I think our medical system does need reform...I believe Germany is a country that has found some balance. There you can have your employer paid for insurance and all are covered by universal care.

In our system, if you lose your job, you lose your insurance. I live in the midwest where millions have lost manufacturing jobs. If my husband got sick and could not work, after some time, our insurance would be gone. I would join the ranks of the uninsured. Something has to be done.

Being a recipient of IVIG, I realize that if I lived in Canada or UK, this would likely be denied. I don't think our system is going to go that route, however, I imagine an argument could be made that to deny people basic care and allow some one Cadillac care is somehow unethical. I know of some members that are likely not getting IVIG due to Medicare not covering it??

However this is a new world, and this is politics, which is a hot potato subject and one that will cause much rancor on this forum...I am not getting my feet wet with that one on here. I think we need a separate forum for politics!

I too have been using a narcotic for my PN pain - in just 6 more days I will have been using the Duragesic Patch (now it's generic form: Fentanyl Transdermal System) - for 7 YEARS! without any problems. In March I will be 77 years old and as of this moment I plan to continue using this medication for my untreated constant 7 to 9 levels of pain.

For those who have found pain relief thru other methods - HOORAY for them. I have tried every med and procedure the Neuros and Pain Specialists offered including Lyrica. They just didn't work for me nor did exercise and supplements. After 15 years of horrendous pain I started these patches on 1-9-02 and my life literally changed.

So, if whatever you use or take works - then stick with it - and be thankful.

Is there ANYTHING anything out there in the world that will help body not feel numbness???? I have neurontin which takes care of the tingling pain that comes with my numbness..but the actual numbness is getting so darn irritating!!!! really badly. any ideas?? hugsss,sarah

The title of this thread “Drug free Remedies for Chronic Pain” would have inspired me when I first came upon the Braintalk forum some years ago. My pain was at a point where I could walk with some difficulty for about half an hour before I felt the need to take all weight off my feet. I tried, I really tried to visit places such as stately homes and gardens etc. but despite all my efforts the pain in my feet just got worse and worse. I never gave up trying to use my feet I am a fighter but no matter how hard I tried to exercise (I also went to my local private hospital for massage) I just could not take the pain for any length of time. Believe me I am not a weak person but who would walk on hot coals and broken glass forever?


I do not ask for sympathy (I hate it) for I know so many here are in the same boat. All I wish to say is I have tried so many things from exercise, massage, 4 different forms of electrical therapies and a multitude of supplements and vitamins. My view on Neurontin has been posted more than once, suffice to say I would recommend everyone to stay well clear of it. My only salvation in recent years has been oxycodone which I take as sparingly as possible. This allows me to drive and do my shopping parking with my disabled badge near to the shops. And also to take my wife out for afternoon tea during the week.


My current neurologist who has been seeing me privately now for ten years is only of any use when it comes to trying any new drug or upping existing ones.


Oh how I recommend anyone new to PN to try drug free remedies - if they are able. Prescription drugs are a menace but as in my case a necessary menace – as I am sure Dan with his fentanyl patch will agree. Like cyclelops my diagnosis came too late for any possible cure. It took some time for me to realise I had a serious long term problem. My original tests were done under the National Health Service since when all my consultations have been private..


One final point – all complementary medicine worldwide is under threat as I have posted here on occasions. This threat is very real and both Europe and the US are signed up to the organisations who have drawn up the ludicrously low legal limits for all non prescribed supplements and vitamins. If and when these draconian laws come into force there will then only be the drugs our doctors decide we should have. I fear for the future of those who are ill and like us, would like to try and help themselves.


Tony

Sabimax numbness drives me up the wall if i think about it, so i try not to. I dont know anything that helps with numbness. Numbness signals the severely damaged, near death or dead nerve tissue. The irony is to be numb yet in pain.

Tony I 've been here for a while as you know and I never would take you to be anything but a fighter. You are anything but weak.

This board is populated with fighters. People who wake up everyday, do the best that they can with what they have to work with and keep putting one foot in front of the other for as long as they are able. You are one of those people for a long long time.

Agreement is not necessary respect is.
We may not all be on the same level but we are all on the same boat.

thanks echos, I know what you mean...when busy at work on my feet, or busy at home...I dont notice it as badly...of course at times I need to rest and when sleeping or resting..or sitting it is awful; numbness and pain.

Dan...I think you are a testament to the fact that you have to try everything....but ya stick with what works. If one of these Docs actually stumble on something that works, you do it. I would eat a moonrock if it worked.

Mark

".......I would eat a moonrock if it worked."

And so would about 99.9% of us here.

Mark - re your comment: 'I would eat moonrock if it worked'. On previous posts some years back I often said: "I would eat the bark off a tree if it would relieve my pain". And if memory serves, I think "MrsD" found something somewhere about tree bark that possiblly had ingredients that might help some conditions. So, moonrock.....tree bark....who knows? LoL

BTW - wish I knew a way to get the makers of the Fentanyl Transdermal System (generic Duragesic Patches) to pay me for all the bragging I've done about their product. But, please be advised - I have NO - absolutely NO financial or other connections with them!!!