Julie, what your doctor is doing doens't seem unreasonable. Sounds like he or she is going through the arsenal of medications for neuropathy, and trying them one by one, or one and one. I'm not a puritan about narcotics, but in my experience, they often cause as much trouble as they solve, and so they really should be a last resort. If you need them, you need them, but trying the non narcotis is important.

There's a sticky which lists all the drugs commonly used for pn, and it's thorough. The antidepressants are very helpful, and you could probably be helped more by being on one. Or Elavil, in small doses, before bed. I take 40mg of elavil and it deepens my sleep or lightens the pain or something, but it allows me to sleep through.

There are other things to do===if your feet are burning, a bag of frozen peas;' it they're cold, warm wax from a hot wax machine. Lotion. The Rebuilder or a TENS unit. All these are ways of coping without going to stronger pills that have a larger side effect spectrum.

Hope you try some an dfind some help.

Julie:

When my feet burn, I use a form of BioFreeze that I got in CVS. It's called FREEZE IT. It's the exact same thing as Bio-freeze.

Really stops the burning. At least in my case it does.

Melody

Here is a link to the pain medication most often used for PN as well as the supplements. This is the one Liza Jane was referring to. : http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...7&postcount=13

Billye

This is the first time I've tried to do a copy and paste on this machine, hope it worked.

Chronic conditions almost always get worse at night, from PN to asthma to arthritis. A nurse on the old board explained that late at night the blood circulation slows way down and blood pools in the tissues. Breathing is slow and shallow. The blood oxygen level goes way down, and CO2 levels go up. Phlegm builds up in the lungs. There may be pressure in spots for hours. The nurse wrote that the peak of non-violent hospital medical emergencies seemed to occur between 4 and 5 A.M.

YOu can add Wellbutrin to that list of anti depressants that helps with nerve pain, and much less side effects than the others listed.

Ooo! I'll have to check that out. I have found that when my feet are bothering me if I move them to a cooler spot in the bed it helps a lot. At least for a few minutes.

Ah! That makes much sense. And I knew about the medical emergency stats. Just never thought about it in conjunction with the night pain. Duh! *smacks forehead*. It's usually about 15 or 20 minutes after I've laid down to sleep when it begins. I've often wondered if propping my feet up above my heart for a few minutes before bed might help.

Thanks!

typically burn (if they choose that day) to act up about 1/2 hr after I lie down.

Certain foods like tomato sauces or MSG will make it worse. I bought some non-transfat pototoes that looked nice/quick..roasted garlic flavor, etc, but they set my feet off terribly! I didn't look for the MSG before trying them.

AlkaSeltzer will block the burning for me too. I think it is the aspirin, and I think it is related to aspirin's effect on blocking the niacin flush.

The reason many people die around 4-5am is that at that time the internal cortisol levels are the lowest for the 24 hr period. That's what I learned in school.

Jarrett have you thought of sleeping with your legs propped up on a couple of pillows? In the past I had other issues and it does help. Also maybe a fan would help keep you cool. See for me the fan bothers or the air even on my leg. It hurts in a way.

Wow. I never realized. About the foods I mean. I'll have to start keeping an eye on what I eat in relation to foot pain the same evening. A journal might be appropriate.

AlkaSeltzer! Now that truly is interesting! Just regular AlkaSeltzer? I might have to give that a try. If it's the aspirin maybe taking a couple about 20 minutes before going to sleep might help. And you can mix aspirin with Tylenol. But just for general information...do not mix aspirin with Aleve (naproxen sodium) or Advil (ibuprofen). Disclaimer warning for the general populace. Also, aspirin may be a no-no with other drugs that one may be taking.