Can someone describe neuropathic pain for me?

[PaulinaB]

I have a mild form of neuropathy in both of my feet. I wouldn't describe the feeling as painful, it is more of a discomfort. It feels as though someone has put the inside of my foot in a vice and is squashing it all together. The discomfort feeling is always there, but more so when I'm sat down or lying in bed. I also have episodes where patches of skin on my body become ultra sensitive and painful to the touch, very similar to shingles type pain. This pain will last for a few days then just disappear. Fortunately, none of the pain is bad enough to need specialist painkillers.

I think I'm a similar case. My legs are usually just uncomfortable, the pain cames and goes. If it's really bad, ibuprofen can numb it enough. I stopped gabapentin now and my bg is back to normal.

Thanks everyone for sharing,this has been really helpful!

Do you usually find that activity helps with the pain or makes it worse?

 

[caulfiek]

Hi, I've got the same thing, like nettles on your feet, or the sandy flips flops on sunburnt feet described earlier. Gets worse at night, stops me sleeping can't go on like this. So my GP has prescribed Cymbalta (60mg per day), my feet seem to have started to get better but .. I feel sick quite alot, my appetite has gone and I have what I can only describe as mild 'bed spins' (if you've every had too many g&ts you'll know what I mean).
It's early days yet but I think the cure may turn out to be worse than the nuropathy. Will give it a few weeks before reviewing with my GP.

 

[kman]

Hi, I've got the same thing, like nettles on your feet, or the sandy flips flops on sunburnt feet described earlier. Gets worse at night, stops me sleeping can't go on like this. So my GP has prescribed Cymbalta (60mg per day), my feet seem to have started to get better but .. I feel sick quite alot, my appetite has gone and I have what I can only describe as mild 'bed spins' (if you've every had too many g&ts you'll know what I mean).
It's early days yet but I think the cure may turn out to be worse than the nuropathy. Will give it a few weeks before reviewing with my GP.

Sounds like the right thing to do, hope all works out for you. !

 

[stuffit]

Peripheral neuropophy?
I would describe it as standing barefoot on a block of ice for ten minutes. The pain may be excruciating. I guess it relates to vascular problems.
I have already lost all my toes on my left foot and the right foot is suspicious. The major problem is foot or ankle ulcers that can take many months to heal, if at all. I'm not a medical person, just explaining my own experiences.
Angioplasty appears to be 'maybe' help, but is not the solution. The only solution seems to be avoiding Diabetes Melitus completely, difficult when one already has the problem.
Perhaps, grin and bear it.
Hope your pain and discomfort dissipates.

 

[Sable_Jan]

SORRY I HAVE JUST 'RE READ MY RESPONSE AND THE PREDICTIVE TXT BEAT ME AGAIN! ALL THE GO SHOULD READ ----- GP.

I was trying to figure out if you meant GP or not - though I thought a GO might be some diabetes "professionals"/ specialists might have had those initials. Good old predictive text

 

[Bob_k]

Hi
I know I'm joining this discussion about 12 months late but this is the nearest topic relevant to my concerns about neuropathy.
About 12 months ago after a night out at Christmas,having had a few too many drinks but not enough to not know what I was doing.I woke
up next morning .The calf of my right leg felt as if it was in a vice.
I had this pain for about a week then it went.I then started noticing in work after walking or climbing stairs that I could feel this same vice like pain it was also painfull in my foot.
17 years ago I had a stent inserted in my left leg ,an artery was blocked so I feared the worst.I went to my GP he referred me to have
the circulation in my legs checked,everything was fine,so I was refered to a physiotherapist,they sent me for an MRI scan to check
for spinal stenosis,again this was normal.By now it's around May
and the pains are getting worse and the distance walked before the
onset of the pains was considerably less.The physio then sent me for nerve conduction tests,where I was told I had very mild neuropathy
.He stressed it was only mild and nothing to worry about and the next
visit to my GP I should mention it.which I did ,he said he would not
give me any treatment for it until he received the results back.
Before my visit to the doctors I read up about neuropathy and found
one of the main causes of neuropathy is diabetes.I had been diagnosed with borderline diabetes in April after routine heart check
.so I asked my GP should I have a check for diabetes considering I was borderline,he said I was not diabetic as I was only 42 and if I was over 48 then I would be.I was then refered to a neurologist,then my GP decided without getting the nerve conduction tests results back that I should start a course of gabbapentin,which I started on 30 September and worked my way up to 1600mgs a day.I got the appointment to see the neurologist mid October.he hit my leg a few times told it was old age 90 per cent of the time I'm 64 and underlying reasons for the other 10.he sent me for blood tests
all this took about 10 minutes that included the blood tests.I have never felt so frustrated.He also wanted me to up the gabbapentin to
3600mgs per day,which I'm now on with no improvement to the pain in my leg.
I've been back to my GP and told him I don't think the pains are caused by neuropathy.he's basically told me to accept it ,but I can't accept that I could be in this horrific pain for good .My next stop is the pain clinic.
Does anyone else have these symptoms with neuropathy.?
I am so dressed out.
Sorry if I've gone on a bit but I'm at my wits end.
Rob

 

[Bob_k]

Hi
I know I'm joining this discussion about 12 months late but this is the nearest topic relevant to my concerns about neuropathy.
About 12 months ago after a night out at Christmas,having had a few too many drinks but not enough to not know what I was doing.I woke
up next morning .The calf of my right leg felt as if it was in a vice.
I had this pain for about a week then it went.I then started noticing in work after walking or climbing stairs that I could feel this same vice like pain it was also painfull in my foot.
17 years ago I had a stent inserted in my left leg ,an artery was blocked so I feared the worst.I went to my GP he referred me to have
the circulation in my legs checked,everything was fine,so I was refered to a physiotherapist,they sent me for an MRI scan to check
for spinal stenosis,again this was normal.By now it's around May
and the pains are getting worse and the distance walked before the
onset of the pains was considerably less.The physio then sent me for nerve conduction tests,where I was told I had very mild neuropathy
.He stressed it was only mild and nothing to worry about and the next
visit to my GP I should mention it.which I did ,he said he would not
give me any treatment for it until he received the results back.
Before my visit to the doctors I read up about neuropathy and found
one of the main causes of neuropathy is diabetes.I had been diagnosed with borderline diabetes in April after routine heart check
.so I asked my GP should I have a check for diabetes considering I was borderline,he said I was not diabetic as I was only 42 and if I was over 48 then I would be.I was then refered to a neurologist,then my GP decided without getting the nerve conduction tests results back that I should start a course of gabapentin,which I started on 30 September and worked my way up to 1600mgs a day.I got the appointment to see the neurologist mid October.he hit my leg a few times told it was old age 90 per cent of the time I'm 64 and underlying reasons for the other 10.he sent me for blood tests
all this took about 10 minutes that included the blood tests.I have never felt so frustrated.He also wanted me to up the gabbapentin to
3600mgs per day,which I'm now on with no improvement to the pain in my leg.
I've been back to my GP and told him I don't think the pains are caused by neuropathy.he's basically told me to accept it ,but I can't accept that I could be in this horrific pain for good .My next stop is the pain clinic.
Does anyone else have these symptoms with neuropathy.?
I am so stressed out.
Sorry if I've gone on a bit but I'm at my wits end.
Rob

Oh by the way I was diagnosed with diabetes 5 weeks ago.

 

[JTL]

Careful with the Gabapentin ...weight appears rapidly from nowhere.Twenty five years of being fourteen stone and within three months of starting the stuff I was eighteen and a half stone.
I have many pains to do with arthritis of the spine
Spondylolisthesis benign but very troublesome tumours on my spinal cord tumours on my cauda equina diabetic neuropathic bladder copd ....I'm falling apart ....pain clinic have now put me on Palexia which is helping. I stilltake the Gabba and Paracetamol too.

 

[Bob_k]

Hello.JTL.
Thanks for your comments.I think I want to get off Gabapentin as soon as possible
.I don't like the idea of taking that amount of tablets long term.
Also you say about weight gain,although I've lost about 5 pounds
in the 5 weeks since being diagnosed with diabetes I've been living
like a monk.normally I would have lost a stone maybe.once I start
getting back to eating more usual I could possibly balloon.

 

[Tim55]

Hi Bob k

I have had similar experiences, my initial problems started with a painful knee, followed by a developing numbness in my fingers and toes - like you get when you've been out in the snow too long, and I found I couldn't bend my toes over the edge of a swimming pool.

By the time I decided i really ought to see the Doc it had got quite bad and I fell once or twice as I couldn't really tell where my feet where...

He asked if I felt as if I was wearing socks and gloves, even when I wasn't, which actually summed it up pretty well.

He told this was referred to as "sock and glove syndrome" and probably meant I was diabetic and suffering from peripheral neuropathy.

Blood tests confirmed diabetes, initially feared to be late onset type 1 but it responded well to Metformin and LCHF so he decided it was Type 2.

From reading the thread on here entitled "Help in dealing with Neuropathy" I cam across Alpha Lipoic acid and Vitamin B12 supplements, which are apparently routinely prescribed in Germany, but not over here.

I have found these to help me and others have reported the same thing.

It has cropped up again in the thread "Neuropathic pain"

Both are worth a read I think, hope you find a solution, as I know how unpleasant it can be.

 

[JTL]

Hello.JTL.
Thanks for your comments.I think I want to get off Gabapentin as soon as possible
.I don't like the idea of taking that amount of tablets long term.
Also you say about weight gain,although I've lost about 5 pounds
in the 5 weeks since being diagnosed with diabetes I've been living
like a monk.normally I would have lost a stone maybe.once I start
getting back to eating more usual I could possibly balloon.

This is how I lose weight and keep it off.
http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf
Not just lose weight but lower bad cholesterol and raise good cholesterol. Lowered my blood pressure too meaning I'm on less medication and am much healthier.

 

[NotSoSweet2]

Wow you don't want much do you, now the pain is different for different people, so mine could be different form yours, but here goes, are you ticklish, if so imagine being tickled but the tickle is 100 times worse than usual, add to that the weird feeling you get when you sit on your hand and it goes numb then starts to come round its sort of dead but isn't and when you touch the skin it sort of tingles in a strange way but hurts, imagine that 1000 times worse, everything is super sensitive and painful, exquisitely painful when sheets rub over toes and skin, then there are the spikes of pain that jab through legs and feet just to remind you they are still attached making you jump out your skin, that's about the best description I can give you, hope it helps.

Sorry I had to giggle at your description with that profile pic. And I know its no laughing matter but you described it so well!

 

[techman]

I had mechanical neuropathy many years before I was diagnosed with diabetes, unfortunately for the past 7 years I have had Charcot and quite a bit of surgery to try to correct it (all failed). My neuropathic pain is like many described here, i always describe mine as having boiling water poured over your feet and all the nerve endings firing off at once. Gabapentin and various pain killers are currently working for me as well as trying to stay busy at work. Hope you get on ok.

 

[Raz47]

Wow you don't want much do you, now the pain is different for different people, so mine could be different form yours, but here goes, are you ticklish, if so imagine being tickled but the tickle is 100 times worse than usual, add to that the weird feeling you get when you sit on your hand and it goes numb then starts to come round its sort of dead but isn't and when you touch the skin it sort of tingles in a strange way but hurts, imagine that 1000 times worse, everything is super sensitive and painful, exquisitely painful when sheets rub over toes and skin, then there are the spikes of pain that jab through legs and feet just to remind you they are still attached making you jump out your skin, that's about the best description I can give you, hope it helps.

 

[Raz47]

I've been a diabetic for twenty-five years. I've suffered from severe neuropathy in my feet as a result of diabetes. For years, it's kept me up most nights with horrible cramps and pains, and since it's caused by damaged nerves, there was nothing I could do.
One of my clients in the medical field made me a pair of insoles with silver ion fabric. Within three days, my pain lessened and within a week, it was almost gone.
For three years now, I no longer have to cope with neuropathic pain, and I sleep without waking up to unbearable pain.
I wear these silver ion insoles in my shoes and slippers, and couldn't imagine my life without them.
Thanks silver ease.

 

[SuNuman]

I think I'm supposed to see a neurologist if MRI is clear and he can do some tests to diagnose it. From what I understand they put a "current" through your nerves and measure the response.

Yes my husband had this done. He’s not diabetic but terrible pains and burning in his leg. He said it was a needle that shocked him. X

 

[SuNuman]

Yes my husband had this done. He’s not diabetic but terrible pains and burning in his leg. He said it was a needle that shocked him. X

I wasn’t allowed in with him. x.

 

[iz1]

My neuropathy is getting worse since 2011. I have frozen shoulder on both, low blood pressure, faint once a month, very dizzy, tired, sleepy, nauseous, weakness, pain on my arms, biceps muscle pain besides my foot pains. When it first appeared I was going inside water and didn’t feel the cold water up to my ankle. One time my left three fingers went numb for 6 months. I use max dose lyrics with lots of side effects. I also have retinopathy, my eyes don’t see well under sun light. I have laser treatment and injections on both eyes. My condition is not getting better. Type 2 with insulin but still my h1a is 11.

 

[Erin]

Pins and needles effect, sometimes electric sensation (hands and feet esp.), but increased by back posture and pooh strain and constipation (sepsis maybe); as I have not been tested for this and it came upon me suddenly in 2018 post vaccine, post antihypertensives, post lithium med reduction, I suspect it may be lithium withdrawal; getting better with exercise;

 

[Erin]

Hi!

Could someone which neuropathy describe how the pain feels like? All I can ever find is "pins and needles". Does it change during the day, does activity affects it? Is it the same in both libms(ie both legs)? Does it affect the whole area (whole leg, for example) or only a part of it?

My GP suspects I have neuropathy in my legs. We're waiting for MRI results to rule out any back issues, but he's pretty sure that's it. I'm having a hard time describing the pain itself... like trying to describe a hyper or hypo for the first time So if someone can share how it is for them, maybe I can find some common words.

Sorry to repeat my reply post; I forgot to add yet another possible cause if diabetic neuropathy is excluded: clonazepam withdrawal. After taking it for 35 yrs. at the same dose, I may actually be having withdrawal similar to other neuropathies. One of the most frustrating things in medical diagnosis must be the similarity of symptoms for totally different disorders.