Peripheral Neuropathy and Acupuncture - Is it getting better or worse?
 

Hey all,

I'm a new member to this forum, but I've had peripheral neuropathy since 2010. I had a severe neurological reaction to Larium (mefloquine) and ever since then I have had periodic PN. Typically, episodes are a few months apart and last for 2 weeks (terrible burning in hands up the forearms, and in the feet - from the heels up the legs and in the toes. My fingers get so sensitive that it becomes excruciating to type, and my heels are so sensitive that I cannot touch them to the ground.) Then, after 2 weeks, it stops.

Anyway, after a recent episode, I decided to start getting acupuncture. I got sick of having these strange episodes and I figured it couldn't hurt! But after 3 acupuncture sessions my hands and forearms are prickly like before an episode, and my feet are slightly sensitive. Something is happening, I'm just not sure if it's good or bad!

I'm taking 5mg of oral Vitamin B12 and a B-complex vitamin like I always do. I just ordered some ALA and Acetyl-L-Carnitine after poking around this forum a bit more. Maybe these things will help...

Has anyone gotten acupuncture for PN? Did it make you better or worse? I've heard it can go both ways and I'm nervous.

Thank you, all!

P.S. Reading this forum makes me feel like I'm not alone. :grouphug:

Yes, yes, and yes, which is understandable. The question/topic comes up here fairly regularly—probably a few times a year. Here are some of the more recent discussions; you can find more via the Search facility:

Acupuncture & PN

Acupuncture

How Acupuncture works: Hope for us! RIBOSE

Acupuncture..??

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/se...ry=acupuncture

Welcome Aboard ;)

Doc

Thank you for your response, Dr. Smith.

I guess I should have mentioned that I checked out those links prior to posting, and from the previous posts I gather that according to xyz studies, acupuncture can be helpful, though mostly indirectly by decreasing pain and inflammation in general. Posters who have experience with acupuncture tended to say it didn't work for them, or people they knew.

I guess I was hoping to connect with someone who had a similar experience where acupuncture seems to be activating my PN on a low level. Does this mean that I'm in the 76% for whom acupuncture is helpful, or the 10% for whom acupuncture aggravates PN? I just can't tell if this is the nerves healing, or yelling at me to stop going to acupuncture. 3 sessions seems too early to stop, but these electrical zaps and pricks would be much more bearable if I was convinced they were representative of healing.

Maybe I should just stick to my vitamins and supplements...

For the record: I tried acupuncture for a good 3 months, once and sometimes twice a week, ending just this past December. I also had cupping on a weekly basis, fwiw, which made me look as though I'd come in second in a squid fight.

I noted no changes good or bad.

Good luck!

This cyclical nature of your symptoms is puzzling. It is almost
similar to some parasite types of infections.

Where did you go that you needed the mefloquine treatment?

This drug is neurotoxic and no longer recommended for pretreatment of malaria. I looked on Drugcite.com and the
closest I could find in side effects was paresthesias, and they were low incidence...about 1%http://www.drugcite.com/?q=mefloquine

You can click on any category and it will open up with details.

Wiki has information about brain damage, from this drug, which may be permanent. If you have central pain/damage (in the brain), that may be why you don't respond to acupuncture.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mefloquine

Drug damage is very sneaky.... and hard to prove.

Are your finger tips discolored when they hurt? Do they all hurt equally? There are two nerves that go down the arm.. pinky and ring finger are enervated by one...and the thumb, index and middle finger by the other.

Wow, mrsD, you're good!

I took mefloquine prior to joining the Peace Corps. They make you take it unless you can medically prove that you shouldn't. I know that I am very sensitive to any drug, so I asked my doctor to prescribe it for my short trip to Honduras, so I could see how my body would react while I still had access to US healthcare. My skin all over my body was on fire for two weeks, and I had two different rashes that were weeping. I couldn't even wrap myself in a sheet. There were psychological symptoms as well, that came later (thankfully not concurrently...)

Because of this reaction, I was excused from taking mefloquine when I joined the Peace Corps 4 months later. I served in Tanzania, and the episodes of nerve pain were more frequent back in 2010 when this all started. Unfortunately, the US govt still gives this drug to Peace Corps volunteers and I'm told some army folks... I have lots of friends with depression/ horrible nightmares, etc which is the more "normal" bad reaction to mefloquine. Anyway...

That's really interesting that you bring up paresthesias, though, I hadn't come across that. It sounds exactly right...

My fingernails turn purple a lot, but I don't think that's what you mean. My hands will turn reddish, and get swollen when I'm having a PN episode (my fingers double in size sometimes - though not as often in the past two years) My fingertips do seem to hurt equally, although my thumbs don't hurt as much as my fingers do.

I wonder if there's anything to be done about brain damage? That would explain why there isn't always a rash, though.. In the past, I have gone in to the doctor in a lot of pain and they just think I'm nuts, or tell me to come back when they can see something. Recently, I got a NP to take me seriously and she gave me Gabapentin which actually worked for me! (unlike any type of painkiller all the way up to oxycodone.)

Well, I think I have my answer. I'll stop acupuncture, and do some research on paresthesias. Thank you!

Also, @Balanchine: A squid fight! Thanks for making me laugh! =) Sorry acupuncture didn't work for you either... I guess that makes two of us.

accupuncture
 

My nervous system was all over the place due to stress. I did two sessions an hr each. I thought it was helping but then I posted online about this for PN and was informed nerve damage could happen so I stopped. I do not know if any needles were put in my legs. I know they were in my feet.. the thing is there is a spot on my lower calf that feels about 3-4 inches long that would zing would I go upstairs. It has been this way for a month at least. I thought it was going away then yesterday it started the same nerve buzzing on and off that I get in my feet. I don't know why there would be a needle put in the leg... so don't know where this came from.

She used the infra red heat lamps on my legs did they do that for you?

I'm not sure that the zaps and pricks are representative of anything except neuropathy. FWIW, I've had excellent results (luck?) using R-Lipoic Acid for the burning pain. After finding this, I added Pantothenic Acid, and have had considerable (~80-90%) reduction in the zaps and pricks (jabs).

Doc

Dr Smith you mentioned the other acid you take ...with the link this mentions use for those with diabetes do you have this? just wondering if should try

Good question. I've been tested multiple times by multiple doctors, and the results are always negative, nevertheless, sugar and sugar alcohols exacerbate my PN, so I avoid them.

As I oft say, If it can't hurt to try it, then it can't hurt to try it. ;)

Doc