Pain Management
What does pain management involve?
- Pain is created by the brain to protect us from harm. It usually is a reaction to some signal (physical or social) that something is dangerous. When PN starts it may, eventually, send sensory signals that seem unusual or dangerous (such as the lack of sensation we call numbness) and the brain creates pain to get our attention. Since PN progression cannot usually be stopped, these unusual sensations may continue, and the brain may continue to generate pain. We refer to this condition as Chronic PN Pain or neuropathic pain. For some PN patients this pain is life altering and must be taken as a serious health risk. Go to this page for a detailed discussion of this.
- From prescription medication to marijuana to meditation to TENS units, people cope with the sensations associated with peripheral neuropathy in many different ways
- PN need not be seriously painful. But when it is, patients should seek pain management medical attention, not just try one Dr. Google ad after another. Snake oil rules the internet.
- At the bottom of this page, we have compiled a list of medications that our members take to manage their pain
Our Members Suggest
- “I had little pain with my PN and thought myself lucky. It was 13 years before I noticed the balance issues that now threaten my life. Meanwhile, that ‘little pain’ in my toe successfully robbed me of many nights sleep until I finally resorted to playing recorded lectures at night to distract me enough to get to sleep. I now know that there is no danger from the toe, but after these many years that ‘little pain” comes back when I lie down at night and the recordings are still helpful.” – Mike Foxworth
- “At first, my pain was debilitating. The stress associated with not knowing what was happening to my body and trying to figure out what the rest of my life would look like made things worse. Losing sleep from it compounded the problem. Now, I try to keep calm as much as possible and maintain a consistent sleep schedule. It has helped more than I could imagine!” – Diva Parekh
- “My diabetes-caused Neuropathy has been arrested for the last four years. I take MetaNX twice a day. Not a cure, but it stopped my stabbing foot pain. It is doctor-prescribed and takes 2-3 months to click in. Insurance does not cover. I pay $58/month.” – Judson Vaughn
Articles
If you want to learn more, click on the links below that we used to get our information.
Webinars/Videos
Here are some useful webinars and presentations about pain management.
- What is pain? With Dr. Lorimer Moseley
- A conversation on cannabis with Harvard’s Dr. Jordan Tischler
- Neuromodulation with spinal cord stimulators
- Hypnotism for pain management
- Stanford’s Dr. Ian Carroll on proper dosing practices for nerve pain meds (Cymbalta, desipramine, gabapentin, Lyrica) and advantages of desipramine & gabapentin
- Freedom from Pain (the American Chronic Pain Association)
Stories
Read personal stories about people’s experiences with pain management.
- This section is empty for now, but if you come across anything useful, please let us know!
Podcasts
Here are some useful podcasts we have come across.
These are resources we’ve compiled from our members. We hope you can learn something from them. Keep in mind that this is mostly anecdotal information on what has and has not worked for our members. You should always defer to your doctors for medical advice.
PNSN offers the table below for information distribution. This group does not endorse any services provider or service. Members should use their own discretion about the efficacy of the claims made on these pages. To look at an expanded version of the table below, click on “view larger version” at the bottom of the table.
– The Peripheral Neuropathy Support Network
Download your copy
Note to iPhone and iPad users: Though you cannot gesture left or right to see the entire row, you can just touch each row, which opens it up and gives you access to an expanded view.