--about why chronic pain, including neuropathy pain, is worse for many at night; I tend to go with the idea that as the day winds down, there are fewer distractions and inputs from other sensory channels that might interfere with the perception of the pain and so it seems raised.

It's likely, though, that for many hormonal and circulatory variations may play a part as well.

Aspirin causes acid reflux/heart burn for me.

But if it is the bicarbs that do it, why not take 1 teaspoon of baking soda in water??? Plus, that gets rid of heartburn lol

You can try the bicarb alone.... I have always used the AlkaSeltzer, it seems to give immediate relief of pain.

I think the product is just unique in that the effervescent
quality greatly enhances the action of the aspirin. We studied it in college, and I recall the aspirin gets into the blood as fast as an IV injection! The blast therefore would give higher blood levels for the same dose as a slow dissolve tablet.

I think the liquigels for Aleve, at only 200mg are faster and better than any tablet of naproxen. I've had 500mg RX naproxen
in the past for arthritis, and it is nothing compared to Aleve liquigels for me. One 200mg lasts me ALL day long in fact!

Solubility enhancing absorption like this is called "bioavailability" in the scientific areas of drug properties. It is now coming up more commonly in supplement areas, with the research on magnesium products(magnesium oxide has very poor bioavailability), and also the new liposomal products (liposomal Vit C claims) which claim to bypass metabolism in first pass thru the liver when absorbed by the GI tract. Just because something is in pill or capsule form does not mean it will get absorbed into the body properly or fast enough to be useful therapeutically.

There is a non aspirin version of AlkaSeltzer, called Alka Seltzer gold.
Some environmental doctors use it or TriSalts, for blocking histamine reactions.
http://pureformulas.com/trisalts-200...-formulas.html
Most of the time this product is suggested by doctors, so you will have to ask yours if it is okay to try.

AlkaSeltzer Gold, has citrates in it...
http://alkaseltzer.com/as/as_gold.html
And so does original formula...so if you are indeed citrate
sensitive, you won't be able to use either.

I seem to be sensitive to almost everything. I am still adding my supplements back one at a time slowly till I figure out which is causing me problems..but in my heart I know it is the B12.

I too have this problem, and think perhaps this could be part of the reason.

In a recent visit with my doc at MGH, Dr. Berry, who specializes in problems like this I asked a similar question. I asked the question why does moderate exercise (e.g., working in the yard raking leaves, being on my feet) for several hours give me relief that evening and part way into the next day. He said he hears this story often, and says the one theory is it has to do with the thalamus.

As the theory goes, your thalamus gates (filters) out certain inputs so you are not overwhelmed with meaningless inputs, and can pay attention to the important ones. If you are sitting down right now, why don't you feel the pressure on your butt? So when I work in the yard, the thalamus changes its gating for a period of time that gives me relief.

So perhaps thalamus gating changes in the evening giving us that pain input.

Exercise makes mine worse. Matter of fact a busy day or even just a 30 min arobic video will make my feet flaming hot for hours and the night is usually worse also.

Like I needed another excuse to NOT exercise.

On a side note, the last 2 days have been better and the different thing is: I added my magnesium supplement back in. Yeh for magnesium.

I know its the B12 causing me to break out in bumbs but I am still adding things back slow to prove it.

Ditto - same here. I pay the price for exercise and can not longer exercise at that level. But it is important we stay active within our pain tolerances, for so many reasons.

My dad suffered the ravages of rheumatoid arthritis for 55 years. I saw on a daily basis how hard it was for him to just get out of bed in the morning. To him it was unthinkable to not fight the disease and become a "basket case". I know he would trade any of my bad days with his best days. To this day, I am inspired by his struggles.

I think that it is because I'm just worn out from a whole day of fighting and grappling with the pain. My body knows what I've been thru all day, even if I've been able to block it by getting involved with something to take my mind off of my PN problems for minutes or even hours at work. By the time nighttime rolls around I think my body has had it, and complains when I try to sleep. I have tried the biofreeze, Icy Hot, feet in epsom salt solution, feet out of covers, whole body on top of sheet or covers, etc. I think that I finally sleep when my body just shuts down. A few shots of vodka sometimes helps to make me sleepy, too - but sometimes I pay for it in the a.m. by waking to worse than normal(ly?). If you can call waking to burning and pain, daily...normal.
I put Icy Hot on my feet every morning to just get me downstairs to my 200mg. Lyrica & 100mg. tramadol a.m. dose (1 of 3 every day- sometimes an extra 100 tramadol in the middle of the day) Also, having emphysema (smoking cigarettes for over 50 years) doesn't make climbing stairs any easier.

I hate reading about the throws of pain we all go thru in the night because there really isn't any cure. Ever. All we can do is face each night as it comes and hope relief comes sooner than later.

I am still doing 30 min arobics every day. I can do the arobic tape easier than actually walking. When I walk outside it is 10 times worse, I guess the force of my feet hitting the pavement at a fast walk is harder than jumping around to an arobics tape. I like to walk but the pain is worse.

When I can not do arobics anymore then I will try something else. Maybe exercise in a pool, that sounds cool, refreshing and fun. I tried it years ago and if you do it right you can get a great work out....and my feet would love being in the water...i think.

I am still walking for about an hour most days, with two hiking poles. It is the best part of my day and I would happily sacrifice all other activities (cooking, laundry... ) to go to the park. I have noticed a big difference in how my feet feel later if I have been walking on woods trails rather than cement or asphalt. The hard surfaces are much harder on my feet, ankles, and legs, and I just don't walk in the neighborhood anymore. We are lucky to have a state park about two miles away.
Walking at the mall seems the worst of all.