[ShaggyChic_1201]

My SFPN is relatively new and I haven't scared away all my friends yet by talking about it incessantly It's hard to describe what it feels like though.

Here's what I came up with, but want to hear YOUR descriptions.

• At my best: the pain in my arms feels as if I tangled with a cactus and was then randomly splashed with lemon juice.
  
• Most of the time: the skin on my arms feels one size too small, as if it were exfoliated with coarse sandpaper & doused with lemon juice, PLUS my wrists and inner elbows were badly bruised.
  
• At my worst: I've dipped my arms up to my armpit into bottles of battery acid.

What would you say?

[echoes long ago]

my feet feel like im being stepped on by a horse from underneath every step i take

[bluesfan]

When I take a shower for about 3 hrs afterwards it feels like I'm walking through a cactus patch - this is the description I use when trying to get across to the doctors what it feels like.

I sometimes have allodynia which I describe as being hit by a hammer when I just lightly touch my arm.

I've stopped trying to describe it to friends and family as I know they just don't get it.

[ShaggyChic_1201]

Echos & Bluesfan

You're both quite descriptive. Even though I don't experience foot pain, I can empathize based on your descriptions. Bluesfan - I'm sorry your F&F don't get it. I guess we are grateful they don't, right.

Originally Posted by bluesfan

I sometimes have allodynia which I describe as being hit by a hammer when I just lightly touch my arm.

I've stopped trying to describe it to friends and family as I know they just don't get it.

I've got that on the right arm. It's miserable.

I have desensitized it just enough to where I can wear loose 3/4 sleeves. So generally I'm freezing in the winter or in air conditioned places.

[onebeed]

I feel like I am being electrocuted while on fire.

[Sven]

I get what you are all describing...unfortunately I have it on my hands, arms,legs and feet...I once described it to a friend as someone pouring hot molten lead on my hands...and several months later on my feet...that is at its worse...when I saw the look on his face I quit sharing...no one needs to imagine that event let alone live it.

This conversation depresses me...can we describe the feelings of long walks on a beach in Kauai? Now I am feeling better....

[dogwalker]

Originally Posted by onebeed

I feel like I am being electrocuted while on fire.

I think it's interesting how our brains try to make sense of what we're feeling, and come up with something that we've never actually ever experienced. My burning feet feel like I'm standing on hot coals and cactus at the same time.