Treatment for Peraphal Neuopathy caused by trauma????

[stephen1076]

Hello,

I was involved in a motor cycle accident 15 years ago. I suffered major injuries to both legs, including a dislocation of my right knee. I tore the main artery in my leg and had a vein graft - I almost had my leg amputated from above the Knee. I also suffered nerve damage and as a result am left with painful Peraphal Neuopathy in my foot which I have lived with since. It is slowly getting worse and now I sometimes need a walking stick to get about. At the time of the accident It was decided that more surgery was not an option and the doctors more or less told me I would have to wait and see if the nerve repaired its self. It hasn't, and now with advances in treatment I am hoping that I can find something that will help me with the painful Peraphal Neuopathy in my foot. I am aware of a lot of different treatments.... Such As.

Use of vitamins B1, B2, B6, B12 and Alpha Lipoic Acid
Bathing of feet in Epsom salts
Anodyne Therapy - The use of UV light

As far as I am aware the above treatments are mostly helpful to Diabetic's who suffer from Peraphal Neuopathy - im unsure whether they would help someone like me..... I would be very grateful if anyone has suffered injuries like mine or knows some one that has and whether they can offer me any advice on this subject. All the doctors I have seen in the past few years have all said I should take strong painkillers and other drugs which are used to treat epilepsy and similar illnesses. All of these are highly addictive and have bad side effects and can cause damage to the kidneys during long term use. I don't want to go down that road but almost feel im been pushed down it by unhelpful doctors.

I would be very grateful if anyone can offer me any advice about this

Cheers

Stephen

[Dr. Smith]

Hi Stephen, Welcome.

The Peripheral Neuropathy Forum here is one of the best anywhere.

Stop in and peruse; there's a LOT of information. Try the Search facilities as well.

Doc

[stephen1076]

Cheers Doc,

I will check out the forum and have a read

[Leesa]

Hi Stephen -- I've had neuropathy for 26 years, and have had to take medications for it to help with the severe burning/tingling/zapping, etc that comes with it. I wouldn't necessarily call these meds "strong pain killers." You can get into very high dosages, if the lower ones don't help, but I haven't found that necessary.

The medications I'm on were originally for epilepsy, but as you know they found they helped neuropathic patients too. There are quite a lot of these medications that work. Right now I'm on Topamax and Lyrica. The combination of these two have helped me immensely as before, the pain was almost unbearable! Mne wasn't from an injury -- I had surgery over 26 yrs ago, for spine problems and the surgeries didn't work. So I was left with the neuropathy & severe back pain. My dosages are quite low compared to many people and I don't expect any increases any time soon. I'm having no side effects either.

You might talk to your doctor a little more about these meds, as they really might relieve the horrible pain you're in. I wish you the very best. God bless and take care. Hugs, Lee

[stephen1076]

Hi Leesa,

Many thanks for your reply. Im sure that the meds that you talk about are all safe and i know that the doctors would not put people on them if they were not. However at the moment I don't feel i have exhausted all the different treatments. When the time comes that I have then I will think about taking meds. I have been advised by a few people that it is hard to treat neuropathy caused by trauma as it is virtually imposable to repair a nerve which has been torn or crushed. How ever i will keep on trying different treatments until i find something that works.

Leesa, you have lived with it for longer than I have, and it sounds like yours is much more serious than mine (just in my right foot) - I take my hat off to you!

Its good to hear someone sounding positive about the different treatment options.

Once again thanks for the reply. And all the best to you as well. x

[Chemar]

Originally Posted by stephen1076

Im sure that the meds that you talk about are all safe and i know that the doctors would not put people on them if they were not.

Hi
I just wanted to comment on this as, although I know nothing about the meds referred to, and do not have neuropathy, yet I have learned by bitter experience that sometimes doctors DO put people on medications that are not "all safe". I do think it is always wise to become as informed as possible about any medication and be sure you ask about all possible side effects etc so that you can make a decision based on informed knowledge, rather than just a doctor's opinion. Different people may react very variably to the same drug, and the "rare" bad side effects are actually a lot more common when one starts investigating.
Medications have a vital role in illness and can both save lives as well as restore quality to life....so I am not in any way trying to be "anti-med".....just sounding a word of caution to be well informed before just taking a medication because the doctor says it is "safe"!