[Theresa Esther]

Hi everyone,

Has anyone heard of a new drug called PALEXIA. It has just been reported in one of the daily newspapers in Great Britain. I wondered if anyone has had any dealings with this for neuropathy.

Best wishes Theresa

[mrsD]

Welcome to NeuroTalk:

This is a drug that has been on the market for a while for severe pain. It is a distant cousin of Tramadol.

http://www.jnj.com/connect/news/all/...alexia-palexis

From the posts I've seen, there are people who do not find this drug very helpful for severe pain.

More here on its history and actions:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapentadol

[Theresa Esther]

Many thanks for the quick response MrsD. There was I getting all excited about a new medication for severe diabetic neuropathy. For the neuropathy pain I take a B12 injection every 8 weeks, gabapentin,amitrptylene,di-hydracodeine and morphine. I have a local anesthetic spray for the feet and also local anesthetic plasters. Having exhausted so many things I had great hopes for this new wonder drug. Still my diabetic neuropathy consultant (who is a professor) has just been to America for a year doing research. Hopefully he will have come back with more answers. Just before he went they were trialing cannabis spray. I had hoped he would allow me to try that but he tells me that he has two patients with such severe pain. The other patient is male. I can only assume he got to try it and not me. Maybe when I see him he will have other answers.
One thing I would like to say that when I look at this site I always feel so sorry for the costs of your medication. Here in the UK all medicines are free for diabetics and other chronic illnesses and the over 60's. And all trips to doctors and hospitals are free also.
Thank God for the National Health Service. So if something doesn't work for you at least you haven't wasted a lot of money.
Mind you, you are way advanced to us. Like I said in my first post we are only now hearing of Palexia and you have obviously known about it for a while.

Best wishes to you all

Theresa

[mrsD]

Oh, I have to respond to your statement of B12 injection every 8 weeks.

That seems like not very much! Do you know what your blood level was tested at? Please find out and post here. If it is in the low range, as I suspect from the old scales, you may benefit from adjusting your B12 therapy. That may help your PN alot.

Also diabetic neuropathy has studies showing lipoic acid and acetyl carnitine help in many patients. Low Vit D? Was this ever tested? There is a study showing fixing low Vit D in diabetics improved their PN pain.

This is the B12 thread:
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread85103.html
You can see it is far more complicated that one would imagine to get proper treatment.

This is my supplement thread from the subforum. It has links to explain Vit D, lipoic acid and carnitine:
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread121683.html

There are things YOU can do to improve your situation. Waiting for your doctor and Big Pharma, will not be productive as things are going now.

[zorro1]

Originally Posted by Theresa Esther

Many thanks for the quick response MrsD. There was I getting all excited about a new medication for severe diabetic neuropathy. For the neuropathy pain I take a B12 injection every 8 weeks, gabapentin,amitrptylene,di-hydracodeine and morphine. I have a local anesthetic spray for the feet and also local anesthetic plasters. Having exhausted so many things I had great hopes for this new wonder drug. Still my diabetic neuropathy consultant (who is a professor) has just been to America for a year doing research. Hopefully he will have come back with more answers. Just before he went they were trialing cannabis spray. I had hoped he would allow me to try that but he tells me that he has two patients with such severe pain. The other patient is male. I can only assume he got to try it and not me. Maybe when I see him he will have other answers.
One thing I would like to say that when I look at this site I always feel so sorry for the costs of your medication. Here in the UK all medicines are free for diabetics and other chronic illnesses and the over 60's. And all trips to doctors and hospitals are free also.
Thank God for the National Health Service. So if something doesn't work for you at least you haven't wasted a lot of money.
Mind you, you are way advanced to us. Like I said in my first post we are only now hearing of Palexia and you have obviously known about it for a while.

Best wishes to you all

Theresa

Theresa
"Just before he went they were trialing cannabis spray"

you just gave me a great idea! there are many ways to utilize cannabis and one popular method is to make cannabis oil. You can google it for instructions but it should work the same as the spray, just rub it on your feet
sounds pretty simple?

[nsw43]

Originally Posted by Theresa Esther

Many thanks for the quick response MrsD. There was I getting all excited about a new medication for severe diabetic neuropathy. For the neuropathy pain I take a B12 injection every 8 weeks, gabapentin,amitrptylene,di-hydracodeine and morphine. I have a local anesthetic spray for the feet and also local anesthetic plasters. Having exhausted so many things I had great hopes for this new wonder drug. Still my diabetic neuropathy consultant (who is a professor) has just been to America for a year doing research. Hopefully he will have come back with more answers. Just before he went they were trialing cannabis spray. I had hoped he would allow me to try that but he tells me that he has two patients with such severe pain. The other patient is male. I can only assume he got to try it and not me. Maybe when I see him he will have other answers.
One thing I would like to say that when I look at this site I always feel so sorry for the costs of your medication. Here in the UK all medicines are free for diabetics and other chronic illnesses and the over 60's. And all trips to doctors and hospitals are free also.
Thank God for the National Health Service. So if something doesn't work for you at least you haven't wasted a lot of money.
Mind you, you are way advanced to us. Like I said in my first post we are only now hearing of Palexia and you have obviously known about it for a while.

Best wishes to you all

Theresa

The cannabis drug is called Sativex and it's already approved in the UK for severe pain so your physician should be able to give it to you without any problem. It's in a Phase III trial here in the US.

[mrsD]

This link explains the availability of Sativex.

I thought it was only in Canada.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sativex

But this link says UK too, but doctors are NOT using it. (perhaps it is only available when you go outside the National system for medical care).

[malawigirl08]

Originally Posted by mrsD

This link explains the availability of Sativex.

I thought it was only in Canada.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sativex

But this link says UK too, but doctors are NOT using it. (perhaps it is only available when you go outside the National system for medical care).

it is my understanding Canabis spray is only available in certain parts of the UK, some Health Boards have approved it's use where others haven't - this may be down to cost. I vaguely remember seeing a programme about it's success in MS patients.