I am no stranger to pain, nor am I a wimp - I’ve had 3 children via natural childbirth and two back surgeries within two years, but this foot pain is kicking my butt. January of 2011 is when my symptoms began. At that time, I had no idea what it could be, though once I began googling my symptoms, I suspected neuopathy. It wasn’t until my neurologist diagnosed me that I then started reading everything I could find on the subject. I am not a diabetic, nor have I ever been. We have tried me on every medication we could think of and nothing helps. Each new drug I’ve tried does help in the beginning, but then the pain comes back within a couple of months. When I started with Lyrica at 50 mg 3 times a day, I was loopy, but who cared! I was out of pain! I am now and have been at 600 mg since approximately May or June of 2011. Once the Lyrica didn’t work so well (and I gained weight with it) I begged my doctor to try me on something else that wouldn’t promote weight gain, so we began the journey. He goes through the list of drugs know and the result is always the same. Except for a drug called Vimpat. It’s wonderful!! Loopy as heck, but way less pain! But being that loopy, I am unable to work, therefore, unable to stay on the Vipat regimen. I read (I think on this forum) about something called Benfotiamine, so I thought I’d give that a try. I’ve been using it, 300 mg twice a day, since about July/August of this year. In addition, I am still taking the 600 mg of Lyrica a day and a supplement called Metanx. I ran out of the Benfotiamine the first of this year, so I didn’t order any more because in my eyes, it wasn’t really doing much. Boy was I wrong! I placed an order yesterday. My feet are killing me right now!! Can hardly wait until the next shipment comes in. My question is, has anyone heard of or tried acupuncture for neuropathy? I’m not a needle lover, but I am willing to try that, provided I get some solid proof that it actually works. Am going to stay on the Lyrica and Bentofiamine regimen, but I think I will drop the Metanx unless I hear from anyone out there who says it does good. Please give me feedback on acupuncture and also I would love to hear from anyone who has tried Vimpat as well. Thanks.

Your reaction to stopping Bentfolamine was my reaction to stopping Gabapentin. In my reading I was impressed with the reviews for Nortryptiline(phonetical spelling). If you have to go to,pain management can get you into a whole different universe of help and there are many here that have individual cocktails that work for them through trial and error. In other words you are not very far from just plain tylenol. I have not tried Acupuncture but posted with a woman that blames it for her downward spiral. You can use the search function here and read others stories, just type in accupuncture. I used to take Metanx but it was expensive so now I take Foltanx as a generic. My Endocrinologist RX'd these as a b-12 and folic acid supplement to offset the absorbsion blocking caused by my Diabetes meds(Metfornim). I used Hydrocodone for about 8 mo. but never heard of Vimpat. Good Luck, Ken in Texas. P.S. Straight up good post.

It did help for awhile but then it stalled. It was rather expensive so I stopped and my symptoms didn't get worse. I was also trying other things at the same time so it is hard to be sure but I do think it helped somewhat.

I have symptoms of SFN in my hands and feet and after a very very lengthy evaluation at Mayo Clinic it is considered idiopathic. I have tried the usual meds and for the usual reasons I have stopped taking all of them.

Acupuncture has been a God Send for me. It doesn't totally get rid of the pain, but it keeps it in the manageable zone. The down side is that I need to go weekly to stay on top of it, but can go 2-3 weeks if traveling.

The treatments have the usual needles placed all over the body, but my practitioner also uses the 7 star needle hammer, and it is the hammer that seems to be what works best. In fact, I recently had a treatment in China without the hammer and it did not compare to the treatments I get in MN with the hammer. It takes a bit getting used to, and it can hurt a bit, but in the big picture I couldn't be happier!!!!

I am a big fan of Benfotiamine as well. I take a 150mg dose with every meal. Of anything I have taken it was the only CLEAR reliever of pain. Have you tried it in conjunction with R-Lipoic Acid? Combined they are very effective for me. But, even Benfo on its own is quite powerful. People who don't get relief from it are really not taking a high enough dose in my opinion. You can go beyond 300mg if you need to it is a very safe supplement. Benfo isn't too expensive either. Better to take high doses of supplements than Pharmaceuticals in my opinion.I have liked both Doctors best and Life Extension brand version.

I also found Gabapentin stopped working over time for the neuro pain. I basically take a small dose of it nightly only because it helps me get to sleep. Its a crappy old drug. I think over time my body just adjusted to it.

I also eliminated bread(wheat), soy and potatoes from my diet and it has saved me a ton of pain. I was in denial for a while over it.

I tried a couple months of acupuncture. (I had tried it previously for chronic back and neck pain and it did wonders for those.) Unfortunately, it didn't seem to help at all for the neuropathy pain.