Any suggestions for my PN
 

I have been suffering from PN for about 3 years. Onset was gradual. I had a surfing accident and did not tend to the injury immediately, cut above my back of heel below the ankle. The ER physician said because I did come in right away he would not stitch the cut which in any case was not very large or deep. He had me on antibiotics and my regular physician put me on an additional antibiotics. My limping caused me foot pain and then soon followed this additional misery. I was placed on Lyrica as my doctor said I had nerve damage the way I described the numbness and tingling in my toes and feet although mostly in my outer toes of both feet. Lyrica was giving me nightmares so a sports medicine doctor put me on neuronton . My X-rays were deemed normal of my spine. I have also seen a podiatrist and PT. nothing has really helped. This is not so much pain as more of a discomfort or irritation although there is heel pain if put direct weight on my left foot which was the injured one. Shoe inserts have helped and have even been able to resume surfing with a added insert in my surf booty. But I notice from favoring my left leg it has weakened and have difficulty getting to my feet quickly when on my board which is essential in the sport. I am often caught in a semi prone stance , one knee up and one down which not an ideal way to ride a surfboard, maybe a boogie board this is acceptable. But for now, this about the best I can do.

Welcome to NeuroTalk:

Tendon injuries are notoriously slow to heal.

You can try putting a local anti-inflammatory over that tendon
for a few days and see if the pain reduces.

My son whacked me by accident with a shopping cart, on that tendon in a store. I had pain and swelling (no cut) for many months. I found Salonpas finally and they did the trick. Once a day for 7 days! My podiatrist was useless, and only recommended oral ibuprofen which I had used to no avail.

Here is the specific type to try (there are several formulas):
http://www.salonpas.us/product/salonpas-original/

You can stack them to cover a larger area.
There is a new stronger version, but it is rather large for the heel area. I put mine on at night as that location is not easy for patches when wearing shoes.

Soaking in epsom salts with lukewarm water will also help.

If your injury is more severe than mine was, you may need more than 7 days to fully see results.

My injury has healed, it is the neuropathy that is at issue. No tendon was damaged, basically a lesion or tear on skin, really not so serious but as I did not report to ER quickly enough, the route taken to heal in the end has caused me more of a problem. Maybe the antibiotics were a bit much or the favoring of my left foot while the cut healed, so many factors, but thank you for response. I am looking at this Neuropathy Support supplements. Seems loaded with the B vitamins needed to heal nerve damage.

If your antibiotic was a fluoroquinolone... Cipro, Levaquin and
Avelox...those actually cause PN.

There are lots of nerves in tendons! In fact many more than you would suppose.

The formula you mention will not help fluoroquinolone damage, as that is DNA damage.

Thank you, I will try and go back and see what they used for antibiotics. It is like 3 years ago so I hope they will retrieve them for me. I am scheduled to see the hospital on Monday to see my internist and hopefully they can get my records for me. Then I need to go see my PCP and ask to see what was prescribed. Hopefully it was not the antibiotic you mentioned.

You can contact your pharmacy which should have your medication history. It may be faster that way.

Thank you for this suggestion. Will do this morning ASAP. I am very thankful for your help and information. Mahalo and aloha!

Just found out clindamycin was one of the antibiotics prescribed. Will find out the other later today when I go to the hospital where I went for the ER. I have an appt. there today anyway for review of monitoring of bloodwork.

Clindamycin is not typically a PN trigger. It can affect bowel flora however majorly. Some people believe that altering the bowel flora significantly leads to other medical issues. But that is beyond the scope of our board for now.

The Parkinson's forum discusses bowel flora in relation to treating some symptoms of PD or as a trigger for PD developing. But still that is experimental today.

If you can get some Kefir where you are.... and eat some daily...you might see some improvement. Lifeway Kefir is making a mainstream appearance now. It has 12 probiotics in it, and is delicious as well. And affordable. Some of us use it here. It was very helpful for me over a year ago. Much better than yogurt, in fact.
http://www.lifeway.net/

I would explore those mechanical issues with your surfing stress on the feet. It can't be easy for them as we age, to do what you do. Try the ice treatments and stretches on the Northcoast footcare site that I gave you... I really like that site, and you might look around there further. I personally found lacing suggestions to take the pressure off my high instep...this simple solution stopped my numb toes!

Many foot problems can be traced to mechanical stressors which then affect the nerves. So the PN would be secondary to those stressors. (something you probably don't want to hear or would not like to know if you love your surfing.).

Thank you again Mrs.d. My surfing has evolved to where I stand not fully erect as I have favored my left due to injury and neuropathy or combo of both. Normally you need to get to your feet quickly with one foot in front of the other. Right foot in front of left is called goofy foot stance, which is my normal stance. Left foot forward is called regular , kinda like being a right hander as opposed to being a lefty. Now with my weakened left side I tend to be one knee up and one knee down which is not ideal for surfing to say the least. Maybe on a boogie board it is acceptable but I do want I have to do be in the water. We have had an unusual summer this year with many large south swells. Can not recall in memory so many large waves over so long a period.
When I do stand, my feet are parallel with each other which is totally incorrect, and to correct this with micro seconds and on moving body of water, pretty near impossible. When factoring in other surfers in the water in your way and size of wave, etc. I stay in my half up, half down position as it offers me more control. My goal is to get to my feet properly, hopefully soon. Hopefully everything is well in your state as all I have been reading is about the Detroit bankruptcy. We are doing much better now as tourism has picked up here.