Since I've had PN, I never really had anyone to talk to until coming to this forum, so naturally I want to compare and see how others are doing/managing. If people could just post personal experiences and whatnot to the following questions, it would be greatly appreciated

1. Do you have chronic pain, pain during activity, or both?
2. What parts are affected (just hands, feet, or legs also?) Where is the pain and where is the numbness?
3. What are your general activities during the day? Do you work?
4. Do you exercise, how much, how intense?

Sorry, I know it's a bunch of questions, but I think everyone could benefit from learning about others in the community.

I will answer the above:
I have pain mainly during activity, and residual burning feet. Random chronic pain does occur, but it generally doesn't last long anymore. It used to be terrible pain for 2+ hrs at a time. My hands and feet both experience pain, and there is numbness in them also. The feet are much worse. I currently don't work and had to quit school so close to finishing because I can't drive and I generally watch a lot of TV and movies during the day. I'm not very active, I wish I was, and exercising hurts terribly at times to the point where my hands can't grip anything. I try my best to walk and lift light weights.

Ask as many questions as you like, there are lots of very caring and very knowledgable people at this forum that truly understand excactly what you are going through, if you would like to walk for exercise i suggest that walking up and down a lane of your local swimming pool is good cardio excercise, non weight bearing and doesn't hurt your feet at all, when i first went to do just that, i was really surprized by the amount of people doing as above, for lots of differant medical problems, i found that going to the pool early when it opens is better.

My pain comes and goes, I can't say it's chronic, to me, that means constant. I have neuropathy, in some form, from my head to my toes. I get the face burning, headaches, pinched nerve feeling in neck and shoulders, carpal tunnel in hands, prickly feeling in legs and feet, tarsal tunnel, and now I have the buzzing, which some say just may be nerves healing. I work fulltime in a doctor's office, I do still try to take walks on the beach--wandering the mall is nearly out of the question now. I do have a ablounge that I was working with daily until I went on vacation--I must get back to it, yet I do not do intense workouts.

I do not take any meds for my neuropathy and I do take a multiple vitamin and 2400mcg of B-12 daily.

Chronic, to me, is never ending- no cure. It may be better some days (or weeks) and worse others, but it is always there lying in the background waiting to flare up.
Medications keep it at bay for me. If it weren't for my meds I could not work, could not walk, weak & tired as if I had the flu- and worse.
I know, I've had to go off them (ran out of pills- or missed doses) and realized just how much of a help they are.
My areas are feet. legs, arms, hands. I also have CTS. Numbness & pain affects all these areas, as well as stabs, jabs, pinpricks, 'buzzing', crawling, itching- you name it, I get it.
My work is my exercise, I'm somewhat active @ age 62- and drill, hammer, screw, work on doors, frames & hardware at homes, businesses & construction sites.

1. I have chronic neuropathic pain in my feet and legs, sometimes very mild (like now), other times bad enough to keep me awake. Rarely the pain is extreme and excruciating, like a steady electric shock, or like a parasitic worm in a joint is eating the tissue. The PN pain is worse at the start of most activities, but then the endorphins kick in and the pain reduces, and stays reduced till the next day's activities.

2. Generally, the numbness is on the skin of my toes and parts of my feet. The pain is deeper, mainly in the toes and joints. I do not have arthritis.

3. I retired as a data processing programmer/analyst about six years ago. I now work as a handyman (third career) and love it. Because of the PN, I cannot work the intense 8 - 12 hour days that I did before. I still manage to get a lot done in 5 or 6 hrs. My current projects are doing a slate mosaic backsplash for a granite sink (it's coming out gorgeous), repairing some maple chairs and rebuilding a landing and stairs for a poor very old lady living in a trailer (that will be for very low charge), and adding to a wall to a closet to take bifold doors. The work is varied, interesting, and challenging. It gives me a good excuse to buy really neat tools. My wife is an engineer, so I do the cooking, gardening, auto repair, and keep our animals happy and socialized (works for me too).

4. We have a dog that we walk vigorously (not a power walk...just fast) for 30 - 45 minutes a day, including walking hills. Today we'll take her for a vigorous hilly hour hike. I also do martial arts type Tai Chi.

Intensity and level is an interesting question. I used to run and backpack, did power hikes with a load to build strength and stamina, and did interval training in running for the same purpose. I don't feel that level of intensity is appropriate for people with PN. Neither is inactivity, or leisurely strolling during walking. My exercise now is to get the blood circulating, the nerves firing in a coordinated rhythmic manner to help heal them, to keep my joints lubricated and healthy, to maintain muscle tone and strength, and to keep me sane.

I can't imagine PN pain being less than intolerable without exercise...our nerves, joints, bones, blood vessels, and muscles NEED exercise to be happy and healthy. Two different neurologists assured me that exercise is good for my PN.

Back in my running/hiking days we has an expression, "listen to your body." That doesn't work with PN. Our damaged nerves and hypersensitive brain receptor areas lie to us, feeling painful tissue damage with every step where no damage is actually occurring. With PN, healthful exercise is the time to just ignore the pain and carry on, but not to exercise to the point of overuse injury or tissue trauma. We have to use good personal judgment to exercise at a level appropriate for our age, health, weight, and physical condition. The level of walking, work, and Tai Chi that I do would not at all be appropriate for a diabetic 95 year old, but that diabetic 95 year old would benefit from exercise at a level appropriate for them.

1. Do you have chronic pain, pain during activity, or both?
2. What parts are affected (just hands, feet, or legs also?) Where is the pain and where is the numbness?
3. What are your general activities during the day? Do you work?
4. Do you exercise, how much, how intense?
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1. Chronic hypersensitivity pain over entire body, but this pain is tolerable without intervention. My worst pain is in the feet as a result of being on my feet by standing, walking, or whatever.
2. Mainly the feet and lower legs. I have no numbness, but rather the opposite---hypersensitivity.
3. I'm retired, so my activities are moderate and measured.
4. I' m a great beliver in exercising to the extent that that you can with PN. I no longer play tennis and hike, but I bicycle and swim, and religiously do stretching exercises every day.

Carlie

Was the antibiotic called cipro or levaquin or avelox per chance? Was it in the fluoroquinolone antibiotic class of drugs? It sounds exactly like an adverse reaction to one one these quinolone type antibiotics. Some people can have a bad reaction after taking only one pill and it can last for mos.- yrs.