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

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

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.

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.