[since95]

Hi Everyone

My name is Dan and I am quite new to PN. The pins & needles started in early July of this year and only happened if I took a hot shower. The feeling started to progress over the summer and was quite worse on hotter days. What started in my feet and hands moved up my arms and up legs and spread across my whole body. It is quite scary how fast the PN has spread and increased in pain. I am scheduled to see a Neurologist in the next month but nothing happens fast when it comes to the Canadian medicare system.

I have two suspects as to where my pain came from. First off, I just recently finshed a long 2-1/2 year taper of Paxil on August 24 after over 15 years on the medication. The withdrawal was horrible but I finally was able to make it. Throughout the whole taper, I faced many weird CNS issues such as muscle twitching/tics, sleep starts (jolting right before falling asleep), dizziness, the horrible SSRI withdrawal "zaps", etc... Could Paxil have damaged my CNS after 15 years on the drug and that is what is causing my PN?

The second suspect is that I have been on 5 different PPI medications over the past 4 years for stomach pain. I had numerous scopes and was diagnosed with a hiatus hernia with mild barrett's esophogus. The Gastro wanted me to stay on PPIs the remainder of my life. During the whole time on these drugs, my stomach has gotten worse. I finally had a integrative doctor (MD but natural focus) in August that I went to see about the symptoms from Paxil withdrawal and he stated that the PPI was probably the culprit causing the PN. If you google side effects from many of these PPI drugs, a lot of people are complaining about pins & needles. I have stopped taking the PPI as of 13 days ago and my symptoms continue to increase.

My new family doctor has prescribed me gabapentin (Neurontin) by I am so scared to try it due to the side effects. However, the pain continues to spread and increase in intensaty and I don't know where else to turn. I am glad I found a forum with people that are facing the same thing I am.