nerve trauma healing question
 

Hello,

I have nerve damage from acupuncture all down either side of my spine. lower arms and legs (trying to fix a twitching and jerking issue lead me to acupuncture, horrible mistake). The pain has radiated everywhere. My question is this...

If I have nerve damage due to needle puncture or something near my spine (about an inch away or either side) If the nerve was going to heal to I have to wait for the entire nerve to grow back at a rate of 1mm/day (from back all the way down the arm?) or would it just need to heal up in those spots? It's been over 3 months and the pain keeps spreading and becoming worse (I don't know how because I don't can't imagine worse but it is).

For example. about 12 inches above my ankles she stuck needle in. I experienced major throbbing, tingling and weird sensations in that area (and the other areas but just focusing on this area for example sake). I kept going for acupuncture because I didn't connect this together. I thought my original condition plus my recent use of clonidine (just start same week) was to blame. I had about 8 acupuncture treatments. Since then, this has spread all the way up and down my legs. The throbbing is everywhere but particularly forceful at the sight but over the last month it's like the original throbbing site has separated into two... one moving lower and lower into my foot and the other moving higher and higher up my leg (mid thigh right now).

Is this the nerve dying back? What is happening? If it's been 3 months with NO IMPROVEMENT then does that indicate that this is only going to worsen and not heal?

Shouldn't I slowly start to feel better if healing was happening. I know it could take over a year but wouldn't you slowly feel less pain and other sensations instead of worsening?

Doctors don't believe me... they really don't even listen when I try to tell them about the acupuncture (literally don't listen and move on). I feel like maybe I needed surgery to repair nerves but since nobody will listen I didn't get it. Now it's been over 3 months and its too late?,...

If you have any knowledge of nerve healing, please respond

I am not familiar with this. Do they move on because they think the acupuncture is not the cause and/or that your symptoms are progressive?

I was going to try acupuncture myself again soon.

Tell us more, if you can, about the events around the acupuncture.

You wrote that "twitching and jerking" led you to acupuncture. Is it possible that you already had some symptoms before the acupuncture and it's just coincidental that the symptoms worsened during the same time period?
Just asking because I had acupuncture every month for nearly 3 years, and the needle never seemed like it was deep enough to ever cause damage.
I am not saying that it wasn't caused by that, because I'm sure all acupuncturists practice differently.
I just hope that you aren't assuming it was from the acupuncture, and not look into other reasons. just in case it is something different and treatable.

I was having treatments every 2-3 days. maybe that was too much. I finally stopped because she was putting the needles in and they were hurting. One hurt soooo bad and didn't decrease for days. I then had crazy twitching in that area for a week or two. I developed intense throbbing in the needle areas, and weird fuzzy, electrical feelings during the acupuncture treatment time period. I just thought my condition was changing. But now I know there is an exact pattern to where the burning and pain started (all needle sites) and now the pain has spread out from there. My whole body burns and stings. It feels like I am being squeezed and there is a ton of weight on me. Now, everything hurts. anything that rubs against me or causes my skin to stretch causes burning. so many feelings inside I can't even describe what is happening. it was definitely acupuncture

I don't doubt for a second that your account of events leads you to believe it was the acupuncture...because it obviously aggravated whatever was going on. However, since you did already have signs of neuropathy before hand (as for why you sought out the treatment), you need to look into what brought you to this point, just as northerngal stated.

There is a condition called allodynia that is basically a hypersensitivity of pain from stimuli that normally doesn't cause pain. The acupuncture should not have caused you that kind of pain and therefore I wonder if that procedure is the associated stimuli for possible allodynia. If the neuropathy was already there (causing the allodynia), then this stimuli could have easily aggravated the small fiber nerves and caused you intense pain and left you where you are right now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allodynia

But that being said, you need to look back to when your initial symptoms began and focus on the basis of your neuropathy to get to the root of the problem. In the meantime, you should consider testing of the small fibers via skin biopsy (if you haven't already done so). That would give you a good idea if the nerve density is low or if the nerve fibers are damaged. Then other treatment options may be available, based upon the results.

You should give the current medication some time to work (and to get up to a therapeutic dose). If there is no relief, then there are many other options to try...until the root cause is determined (if found).

Sorry you are suffering
 

I hope that you are going through an acute phase of whatever brand of misery yours is. If it is an acute phase the time required for some relief may be compressed. I also had trauma-induced Neurapathy with diabetes to boot. How one person can do accupuncture and another cannot is mind boggling. None of my Dr. will admit trauma-induced as the lawyers are circling overhead,haha. I find that if you do all that you know to do then it helps you to cope better as you can't do any more. Make sure you get at least 5hrs sleep, eat nutrient dense foods w/few carbs as links to inflammation have been reported. Excersize to tolerance. If you think pain may be bad enough to drive you to depression, seek pain management. What I call starter RX such as Gabapentin, helps some and some it doesn't. If you get tender burning skin, I like Mortons Epsom Salt Lotion, one of the few things where I could tell a difference. Good Luck, Ken in Texas.

I am having a skin biopsy on may 20. The neuro has given up on me. She and others did mri's and some blood testing, emg/ncv on lower leg and lower arm and everything has come back normal. I had to push for the biopsy. they say it's "all in my head". I have never had mental issues, barely even went to the dr. There is no medical help for me here. I see so many people that have relief with 10mg of nortriptiline but yet it does NOTHING to me. not even make me sleepy. I have the best diet, taking vitamins, excerising a bit (even though it causes extreme pain later. nothing helps. just getting worse. I feel like there is no medication help for me either b/c the nortriptiline isn't making a dent. What are people taking and what doses.

I think you will find that those getting relief with "only" 10 mg of Nortriptylene are taking it with a second drug, such as neurontin (gabapentin). I don't think that anyone just taking 10 mg of Nortriptylene is getting good relief from symptoms as major as yours. NO drug is likely to give you 100% relief and very few of us do, and good relief may be more along the lines of 50%

You still haven't anything to lose by taking 50mg of Tramadol with a FULL glass of water. It will take a couple of hours before you may notice anything.

If they only Rx'd 10 mg, then they obviously aren't taking your pain seriously. That won't help much unless used with something else, as groucho said. I know they start low and work their way up, but that's like starting with a baby aspirin, instead of regular strength Tylenol for a headache.

You need to go back and ask for an increased dose or to get something else, like Neurontin (but again, they start low and work up slowly).

They said I can go up to 50mg on my own. but that I should increase the dose by 10 once a week. My first increase is tomorrow. How do people do with 20?