If you have a used ReBuilder (model 300 or 2407) that you are no longer using and would like to sell it, please send a personal message to me or email me at **

I recently lost mine during a trip and now I can tell it was helping.

Thanks,

Randy

Check Ebay also I bought mine for £20 from there - couldnt believe my luck!

Yep, already checked e-bay. There was one on there, but the price was not good. I'll keep looking, thanks.

I had never heard of these until I saw this post.. my mom and I decided to do some research... I have a TENS unit, but my TENS unit goes up to 60, and even on that high, I can't feel it on my feet at all... so we are going to talk to my neurologist and see if I would benefit at all from one of these or not... they are very very expensive.. but if the doctor can prescribe one, our insurance would pay for 80%... so we'll see... I hope you are able to find one!

Sarah Mae - has any of your doctors allowed you to try the Duragesic Patch? I read your story on your site and you have had a lifetime of pain and you need help. If you have not used this med I urge you to try it. It is a narcotic - a strong narcotic but if you have true chronic pain then a narcotic is what you need. I know, your thinking, I will become addicted. Well, I've been using this med since 1-9-02 and I am not addicted but my 7 to 9+ pain has been reduced to a 2 to 4 and I'm doing great. These patches do not work for everyone but nothing does.

If your doc won't let you try this then I urge to to find a doc that will. Most doctors want nothing to do with patients who complain of pain but more and more of them are coming to realize that pain is a legitimate medical condition deserving the best the profession has to offer. They are still in the minority...but they are out there...and I am talking about legitimate physicians who truly care for their patients.

Just find a doctor that will work with you. Start low on the strength of the patches - perhaps the 50 strength patch and if that doesen't make a significant difference then titrate to the 75 strength, etc. I didn't get relief until we tried the 100 strength and that was on 11-18-02 and this strength help so much I could hardly believe it! I stayed at this level until 3-19-07 and we then upped it to 125 strength (1 100 strength patch and 1 25 strength patch) and I have stayed at that strength thru this writing. By the way, you change these patches every 72 hours! Sure beats taking pills all day and night long.

Sarah Mae, this medication has been a God send for me. To this day I still don't understand how I survived those first 14 years of horrific PN pain but I guess you understand about that. I've had this Peripheral Neuropathy and it's pain now for 22 years but since starting the Duragesic Patch in Jan 02 I have led a relatively normal life. My hands are steady, my eyes are clear, and I have full control of all my faculties. I drive my car without incident and my wife and I have been all over the US plus a couple of cruises over the last 8 years. I walk 1 to 2 miles every day with nothing but my cane and dog and I really enjoy that. I am now 78 years old and I am so thankful for the relief I have experienced with this med. Oh yeah, I buy the generic form of the Duragesic Patch and that's called: Fentanyl Transdermal System and it's cheaper than the brand name. I am retired from the Air Force and have good insurance that pays most of it. The generic costs about $550 monthly so good insurance is almost a necessity.

My email address is (removed by author) and your are welcomed to write to me if you like. Good luck, young lady, and I wish the very best for you.

Dan Pearce
From the flatlands of West Tennessee

Dan,
Thank you for all the information.
Unfortunately, I don't think I can get that patch for a few different reasons.
First of all, my family doctor is the one who gives me my pain medicine. My neurologist is trying to treat the PN by giving me things like Topamax, Amitriptyline, Lyrica, etc... but I got the Tylenol with Codeine #4 from my family doctor. He doesn't want to move me up to Oxycodone because it is so highly addictive. On the Duragesic website, it states that before using the patch, a user needs to have tried the oxycodone pill first--and my doctor won't go there with me at this point. I also don't want to become addicted, so I haven't pushed it with him... but the pain has also never been this bad.
But either way--I don't do well with patches. Where do you places the patches? I had patches for my feet, and I couldn't tolerate them. They did more harm than good, and I had to stop wearing them. I have very sensitive skin all over, but my feet and legs are very sensitive with the PN. I won't put another patch on my feet again until I'm all healed.
I don't know what to do anymore. The Tylenol used to help for an hour or so... which wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. Now it isn't working at all, but I keep taking it, in hopes that it will magically start working. It is so incredibly frustrating!
Those patches are expensive as well.. so even if I could get them, I don't think we could afford them... I'm not sure how much our insurance would pay for...I don't have an income right now... my Tylenol is only $9 for 150...

Well, I tried but you seem to put up too many walls. First is your doctor - "but I got the Tylenol with Codeine #4 from my family doctor. He doesn't want to move me up to Oxycodone because it is so highly addictive". This is the kind of doc I was talking about - he really doesn't want to treat your pain. It appears he's more concerned about himself than you. Next, it is true that you've not been treated with Oxycodone but you could start the patch at the 25 strength and titrate from there. Then you said: "I also don't want to become addicted". You won't be provided the following: (1) that you do indeed have constant moderate to severe pain and (2) that you use the patches EXACTLY as prescribed by what ever physician RXes it for you. And next you said: "But either way--I don't do well with patches". Whataya mean? Are you saying you can't even use a bandaid? Are you alergic to the adhesives or what? Then you asked where does one put these patches. They can be placed anywhere. The medication in these patches are not used for localized pain. The fentanyl enters your blood stream and circulates throughout your body and delivers pain relief in that fashion. You can put the patches anywhere...your shoulders, chest, back, thighs...anywhere. I put them on my left shoulder where my vaccination scar is and I alternate from one shoulder to the other and I get by just fine on my shoulders. If your skin is sensitive then try them on the shoulder, then the back, then the chest, then the abdomen, then back to the shoulder, etc. If you really have the pain you describe then you need to bite the bullet and try something that really works on pain. There is no magic in any of that stuff your presently using - it's just not strong enough. Finally, the cost. Yes this is expensive and there is no way that I know of to get around this but in my many years of life I have learned that if there is a will there is almost always a way. There is one pain reliever that's literally dirt cheap and it's Methadone. It's a darn good pain reliever but lots of doctors (like yours), refuse to prescribe it because they think of it as a drug to help get addicts off the drugs they are addicted to. But, yes this is also a narcotic and many PNers use it successfully. It is or was a popular street drug...I don't mean made on the street...just liked by addicts. It is also used to help addicts come off the drugs they are addicted to but it's primary purpose is to relieve pain and it can do that without you becoming addicted. Addiction occurs almost exclusively when the patient abuses it.

Regarding addiction check out this:
http://www.letstalkpain.org/real_story/addictions.html AND
http://health.msn.com/health-topics/...0195150&page=1 BE SURE AND READ ALL 7 OF THESE MYTHS!!!

Again, I wish you good luck in your search for pain relief and I sincerely hope you find it immediately.

The Fentanyl Patch totally shut down my autonomic nervous system. It is bad anyway due to the small fiber neuropathy but the patch really did it in. I had to stop it or die, basically. I know fentanyl works for some, but if some one is very young, and will likely benefit from upcoming research, I would be reluctant to use fentanyl. Altho, I have weaned from it twice and it is possible, not pleasant though. Dan, it is wonderful that the fentanyl has worked for you without the autonomic effects. A med that works can be a godsend. I haven't found one yet, and likely I won't due to the autonomic issues.

Instead of Tylenol with Codeine, Vicodin is about the same level, and no more addictive and slightly better on the stomach. I use that now and will not go back to fentanyl for now. My pain on Vicodin is the same as my pain on Fentanyl, and that is because nerve pain just isn't very responsive to opiates. Even this has autonomic side effects that are not very tolerable.

I need to go back and read posts to see what SarahMae's type of neuropathy is. With my new family members, I haven't had the time to follow folks on here as I used to.....since I am entering a bit of a relapse due to overdoing.....I likely will be here more.

I am so sorry you feel badly Sarah. Things usually come in waves, kind of like a roller coaster......I am notorious for pushing my good times and then plunging downhill until my next uptick.

I have some history on methadone:

1) It used to be a brand name, Dolophine. And at one time when there were few opiates available, it was used for severe pain.
Like Cancer. At one time it was a legit pain management option.
It is not just for detoxing heroin addicts.

2) methadone is the generic name and is a useful alternative because it does not cause the euphoric highs that other opiates do (esp heroin), so it can be used to detox heroin without the "pleasure" which is the addictive part. It is very cheap and works for some PNers in very low doses.

I do think doctors are going to be resistant in giving a young person opiates.

That history of back pain you have, Sarah, and your lack of PN in the hands, bothers me. A nutritional cause would be affecting your hands too. I think getting another opinion in your case might be helpful. If your pain in your toes and legs is due to compressed nerves in the spine, a solution for that may present itself. But that would be your decision. Most PNers go thru many diagnostic opinions. Codeine is not a good drug for chronic pain...it has to be activated in the liver before becoming useful.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/420696

Dan, I agree with what you've said about treating pain. The problem, at least for me, is finding a doctor who is willing to do that. And it's tough to know that up front with any of them--pop the question, and bam! you're a drug seeker.

The last doc I saw was the worst: on my first visit, she tried to force me into a group PT/OT and group talking therapy program where there would most likely be no PN'ers but me. When I asked her to give me just one specific example of how any of that would help me, she couldn't, got mad, and refused to prescribe anything for me, even Elavil, which is all I was asking for. Oh, and she was a pain management specialist.

I'm hoping the guy I'm going to now will turn out to be serious. He's my 5th try...insurance company's gonna think I'm doctor shopping. Well, I guess I am.