My PN symptoms were preceded by peripheral edema in my feet by about a year. At first I wondered if the edema was the cause, as there is mention of that on the Wiki page for PE, but neuros discounted that—said edema was not severe enough to cause PN.

Whenever my feet are "fat", everything hurts more. Keeping them down (for me) is a matter of diet & exercise (walking). It hurts while I'm walking—short term they swell up & feel "tenderized", but shrink down the next day. YMMV.

Doc

Thanks for mentioning your edema. My PN was also preceded by pretty bad edema in my feet (probably from immobility after a knee fracture). The PN symptoms started maybe four days later. The swelling lasted only about six weeks. I can't imagine it CAUSED the neuropathy (especially since the PN started in my hands/arms a couple of months later). But the coincidence was strange, and I've been wondering if anybody else experienced it. I even searched the forum for mentions but didn't find any.

FWIW, my docs have told me it's not uncommon to have both.

Doc

Marty,

I dont have an answer to your concern but what I can say is I completely understand your sentiment of wanting to be healthy but with PN pain, this seems to be a challenge if not outright difficult. In my case, I NEED to exercise for my lungs. When i walk, my breathing is better but if i just sit down and not move around, i feel lousy and my breathing is difficult. Another reason why i need to exercise is my elevated sugar issue. As we all know, exercise and diet is good to those with sugar problems.

My pain specialist said that these patches are only useful for painful skin, as in on the surface, but not for deep nerve pain. I found that disappointing. He is not trying everything he can to help my burning

As for exercise I do vigorous work every day. I feel great when I'm doing it, and won't stop, however, I notice that on the weekends when not working, my pain lessens.
I'm only 30 and can't bear the thought of not walking, although the numbness in my lower legs and moderate/severe bil lateral carpel tunnel lead me to believe that I will have to accept that I won't be running myself into the ground for much longer.
The other week I was wearing tights under my dress and my ankles and calves turned purple .. so frightening. Has to be circulation related ..no?

Marty feet do gain weight just like the rest of our body, lol. True. I lost 60 pds last year and all my shoes got too big for me.

I can't help but think it would make pn worse, since added weight makes everything else worse but thats just me guessing.

Silver, I dunno but that sounds scary, anytime it turns purple!! I know my chi machine is my new best friend now and its all about circulation.

Lidoderms do penetrate.... any doctor who says no is in error.

http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed...archiveid=3663

I suspect doctors lie when they don't know much about a product and therefore are afraid to prescribe it.

The pain of post herpetic neuralgia is deep and not superficial only in the skin.