.....it's amazing , the strange ideas many medical professionals harbor concerning neuropathic pain. When I was first diagnosed , I asked the practicing nurse as to why PN is so much more painful at night. Her answer "why at night you have nothing else to occupy your mind!" So I guess the solution to daytime pain ..get a hobby!..Tom

February 18th, 2004, I had just started Lexapro three days before after breaking down in my dr's office. He made me promise to stick with it this time, I had been under extreme stress for a couple of years due to my grandson's cancer and other family tragedies. I didn't do well with antidepressants, made me feel really weird but I had promised. At that time I complained about a constant pain in my left ankle and he mentioned it might be something (can't remember)but basically blew me off.
On Sunday my ankle began to ache more and more throughout the day, I was exhausted by bedtime, the minute I laid down it was agony. I got up and paced, that was too painful, so I laid on the couch, tried ice,heat, elevating, you name it. By 2 a.m. I was crying and rocking, I took advil, and doubled my ativan dose and finally slept for about two hours. I was a wreck by the time my husband got up and readied for work and I began to go through the motions of getting ready for work. I just couldn't do it, my heart began racing and thumping so I got an empty ache in my chest, my feet were on fire, crying I called my husband to come home. I couldn't stand upright, my heart is racing and I tell my hubby I think I am having heart attack, wait, no maybe not, I'll be fine just go to work. Then I said no take me to the ER, I was shaking, sweating and the got me on the gurney and Whoolaa my heart settled down and I started crying about the agony in my left ankle, felt like a knife going right through it. The ER doc said if you had a rash I'd say shingles, hmmm are you diabetic? NO...so they gave me neurotin and ativan and in twenty minutes I was me again, I went home and slept for hours. Then it gradually came back again, more neurotin, more relief, not knowing where to go I made appt with local ortho, boy was that a smart move, he has neuropathy but did xrays and made me an appt for an emg. The rest is history, I was sent to Neuro and to Spine and Pain Clinic. Unlike a lot of others here I got to the right Drs straight away, I feel lucky in that respect. I had never heard of neuropathy. I found my way here and began to learn that I had a condition that would never go away and probably progress. Like last Sunday when my feet stopped on me and I slammed my face into the front door!
I still take Lexapro, afraid to stop, thank god I stayed on it because it was two months later that my 25 year old daughter became gravely ill and died two months later, I couldn't have survived that horrible time without some help. I also think that stress has brought on my PN, my normal life changed forever six years ago and has been like walking on a tight wire ever since!

.....that is a tough story to tell . I cant imagine the heartbreak of losing one of my daughters. They are so very special to me, I am a very fortunate dad. Best wishes to you.

Interesting question. I basically had two revelations. The first was after a bark scorpion sting on the second toe of my left foot. I was numb from the waist down for 24 hours. Then the numbness subsided but I recognized that the sting area and the adjacent area were still numb -- a year later. Then, I started having a lot of tingling, zaps, and other neurological issues and had it all checked out. Discovered that the strange feeling in the back of my legs (especially in the shower) were known as "socks" and that the sensation I was experiencing when I started to walk was all part of the neuropathy. Click! It fell together.

Good question - thanks for asking.

That's an interesting story, too, Billye. None of us have been boring. I wonder why many of us had such sudden onsets? Even yours, Rina, is pretty sudden. And we have a lot of similiar experiences that are not mentioned in any textbooks. It's frustrating. It sure looks like there needs to be a large study done on "idiopathic" PN. Or even the onset symptoms of known types like sjogrens. I wonder if the Neuropathy Association has ever thought of this.