Alcohol Induced Neuropathy Part 2
 

Hi
As threads are not supposed to run over 100 pages - because that can slow down the database - we are closing the first Alcohol Induced Neuropathy thread https://www.neurotalk.org/alcoholism...ml#post1255062
and requesting the discussion continue here on Part 2

Thanks

Ah jeez, I just wrote a huge post only to have the previous thread closed. I will rewrite when I have more time. I WILL say there was a bit of a panic when I thought I lost you guys so I am glad we can continue here.

From the closed version of this thread:

"If I read back my posts I always sound so negative and whiny but this is the only place I can vent openly and honestly."

SecondChances, I don't think that you are the least bit negative or whiny :).

These things are often "Two steps forward, one step back".

This has certainly been my experience.

Thanks Kiwi. I was never a negative person but fear I have become old and cynical these last few years. I am careful not to be a tear down on family and my few remaining friends but the internet is freeing and I find it easier to share openly here.

Part 2?? :eek:

Well, I never thought this thread would ever pass 100 pages when I revived it back in 2012.....

Proud of ALL of the regulars here for maintaining a place of hope, support and encouragement for us....

I was researching smoking and neuropathy today (thanks for putting this back in my head) and I think I may actually put these damn things down in the next couple weeks....it's getting cold here (had to scrape the windows on the wagon this morning) and the 6am smoke break is just not as fun when your nostrils freeze up....

Plus, it would be a good test to see if I actually will feel better without them....I think I started in 1988....

Icehouse, I didn't know that you were responsible for reviving Part 1.

Good on you for deciding to quit the smokes. I am down to about five a day and feel much better for it, as does my bank balance ;). Nicotine patches helped me in the early days.

I started in 1976... (well, officially ;) ) I was 13. My mum was full of grief, my dad had passed away, and she didn't even notice I was smoking in the house. (in reality I already started having a cig now & then from age 11...)

It was also a popular belief that smoking would stunt your growth. I don't remember if I had already reached 195cm by that time but it must have been close. If smoking slowed down growth, I was all for it. I was scared silly that I'd become a 7 foot monster. I'm now only a 6'7" monster, so it worked! :rolleyes:;)

Anyway, part 2. Nine days to go for my next milestone!

Yeah, I found this thread while researching drugs to help with "Alcoholic Neuropathy". It had been dormant since 2010-ish so I asked a question, MrsD set me straight, and here we are... ;)

OMG, he is catching up!!

Funny how that goes eh? Nobody seemed really interested, not much traffic or questions, and BOOM! Icehouse in da house. :D I have done a lot of searches over the years, but I still think it's the best thread out there for people who are/were suffering from both.

It's like one of these horrible math/logic riddles, where the relative distance will always get smaller, but I will never catch up!

Interesting. When I was about a month shy of a year sober, I started smoking because I was starting to feel a little wonky. I smoked for a little over a month. During that time, my feet didn't hurt more but they did have less motion and were harder to stretch out. They were more twitchy

It's been two weeks now with no smoking and I'm not sure they feel a lot better but feel more like they did before I smoked. BTW during that time I tried drinking one day: first off, it didn't help my nerve pain at all — and I swear it used to help when I was drinking. I considered it a dangerous experiment but I haven't been tempted to drink again at all.

So, if anyone is considering controlled drinking: I don't think it hides the pain like it used to (I guess that was just part of the fog of being drunk) and remember it is still poison.

Thanks for continuing this thread! It's been a real help to me

Wide-O, your wife is doing amazing well being down to 4 smokes. You deserve much of the credit too by encouraging and supporting her. Good job!
Yes, I remember you telling the story about your counselor talking about those who struggled so with their alcoholism only to win that battle but to have the smokes take them out. It is a powerful story. I am cutting down but don't want to get too uncomfortable since I still struggle with my sobriety and that must remain my first priority. I have been vaping a bit and that may just be the tool to go from my ten cigs to zero. It is helpful but not nearly as satisfying.

It depends on the device you use. Seriously.

And darned: I did miss to note a milestone: 100,000 cigs not smoked 3 days ago. I wasn't paying attention. 100K Whoops!

Wide-O, I see you edited your post so I deleted mine in reference to. Congrats on your smoke free days and cheers to your good health. You have done amazing things during your recovery. Who says people can't change. You are an inspiration!

Yeah, sorry about the edit. ;) And thanks.

In the last 2 hours or so, for the first time in over 5 years, I have read the notes I made while I was in rehab. It is... so weird. How much you forget over the years, and how fast it comes back with just a few written words.

Things I had completely forgotten, like suffering from pneumonia for a good part of my stay there. Or how they searched my car and found a pill - which was a forbidden painkiller, but luckily, they saw the expiry date (it was in there from a holiday trip 6 years earlier, fell under the mat in the boot/trunk). Punishment would have been having to stay in without visits for 10 more days...

The rules, the people, the feels, the fear, it all came back like in a movie.

Frightening, confronting, I don't have the words to describe how much effect just reading those scribbles had. I'm shaking a bit.

I now wonder if I shouldn't keep a diary as a rule. You forget so much - bad things especially it seems - when you don't write them down. Just a few key words is enough to paint the picture.

(but to be fair, there are some words with exclamation marks that give me no clue what so ever. :D )

Many notes about the neuropathy too, about other stuff that went wrong with my body. Oh, and my dad officially died from pneumonia when he was in treatment for his alcoholism, so, you can imagine how that effected me at the time. I had completely blanked that out of my current memory. But I was literally scared to death.

All the people who started with me, the ones that didn't make it, the coming and going of new people. I kept notes on everyone, on when they either relapsed or disappeared (or died).

What a trip... I'm glad I waited this long to go over them.

My daughter has my notes from Rehab stay #1....I have still not seen them. Maybe someday...

Wide-O, I have kept all of my written notes and the handouts which I got when I spent a month in a psychiatric hospital, taking the first steps in dealing with my alcohol abuse and clinical depression. I look at them regularly.

I also keep a daily mood diary. It is an encrypted Word file on this laptop - to get access to it another person would need to know a very strong (15 character) password.

This works for me - maybe it is something that you could consider?

I too kept everything but have not looked at it since rehab. We had to write a farewell letter or a good riddance letter to our addiction. I found that 6 months ago mixed in with some random papers. I now keep that handy and read it when I struggle. I have wanted to toss all the personal intimate worksheets, and journals and that huge box just takes up space. If I die unexpectedly I fear my family will read and I have NEVER opened that box in over 20 years but still I can't bring myself to dispose of it. I honestly have no idea why.

My neuropathy had been somewhat better and I was very encouraged but yesterday and today it took a turn backwards. Yesterday I was very discouraged and sad but today I am more accepting. Wide-O, are you up to sharing your early neuropathy struggles that were remembered thru your rehab notes?

Any idea what caused this?

Icehouse, I have no idea. Sugar has never affected my neuropathy but I am prediabetic so I try to stay away from the sweets and usually don't have much around but I had a lot of company over the holidays and so had many goodies here. Once my last visitor finally left I had tons left over and I have been over indulging trying to use them up.
My only known trigger that sets off the neuropathy is stress and in that regard everything has been relatively quiet. If anything I am guessing it is all the sugar but in my experience with this affliction it does what it wants with no rhyme or reason. Today I am going out and I will see how I do but I had a bad couple days. That horrific burning had improved greatly and even the weakness was much improved but sadly I am almost where I started.
I am heading out for lunch and then errands today so I hope I can manage. This setback was especially cruel. I had gotten so hopeful and even thought maybe I could find part time employment in the new year. I hate this dang neuropathy and the sick games it plays with my body and mind.
No sugar for me today and I will see where that takes me.

Sure, gimme some time. What's apparent is that it fluctuated heavily. But I also had other things going wrong with my body at the same time, so it's hard to see a logical line. (which is typical for PN anyway).

2314 days sober.

I have nothing to report....I hate the cold....maybe I will move to Australia.

Second of the month... well done. ;)

Yeah, we had a sudden -5°C last night. I'm thinking Bahamas (although, with all that hurricane stuff.. maybe Madeira).

The only thing I like about this weather is that the dog poop freezes instantly and is a bit easier/less nauseating to remove from their outdoor toilet. :D

BTW, I suspect dogs poop twice as much as they eat, it's something science should have a look at.

Poopsicles are easier.
I remember having to shovel our driveway, steps and sidewalks PLUS my backyard so our dogs had a place.
I am currently animal free and just put down the last of my menagerie and the loss is huge. I have lost 3 of my beloved pets in 5 years and it is never easy, and in truth it is very excruciatingly painful.
Ahhh...I miss cleaning up my ol' man's messes. :( Funny to think of the things that one will miss). I also miss him begging at the table which I hated but I still save my leftovers, ....but he is not there. Yep, I am still adjusting and he left a huge hole.

I am not responsible enough to have a pet....I can barely keep myself alive :D

Icehouse, my thoughts exactly! My kids know I am mourning the loss of my dog and are relentless about how they want to get me a kitten. NO!!!!!!!!!
If Santa brings me a kitten I will kill him and them, but ugh, likely keep the kitten.

I'm with you. We used to have lots of animals, but over the years had to say goodby to (counts...) 10 cats. Patsy, our oldest Labrador (the one in my profile pic) is almost 14 (it's her birthday in 2 weeks...) and we are going to have to take that step too in the coming days/weeks. She is mentally 110%, but her hind legs just don't want to cooperate anymore. (some days they do, some they don't).

Edie, her brother, is 12, but he's not as "strong", so that will be for the near future as well. Ugh.

I also lost 2 parrots I got for my birthday. We had them for 6 months, and mysteriously they both suddenly went quiet and fell dead after 2 days. (no Monty Python jokes please ;) "It's an ex-parrot" "It's pining for the Fjords", I know them all... ;) ) Turned out they had the kind of parrot AIDS and were born with that, nothing could be done about it. Still hurt like hell. We got new ones after that, but one escaped (my fault...) so now Oscar is the big boss of the house (he's 4 now).

They are family members, and when they go they each leave a huge hole. But, it's also a privilege to have shared your time with them. :hug:

I can relate - I lost my two cats last year - I can't complain because they were both 20 y.o.+ but that did not make it any easier. It took a while to accept.

I now have two new ones, Blackberry and WaiWaiaa (Maori for beautiful).

At risk of pic-spamming, here they are when they were kittens :).

Aye. We say that to ourselves: "oh look how old they got" but it doesn't change the hurt. Two years or twenty years: same size hole. :(

I often "complained" about the design fault of cats & dogs going before we do. And then we got Oscar. Parrots have the opposite problem: they often outlive us. So you have to prepare a solution for your little buddy for when you are gone (and they will miss you, very much, they will mourn, as you were their partner). That's almost even worse.

(sorry MrsD for going off-topic, I'll have a better on-topic post tomorrow! ;) )

The neuropathy has been very bad. I went from depression to just being very angry today. This morning my damn legs gave out from under me. It was a gentle slide down to the ground but the damn legs just would not hold me. That happened months ago and scared the heck out of me. Now I am just ******. I don't understand what is happening. I was doing so good lately.

SC when’s the last time you had a full health check? It might be worth while? :hug::hug:

PJ, ironically I scheduled some routine blood work just before my decline. I couldn't get an appointment til mid month. Perhaps that will show something but I doubt it. It was just such a huge disappointment having come so far this last month only to slide back these last few days. I am quite certain it is the neuropathy as I have been here before. The weakness is always the worst first thing in the morning and I was having that first smoke of the day. Smokes have got to go!

SC, I trust that the blood work doesn't show anything of concern.

I have noticed that my PN flares have decreased markedly since I have almost stopped smoking - maybe something to do with carbon monoxide and oxygen transport in the blood?

I hope that will be true for you too.

PJ is right there. We tend to think every problem from now on is PN, but like other people we might have something else going on too. It doesn't help that PN is fickle, and sometimes changes day to day. And yes, again, smokes have to go indeed.

2000 days sobriety for me today, which also means I didn't drink up €28,000 worth of whisky. I don't know what that is in your money these days, but it's a lot. ;)

Total savings combined with cigarettes are now crouching into entry level Porsche territory. (not that I would want one, just saying. ;) ) Or Tesla if you are more environment conscious.

Here's to the next 2000 ones. :cool:

2000 days is awesome Wide-O :).

Congrats!!

~$33,000 USD

Those are sobering numbers right there.... ;)

You had to, hadn't you! :D

Double that (well, a bit more now actually) with the money for cigarettes. Ho hum.

Hi everyone! Just checking in again since it's been awhile. I had to get caught up on reading everyone's progress. I'm so glad we have a place like this to come because a lot of people just wouldn't understand.

My symptoms are still pretty much the same -- still can't feel my feet, haven't driven a car in almost 3 years due to that. I don't want to chance it. I am still faithfully taking the vitamins, and really trying to keep the sugar and salt intake to a minimum.

The only improvement I can tell is, my fingers feel not quite as numb as before, so that's a start anyway. I still have trouble with balance. It's almost impossible for me to go up or down a stairwell without a handrail. Pain and that dastardly "neuro itch" comes and goes, but it doesn't seem as bad as it used to be. Although, I am beginning to think that my body is just used to it now - it's my "new normal". And I am OK with that as long as I can still walk. Hopefully no wheelchair or cane for me, knock on wood...?

Just reading some of your posts about smoking - I am SO grateful I never have smoked in my lifetime, and I really feel for those of you who are trying to quit. That's got to be SO hard to kick. And I really do wonder if that makes a big difference in the severity of one's neuropathy.

So to sum it up for today...I am still far from over this PN thing but I know it could be so much worse. Be well, everyone! :hug:

WGFB, Sure wish you had better improvement to report but still good to hear from you. How long have you been sober? I forget.