first person to tell ya that prozac seems to increase alcohol consumption. No one ever forced booze down my throat, but beer + SSRI's in some folks = Party!) I have been skeptical of amitriptyline for PN but you are right, it is dirt cheap and , at least in my case, very well tolerated. It made me a biz drowsy so I just took it at night.

There's loads of information in the PN section, but IIRC there even was a law suit that determined Lyrica could not be sold officially for PN. Also, it never worked better than placebo.

Can be the case for amitriptyline as well, but not for everyone, and I didn't notice it in the short time I took it a few years ago.

Yeah, Elavil (over here mostly Redomex) is now "old school" indeed, but as I'm suffering a mild depression right now it seemed like a very good choice. So far it surely does seem to take the edge off, but it doesn't work as well as tramadol (yet?). Still, I need to build up the amitriptyline and phase out the tramadol for a while before I can really comment. That way I can take a rest from tramadol and restart it with more effect.

Exactly the same here. I tried it in 2013 for about 8 weeks, but at the same time I had started my diet and suddenly felt a lot better even before building up the Elavil (easier to type... :D ) so I quickly went off it again with the consent of the rheumatologist. But this time I hope it does the double function (pain/depression).

Drowsy for sure, but that may go away. (tramadol knocked me out at first, now I hardly feel it) I have a long working version for bedtime (25mg) and a faster/shorter acting 10mg version. Doc told me to play with that to keep the pain in check, but not go beyond 80mg as that wouldn't be effective for PN anymore (max daily dose is 150mg).

BTW, just found the receipt: $1.60 for both 25mg and 10mg together. :D