I've been flooding my body with Vitamins and vegetables lately and have been feeling pretty good. However, this week I'm losing the battle and my feet are really in a lot of pain. I've always got burning and tingling in feet and hands, but the electric shocks are back and pain when walking is back. EVERYONE at work and at home is sick. Runny noses, coughs, all those yucky nasty winter germs that are going around.
I have avoided the germs, but I wonder if the return of the pains in my feet are a result of the "germs" my body is fighting. I haven't changed anything, still taking vitamins, eating well, sleeping enough, and the PN is getting increasingly worse. However, no runny nose, cough, or nasty cold like others.
Any ideas? (This is my first winter with PN, so I'm not sure what to expect).

I find that any stress results in an increase in PN pain. The worst offenders for me are emotional stress (by far), followed by heat, prolonged inactivity, and illness.

I agree with everything David mentioned, and one extra is high sugary carbs always worsened my PN, then there's the other side of the coin that is you definatly get worsening of symptoms when your nerves are repairing, i hope its the last one.

what's helped me the best with the worst of the ZAPS! has been hair dryers.
While it only slows/stops the pain for moments, those ARE pain-free moments.

Medium to moderate heat on the 'active' areas for short periods of time, warm up the outside areas of the package, but they feel better than massage used to! Those paks containing rice or barley hulls that can be microwaved also provide slow, gentle heat as well.

Heating pads can be a danger tho as using them too long [more than 20-30 mins] in one place opens doors to possible burns-not a good thing at all!

Only other thing, I guess, would be to think positive....as in: I WILL BE HEALTHY THRU THIS! Positive is far better than negative?

Super good thoughts your way...for the duration! - j

6 years ago I started making and using colloidal silver, a shot up each nostril along with a squirt to the throat a couple times a week is all it takes. I refuse to take flu shots.

I spent quite a long time trying to find any correlation between my PN symptoms and stress . . . and I never found any relationship between positive stress and positive symptoms. I think I am more the exception than the rule. I have spent some time trying to figure out why stress does not work that way for me - and I just don't know.

OTOH, I have most definitely found a correlation between negative stress and negative symptoms. That is, when I can relax fairly deeply, my pain sensations are lessened. And this much makes complete sense. I have tried to cultivate that deep relaxation through meditation and some self-hypnotic work. I have achieved some success but not to the point where it has made a significant difference yet in my life . . . such as reducing meds or functioning better.

But there is no question that this is the road I want to travel. I will continue to meditate and am right now exploring other ways to enhance auto-hypnotic relaxation and bring it into my daily life.

The great thing about all mind-body work is that it is basically risk-free. I would encourage anyone with PN to try out some basic strategies and go from there. It is very easy to get started - so many choices . . . classes, professional consultations, tapes and CD's, etc., etc.

For anybody considering . . . I would make one suggestion - if you are new to this kind of thing, it is often useful to start with a goal that is unrelated to your pain. That is, you create a purpose that is about enhancing your well-being and ability to manage your life. Thus, you set the stage for having success rather than failure because you were not able to make the "pain go away."

rafi