Unfortunately, the medications for neuropathic pain aren't like taking an aspirin. They take time to work, and they have significant side effects. In my experience - if you judge the effectiveness or your ability to tolerate a medication by how the first dose hits you, you may never find anything that will work.

Of course there may be some things that just make you so sick that you can't continue. But I would say you need to give most of these meds about a month to see how your body will adjust to them as well as how effective they are for you.

That's the real catch-22, particularly for those of us who need to hold down a job. The reason we want to take the medication is so that we can continue working. But if it makes you too sick or groggy to perform at work, or to even drive to work in the first place, then it's of little value. That's why taking supplements is so popular here. They also take time to work, but they generally don't make you feel crappy, sometimes can help considerably with pain, and can help your body regenerate or at least slow the loss of nerves.