No rhyme or reason
 

Just venting...sorry. I take my Lyrica...my tramadol...occasional vicodin...try dumping the Lyrica....thinking it is just pain from the botched neuroma surgery. Blame it on the too tight shoes I wore shoveling snow....but...it sure wouldn't explain the crummy feeling in my little toe on the right foot...not part of the surgery. Or....one day...the tight shoes didn't hurt...for what reason who knows. Or...the days when it is just numbness and I feel great! The rollercoaster is not a fun thing. I just can't get a handle on the aggravating factors.....I go for a long walk....sometimes a factor or not? I just don't know. I eat a pint of Haagen Dazs (Oh...so decadent)...is it that? I have a glass of wine...is it that? Is it going off the Lyrica for three days? Is it even PN? Is it just pain from a stump neuroma on both feet? My poor poor wife....I don't blame her one bit for bonking me on the head with all my....I wonder if it is this....or this...or that? The process of elimination just doesn't seem to work. Arrrgh!

I cant get a handle on it either, there seems to be no rhyme or reason for temporary upticks in pain, areas involved or swelling. Factors such as heat, humidity, use, often seem to be factors but at other times have no effect or the opposite such as cold and disuse does. Compound that with injuries and breaks coming out of no discernible event and its enough to drive you over the edge.

I think we find it very difficult to cope with things which are essentially random. Whether it is by upbringing or as a built-in characterstic we tend to think in terms of causes and effects - and of course many things fit into that model, but neuropathic pain isn't well-behaved in this respect.

My own pain - mainly in the legs - has an easily described source: my spinal cord suffered compressive damage and I eventually needed surgery to stop it getting worse, but there the cause and effect seem to stop. The NP is ever-present, but far from constant. And exactly what makes it worse at some times, why the acute stabbing cry-out-loud pains come in the middle of the night some days, mid morning on others, I have tried to figure out but to no avail.

The best I can come up with is that there is some link between exercise - any exercise - and subsequent pain, but that there is a very variable delay factor. All I seem to able to rely on, and only if I lie very still, is a lowish-pain time first thing in the morning, which of course comes after a comparatively long period of low levels of movement and exercise.

I totally agree with you about the exercise and subsequent pain....even though it may be delayed. I also have pain from sitting for long periods. I do believe there is some spinal cord deterioration that leads to compressive transmission of neural pain in the feet.

Some drugs cause rebound if they're discontinued. Like Lyrica and Neurontin. And, yes, for some people alcohol in any amount can trigger a flare of symptoms. Stress can trigger symptoms. I've been having a symptom flare over the past week or so. I've actually had a night where I had to get out of bed. Couldn't sleep at all and I hadn't had one of those nights in well over a year at least. The roller coaster can be disheartening at times that's for sure. :(