Sooo, I decided to try this neurontin thing again....100mg is all I can do right now....3 times per day. I am sure it will go up, but...for now...I feel 3 sheets to the wind, and not in a good way.

Good luck with this. Was wondering if you have ever tried a regimen of R-alpha lipoic acid, thiamine, methylcobalamin and whether they did you any good?

Sheltiemom

No, I have not....I have to open flax seed oil capsules, since I can not swallow well. My potassium pills are horse pills and I have to CHEW that cr@p since they don't order me the fizzy kind. I have not meandered into the vitamin section in a while....been sidelined in the baby section....(today's young parents have too much stuff these days....I almost hung myself on this baby front pack. I have visions of putting this 20 pound load in there and falling on my nose never to rise again...or else rising in 3 days, which would be even scarier..... My grandkid was almost permanently afixed to the Walmart cart in this baby cart-seat cover to keep him from getting germs from the cart, and I almost broke both arms and a leg in the extrication....

And we have some toy that repeats, 'Won't you come and play with me' all nite, even with the switch off.....I think it's a toy, or else it is hubby talking in his sleep.)

I know why God made menopause.

And yes, the n-neu-neurrronnntin works fine....what's my password again??

So, I bought this fantastic looking bed, with 12 storage drawers. It has a book case headboard, which is wonderful for storing my pills, eye lube, eye drops, glasses...and other 'sundry' stuff that will remain unsaid....if you have Sjogren's or Sicca, you get the idea.

This bed also has a footboard, which in my lifetime thus far, has seemed like an extravance I could not justify. A headboard, yes, a footboard, nope....until now, since I am old, (kinda) I figure, what the he11, I'm worth it. Thing is, this footboard must rise to the occassion of 12 storage drawers, which are 2 rows of 3 stacked on each other, bilaterally (3+3=6x2=12), which makes it pretty much mid thigh....add small fiber neuropathy....and you have 2 half dollar sized, aubergine, purple, magenta bruises on each lateral thigh....I reinforce each bruise, every time I round that corner exiting the room and one for each time I round the corner to get to my bedside....ufff....you think it would sink in after a few trips!

The foam pipe insulation I installed on the corners looks great........it really complements the Shaker styling of the bed....that I paid a small fortune for, since it looked so nice in the catalog.

It is not so bad having to have a step stool to get into bed either....at least my clothes are not laying all over the floor any more....and my dogs have more floor space to sleep.

I have learned to mount this bed successfully, and have not fallen out and given myself a skull fracture....and maybe eventually I will learn to walk AROUND the bed, not into it....and, I swear there is a pea under that mattress somewhere. Ya think?

The regimen Sheltiemom has recommended should be no problem for you to swallow if you can swallow the 100mg nerontin/gabapentin. The Meythl B12 is a chewable if you get the Jarrow Methyl B12. I use the 5000 which was recommended here. The R-liopic is a 100mg capsule and instead of thiamine I was recommended here to take 2-150 Benfotiamine. These are smaller than the neurontin. I forgot to take mine today and can't sleep even though I took a 300mg gabapentin. I had to take the supplements and after writting this will probably be able to sleep

I have a thread here if you want to search titled "CHEMO Neuropathy" where the board helped me figure out the supplement thing. I posted some results. I think I'm at about a month doing it and am seeing results.




I hate swallowing pills. I chew aspirin. I chewed antibiotics and considered chewing xloda, which was a chemo pill. I don't know why they make pills so freakin big I'm a comedy act when I take meds. I have to take a step when I swallow

I learned some things while having to take xloda 8 x's a day that may help. I have a harder time with hard pills as oppose to capsules. Chemo pills make you want to throw up while taking them. I cut the xloda in half with a pill cutter and took them with store bought chocolate milk. The thickness of the milk made it very easy to swallow

Chocolate milk saved me during this ordeal. It makes swallowing pills a whole lot easier and safer

I use a B12 sublingual, which I can manage.

I have to crush most supplements....there is no way I can swallow them with my esophageal status.

I am to be honest, a bit intimidated by all the supplements and how they could potentially affect me, with the autonomic neuropathy and all.

Thiamine, is likely fairly benign? Benfotamine is? And last question, is Lipoic Acid toxic at all?

I am totally on the fence on Vitamin D, since it is supposed to be BAD for autoimmune disease?? or not?? I am out in the sun all day in summer and my vit. D soars.

I can't really eat normally due to my autonomic stuff....poor appetite...nausea...If I could just eat all the good stuff I grow, i would be set. I also don't eat enough protein and I wonder about all these drinks with soy in terms of pesticide residue. I live in soy and corn country and I see all the insect like machines they use to spray, and spray and spray the fields. My grandson that I care for is on Soy formula and I cringe every time I have to mix it...there is no evidence he is lactose intolerant, and I don't see why he can't be on milk formula.

I have to go put a cold compress on my bruises, and neurontin makes me forget the foreign languages I speak. I could not even remember how to say 'thank you' in Spanish last nite. (I review my languages while I am falling asleep.)

Thanks Unstapbl, for the info about the things I'd asked Cycleops. Wasn't recommending Cycleops try them, just trying to find out if they had been tried and what the result was.

From what you say, I will definitely start this regimen. And thanks for the tip about which kind to do and dosages. Only thing the pharmacist has recommended is to take the RALA at the other end of the day from when I take levothyroxine for hypothroidism med because RALA can interfere with it.

Oh Sheltiemom, I WOULD try them if people are having positive results!

I just need small pills or liquids.... I have an esophagus that decides to clamp down like a python when something is half way down, and then whatever I ingested has to degrade right there, midway down. I have gotten some nasty problems from that. I don't understand why the docs keep giving me horse pills when they know this.

I just wonder what benfotamine is....will I have any problems with Lipoic acid?

I don't think supplements are benign. They can be very active, interact with drugs.

Sheltiemom....thanks for the lead on the nice undies! Comfort above all else!

Hi, cycleclops -

First things first - those undies I suggested are truly great or I'd not suggested them. Hope you try and are as happy as I am about your choice.

About the new bed - sounds like something from a Stephen King novel - like maybe "Cristine II?"

Secondly, yes - am aware that dietary supplements must be used with great care, especially when taking meds and/or certain other supplements. The benfotiamine form of B1 was recommended here in a reply by unstapbl(sp?) to this topic of yours, I think because it might be a superior(?) form of it rather than plain old thiamine.

Me too. have switched from lyrica as I needed to up the dosage and didnt like it up there