My toes hurt
 

My toes on both feel really hurt. Although they are not cold to the touch on the outside I have to wear socks all day long "to keep them warm." On the inside they feel very cold and hurt. The pain is much worse at night.

I have neuropathy and take 2400 mg of Neurontin. I also take amitriptylene at bedtime. I also have Tramadol I can take but it doesn't help with the pain in the toes.

Can someone suggest what I can do?

Would a dip in a nice warm tub of water help?

Thaks for that suggestion and yes, it does help and I do that alot while at home. During the day, while at work I don't have that luxury and they sure do hurt...

Hi Leslie, you may like to talk to your doc about your dosage of amitriptlyne & are you taking the Tramadol SR [Slow Release] ? in my case i found the Tramadol SR much better than the other short acting one, the Slow Release Tramadol seem to give me more constant relief, one tab of the SR works for 12 hours and taking 2 a day covered it well, for me anyway.
I couldn't tolerate Neurotin, but i took 150 mg amitriptyne at night and sometimes 25 mg in the morning helped when it was bad, i think the max dose of Tramadol SR is 200 mg x twice a day, but my neuro had me on 300 mg x twice a day for a long time until i was able to reduce it, best shot is talk to your doc about it.
good luck
Brian :)

Thanks, I'll be sure to call the neuro doc tomorrow. I don't think that I am on the SR Tramadol as I get a bit of relief about 30 minutes after I take it but this relief doesn't last to long (an hour or so). My prescription for Tramadol is 1-2 pills every 8 hrs as needed...doesn't last 8 hrs.

I take one pill of amitriptylene at bedtime so maybe the doc needs to allow me to bump that up...

I noticed on the posts on this site regarding handling the pain at night and being able to sleep....that no one mentions taking Ambien Cr. My GP gave me a prescription for 3 weeks worth but I have not taken it yet as I have not been able to speak with my neuro...any thoughts on that. I know it is habit forming...

If you're going to soak your toes, throw some Epsom Salts into the basin. Can't hurt. It has Magnesium Sulfate in it so it's good for you. It will absorb through your skin.

Might even help somewhat.

Nice warm soak.

Sounds good, no??

Melody

hi
 

I take Ambien cr many of us do,except many are in and out during summer.
We are not the only ones the people on ms and so on as well. You Dr. who
gave you the Ambien knows sleep is very important.

I just got out of a great rehab almost everyone was on it,If that doesn't
work there are others. If you need to get off it's not that hard,and I don't
if you have to worry about addition on 3 weeks.,pain wears you out,you need what sleep you can get. What your feeling with your feet is normal for PN cold feet and hands,seems to bother me in summer more,perhaps going in and out of airconditioning..Feet in warm water is a good thing..Hugs to all Sue

The half-life for Tramadol (Ultram) - not the SR,
is about 4-5 hours. I take 100mgs 4 x day
(8:00am, 1:00pm, 6:00pm, 11:00pm).

Vit D. I had pain in my toes...mostly in the joints in the big toes with my left being worse than my right. As long as I take Vit D the pain goes away. I discovered that quite by accident. But if it works... *shrug* :D

It may or may not work for you but it's cheap and it's harmless and if it *does* help well... It took about 5 days for the pain to back off. I'm at the point now that I have no pain in my toes 99% of the time. No idea what causes it to bother me the times that it does.

And you're right about the Tramadol. It didn't even touch that pain. It works great for the other PN symptoms I experience.

Barbara

I'll try anything...
 

How much would you suggest?

I'm currently taking 400 IU of Vit D, Spring Valley Brand which can be found at any Wal Mart and I'm sure plenty of other places as well. :)

I take 50mg's once a day. For me I've found that the pain relief/muting effect of the Tramadol lasts a minimum of 6 hours and it seems to have residual effects up to about 10 hrs. It took a bit of playing with the dose and time of dose to get it just right so that I took it early enough in the day so that I can sleep at night (Tramadol tends to give me a speed buzz of sorts...at any rate I'm wide freakin' awake, that's for sure). If I don't take at least one pill a day I can't get through the night it would appear as I have issues falling asleep and my feet tend to wake me about 4 or 5 AM. And to be honest I'm not sure if it's all PN pain or if there's some of the RLS (Restless Leg Syndrome) thrown in there as well.

I do know that for me Tramadol has been a miracle as far as dealing with what level of pain I still have from the PN. There are even days I can get away with only half a pill just a bit before bedtime.

Another great thing about Tramadol is doctors don't seem as afraid to prescribe this as they are the opiates. The addiction risk for Tramadol is very low. Almost non-existent as far as my doc is concerned. That doesn't mean I'm not worried about dependence (which is different than addiction) and that I'm not very careful with it. I am. I don't want addiction or dependence issues of any kind. I finally quit smoking after a lifetime of heavy smoking/nicotine addiction so I'm not even going there! :eek: