I just wanted to come back to this post and clarify something--not to start an argument or change the way this post is going... but so other people are not misled.

Mere, that may be the way it is with your medical places in your town--but that is not the truth everywhere.

I asked my mom if that was true... if I could get by with only paying $1 a month on each bill, even though, as I said--I don't even have that much.

She said absolutely not... that is incorrect. She asked the clinic in town if they would accept $10 a month and they said no. Anything less than $30 a month, they send to collections because they are not getting it quickly enough. Most other places will not take less than $20 a month, but some want as much as $50 a month.

So, while that may be true where you live, that is not the case everywhere. I don't want someone to see that, be relieved, and start dropping payments to only $1 a month--only to have their bills turned over to credit agencies. It can ruin your credit. Believe me, I'm there and I'm only 24.

I stand to be corrected... thank you. I am sorry that you are having such difficulty with medical bills. It certainly does not help to have that stress when you are not feeling well. Perhaps the medical entities might reduce the bill if they know your situation?

Hope you feel better soon.

Mere

Well I'll give you my shpeal--There are lots of lovely drugs to try. And evening primose oil and alpha-lipoic acid help me. Or try other products with GLA other than EPO, such as borage oil. And some are recommending r-lipoic acid instead of alpha. Also you might try a very healthy lifestyle as recommended by Dr. Dean Ornish, McDougal, Dr. Andrew Weil, etc. This consists of what you eat, exercise, stress reduction, social support. Also look into Dr. Mark Hyman. His site looks very commercial but I think he is onto something, he is into functional medicine, where you actually go to the cause of illness instead of putting a band-aid on it with drugs. Look into nutrigenomics--food is information to your body.

I believe exercise is very important and you can start that now. Avoid meat, eat fruits, vegetables, whole grains. Avoid refined carbohydrates like flour and sugar. Eat good fats like nuts, avocados, canola oil, extra-virgin olive oil. This is what I am doing and it has reversed some of my weird neurological symptoms.
Electron

I have suffered with a pure-sensory small-fiber neuropathy on and off over the last five years.

That said, I have found both Cymbalta 60 mg per day and Lyrica 100 - 150 mg day to be quite effective (each taken separately in my case).

I got total relief of my tingling and burning within 24 hours on the Lyrica (but with some drowsiness to go with it), and also about 75% overall relief on the Cymbalta.

Cymbalta, however, does take roughly two - three weeks to reach maximum effectiveness.

You must first take Cymbalta at a dose of 30 mg per day for the first seven days to titrate-up, at which point you go to the full strength of 60 mg per day on the 8th day.

You might consider taking the Cymbalta at 60 mg per day, and then taking 50 mg of Lyrica at night in combination to supplement.

Each has a different mode of action (Cymbalta = Antidepressent and Lyrica is an Anticonvulsent), and together they have a syngestic effect at a lower dose then each would achieve separately

Best of luck!.

I can only make a couple of suggestions, but they might just do it. Although not everything works the same for everyone, I found at least some relief with lidoderm patches. Not complete relief, but I don't think anything has been inveted yet for that. You might also try icing the area. Very simplistic, but very effective. The only problem with icing is the fact you should only use the ice pact for 20minutes an hour. As soon as the area warms up, your kind of back where you started. I hope you find something that helps (at least until they come up with the "miracle" drug I keep hoping for). Best of luck to you and all of us cause we're all dealing with the same thing.