Several things are a big help for breakthrough pain.

1. Believe it or not, two Alka Seltzers give the pain relief of a good dose of morphine, without the constipation or dopiness. Alka Seltzer is aspirin, citric acid, and heat-treated baking soda. The soda/citric acid mixture dissolves the aspirin, and the treated baking soda causes the dissolved aspirin to enter the blood stream almost as quickly as if injected. The pain relief occurs within minutes and lasts for hours. As a bonus, this way of getting aspirin doesn't cause stomach irritation or bleeding, is good for your heart, and reduces the risk of several types of cancer. The side effect that stops me from using it more often is tinnitus. I always have a good supply on hand, and use it probably once or twice a week.

Follow instructions on the label. It won't stop nerve pain (not that anything short of massive opiate doses does), but it takes the edge off and allows sleep.

2. Lidocaine skin patches deaden an area effectively for about 4 hours. The lidocaine gets deeper than you'd think. I used it for extremely painful muscle cramping in my shoulder caused by a ruptured cervical disk, and it killed the pain even beneath my shoulder blade.

There are lidocaine salves which work similarly. These are by prescription only and not for daily long term use.

3. Pulsed micro-electric stimulation of the area interferes with pain transmission and reduces pain for a time. After twice daily use for a few weeks, it will reduce pain for 24 hrs after each use. After daily use for months, it will reduce pain for several days. Unlike items #1 and 2 above, pulsed micro-electric stimulation promotes nerve and muscle healing and retrains your nervous system to restore normal reaction to nerve ending stimuli.

The latest and greatest is "interferential electrical stimulation". My physical therapist uses it, and it's very effective. I've also had great relief with the similar, but overpriced "ReBuilder". Use the search function of this forum to find out where to buy and how to these units.

4. Opiates don't kill nerve pain except in very high doses. I used big doses of oxycontin for the disk injury. They stopped the shoulder pain which allowed four hours of sleep (the lidocaine patch gave another 4 hours), but had NO effect on my PN pain. A bigger dose of oxycontin or stronger opiate kills all pain.

Opiates are relatively safe, don't cause dopiness if the dose is appropriate for the pain and have minimal serious side effects. The opiate side effect of extreme constipation make them for occasional use only for me. Still, they're handy to have on hand for emergency use.

5. Cold is worth a try. For neuropathic feet, put your feet in an Epsom salt solution of cool water. Add ice cubes to make the water gradually very cold. Since cold shuts down nerves, you should feel no discomfort if the cooling is slow enough.

Keep your feet in the cold water for about 20 minutes. Then, let the feet warm up naturally, i.e. do not apply artificial heat. If this helps you, it should give relief for several hours, and is good for the health of your nerves in the area since fresh blood floods the area when the cold is removed. You can do this as often as you like, up to hourly.

Epsom salts are magnesium sulfate. The magnesium absorbed through the skin helps calm nerves in the area and reduce pain.

6. Supplement with a high quality calcium/magnesium formulation, about 1000 mg. of elemental calcium a day, 500 mg. of magnesium. Magnesium calms the nerves and relaxes the muscles. Good formulas are mixtures of mainly organic, chelated, or acetic salts. You need supplemental vitamin D, about 1000 units, to utilize the calcium and magnesium. Use the search function of this forum for a lot more about magnesium.

7. Marijuana reduces nerve pain dramatically for about 8 hours. Blood levels build over three days of use, so reduce intake on days 2, 3, and thereafter. The side effects are dopiness, inability to safely operate machinery, weight gain from the "munchies", and the risk of zealots putting you in a cage with criminals for long periods of time.

Oh, and forgetting what you were talking about.

Seriously, a cousin of mine got throat cancer from years of daily use (he didn't smoke cigarettes). In spite of what advocates claim, pot is addictive. I had a tough time stopping myself about 35 years ago and have seen addiction in others. Like a sober alcoholic, I don't dare go near it, but it is relatively safe if used judiciously and if you avoid law enforcement.

Your kids can get it for you.

8. Meditation is practice in directing the attention away from where you don't want it to go. After six months of daily guided meditation practice, mediators have a much increased ability to deal with severe pain, as opposed to the severe pain dealing with them.

Meditation, healthy diet, supplements, and exercise (including yoga and tai chi) are more of a long term fix, but all help, and all work together to make each other more powerful and get the breakthrough pain reduced to tolerable levels.

Which cancers are you saying this might help reduce?? And i love
the beauty of Tai Chi but unless i can sit down may end up with
more problems. Sue

It's the aspirin that helps reduce the incidence and severity of some types of esophageal, stomach, breast, lung, prostate, urinary bladder, and ovarian cancers.

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/a...cer-prevention

As far as Tai Chi, it's great, but some can't do it. We each have to find what is appropriate for us.

Rule #1 of exercise is to not injure yourself. You have to exercise judgment (sorry about that). Sometimes what is hardest to do is just what we need. When I started yoga, many poses had to be near or against a wall because my foot pain was excruciating, balance was gone, as was the ability to control the large muscles of my legs. After years of yoga, I can balance on one leg easily, walk a curb, and can control all the muscles of my legs, thanks to the training of yoga. I had a great teacher, Kathy Goodman, who wouldn't accept "I can't do it" from me. Her answer was, "You can". Then she'd find a prop or modification of the pose to help me along. She never gave up on me (and neither did I). BTW, my feet still hurt, but not nearly as bad, not 20/7, and the numbness is less.

Make no mistake about it. Without being over dramatic, none of this is easy. We're in the struggle of our lives with no guarantees, and it's for the long haul.

But the struggle itself is well worth it. Sometimes the past 14 or so years I've felt like child learning basic things and had the total joy of getting a function back, or being able to do something that I couldn't do a few years previous. That's why I'm somewhat of a zealot about this approach, hoping others here can go from the depths of despair to a good life worth living.

Hey, if my Alan can go from being a 300 lb man with Idiopathic PN, using Fentanyl patches, and vicodin.....to a 200 lb bodybuilder (as long as his foot ulcer doesn't act up), who is on no pain medication whatsoever, well I think anything is possible.

And I, myself take B-12 methyl.

But hey, if I needed a joint, I'd go to the park a few blocks from my house. Or I'd stand on the corner at 3 a.m. and just see who walks by. You can smell the stuff. It's all over the place in NYC. But I know it gives you the munchies, that's why, after my first experience with pot at age 24, there wasn't any more experiences. I could not afford the weight gain.

lol

Melody

When my pain reaches a point that I need to do something, there turn out to be a LOT of things I can do, short of taking a narcotic.

1. stimulate the area that hurts with a different sensation. ANY sensation. Cold, heat, hot wax (heated safely by a spa machine),

2. Lidocaine patches. If the pain is localized, these really do help. I've had times when the pain has gone away and that was the only thing I changed.

3. TENS. I love this. It's easy to use and lightweight.

4. movement---feldenkrais movement is about lying on the floor and making the most gentle of movements and gradually rocking around a movement. It hlps muscles let go, if muscles are the cause.

I think we all have our own bag of tricks

Liza Jane:

The one thing Alan has never tried is the Tens Unit. Dr. Theirl, a long long time ago, said he could borrow one and bring it home to try it. Alan never took advantage of this.

I do know what TENS stands for and the fact that it sends a mild electric current but how does this help with the pain? Wouldn't it make is worse (like when the podiatrist put that vibrating tool on my toes and feet and when I went home, my whole foot went bonkers) I never had one symptom before that.

I'm just curious how a Tens Unit helps PN.

Thanks,

Melody

Thank you for this. I thought maybe I would add a few that may help others that I learned in my treatment to help with anxiety. I'm having a hard time using it for pain but it stil helps with the anxiety a little. All of these take practice and time too. Guided imagery where you listen to a lady on a tape and she helps you with deep breathing or ways of healthy distraction. Different forms of therapy such as biofeedback or dbt. I also journal a lot and helps to see the connection of mood,issues,coping.
As for tens I have no idea but I heard it has helped others too. Isn't it a form of pt? As for the licodine patch. I just got these and try to use them but like yesterday it hurt to have anything on it. Today I'm trying and have 3 but does this also help in the long run to relieve pain overall like the precription meds for nerve pain?
Wing I agree its a combo of things. I was wondering are you also on meds pain and the nerve meds?Also to me the exercise issue is way off but even being on my feet more makes it feel worse. Is that in the short run but in the long run makes it better? Is it really just about trying to live and be more functionable with pain or does the nerve regenerate quicker?

Thanks for all these suggestions. You can bet I will be trying some of them. Right now nothing seems to help so I can sleep. I'll try anything!

an alternative to Alkaseltzer when other meds one is on essentially 'forbid' Alkaseltzer?...Three of my primary -critical meds cannot be taken within 3-4 hours [before/after] of such a product? There are only so many hours in a day! Not to mention...breakthrough pain...could you please describe yours? Either currently or in the past?

Meditation, attitude-adjustment, visualization, outlook...optimism...Self-fufilling-prophecy negative/positive...That I get...all of it....Been there/done that-got that tee-shirt wore it out...has holes in it. should be a rag, but still wearing it..attitude...it's a good tee! Know what works for ME, but I, I have tailor made and adjusted/accomodated all philosophies to fit, my needs. I would really like to know what options, that didn't work for you, mite work for me? - j
Essentially I'd like to know what all you discarded as not working for you?

As someone who cant take painkillers stronger then tylenol due to adverse reactions - (and unfortuately take quite a few of these with MD knowledge) - maybe its why and what is causing your pain also that may help?

My PN is predominately sensory, and I get the more constant burning, tingling, and aching from that in my legs all the time - I've really found that seems to be their sign to me to rest them - which after couple of days or relief, the intesity will let up sme.. I do have constant and pretty severe pain in my lower back with lumbar issues, and gut (still up for grabs) - but have found that tylenol is necessary at night - as they day goes on and if I keep changing positions my back pain subsides a great deal... and I have some aromatherapy spa gloves that I'll microwave and heat up - double purpose, as I'm letting them "do their thing" I'll lay them on my stomach to get the double benefit of the heat on them - which does help the pain a bit... (heating pads are great but learned the hard way not such a good idea for us folks with pn!)

Anyone else have problems with lidocaine patch???? Are there maybe any that might have less agressive type of med that might help? I was given lidocaine patches for my back - but within about half an hour would be flushed, shaking, heart racing... guess my body was saying, nope... but I've seen other patch type pain killers in drug stores - has anyone found any of these that might be helpful?

ALso, one thing that does work to distract me from pain - I'll put on my MP3 player that is a huge collection of music I've chosen each piece myself, turn up loud and sing... let the neighbors cringe in horror - who can hear em!

I know different methods work for all of us... my neuro says the tingling etc is worst at night cause the nerves are supposed to be at rest and because of the damage they have a real problem understanding that.... finding the right med for this is really a challenge as probably much of the key for a good nights sleep...

Just thoughts, and again, if anyone has found a patch or local rub on pain killer otc - love any ideas.....