DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... Nerve Blocks

Ugh, I just had one done in my left foot earlier today. My whole foot is either numb, burning, or half asleep feeling. I have an itch on the bottom of my foot that I cannot scratch. It's driving me nuts!

Hopefully this helps with the neuropathy in my feet, so I can look forward to another one in the other foot next week.

Sorry for that YTown.
Have you tried Lyrica?

Lyrica and a ton of other things as well.

I should mention .... my insurance does not cover Lyrica, but Pfizer has an absolutely wonderful patient assistance program, and they sent me their medication for free. Anyone out there, even if you have insurance, if your insurance does not cover a medication, check and see if they have a patient assistance program. Most are really good, and helpful.

I think there is a Generic available now, too.

Well good luck with the Nerve Block, I know plenty of people who had success with it and some who didn't.

I am praying it helps, so that I can go through this all again next week.

I will help you with that first part.

YTown:

I hope by the time you read this your symptoms described in your first post above are relieved.

Those certainly qualify as human suffering in my book. I would prefer many pains over an "unscratchable itch".

An insanely bothersome feeling.

The itch is gone. It was pretty ... interesting ... feeling though. It felt like about a billion little worms, or something, crawling around inside my foot as the feeling started to return.

The feeling has returned to my foot, and so far, knock on wood, my foot feels better.

neuropathy sucks

Yeah I understand...my feet feel like this all the time..and the left side of my body has it with a burning feeling like I'm on fire...Ive put my foot in cold water and pulled it back like I thought I was being burned...and my wife feels the water and says that water is cold...then use my hand to touch it and get the sme feeling as my feet.

Nerve pain is something terrible to deal with...and people always tell me 1 of 2 things...It will get better and hey deal with it, its part of Gods plan

Well its not getting better its getting worse...and if this is part of the "plan" well the plan sucks...and please give me a different plan please.

I quit taking Lyrica..it made me blow up like a pig...and cymbalta had me moody as hell even though it has mood stabilizer in it.

I may reconsider Lyrica in a lower dose if I can keep the weight down..idk its a terrible position to be in.

j/c

Ever try gabapentin(neurontin) for nerve pain? Haven't met an insurance that doesn't cover it yet.

Yes I had to do that for 6 months before approving Lyrica...I may end back on Lyrica but at lower dose..the weight gain was not ok for me.

Both of my feet feel like a cross between like if you needed to crack your knuckles and can't ... and having the 2 smallest toes on each foot in a vice grip cranked 2 turns too tight. I have not been able to wear socks, and if I do try to, I wind up ripping them off within half an hour. The underside of each foot feels like it is swollen to 3 times its normal size. I bought a foot massager, the kind with little nubs on 2 spinning disks, and that seems to help some. I really can't use the heat setting though, for danger of causing blisters I can't see or feel, but that could cause major problems.


Nerve pain, and back pain, are really difficult to deal with, as you said. There are days and even up to a week or more, when I can't even get out of the house. I have missed church twice in the past 2 months, and anyone who knows me nows that this simply does not happen unless it is absolutely unavoidable. I go to 10+ doctor visits per month. (and I might hit 15 this month) I am certain that God has a plan, but I have no idea what that plan is. I am sure that it will be revealed in time. Pain sucks though!

Sounds like God wants you to stay home but the doctors are screwing that up with appointments.

I wonder why so many appointments when they know how tough it is to be on your feet.

Pay no mind to the opening joke and the curious question, I feel for ya Bro. A very good friend of mine from years ago suffered from neuropathy caused by his sugar diabetes. Burning and pain. He really didn't openly complain much but you could tell when it was killing him. He was a talkative and funny guy but that went away when he hurt. He was old, alcoholic, unemployed and broke. He had trouble getting meds not being able to afford the doctor appointments.

What do you mean WAS. I still am

Please dont take this like it sounds...I have enough money to buy whatever I need...matter of fact if someone came to me and said..if you give us all your money/assets and we can give you a cure to your woes...I would give everything I have to make my health problems go away...and start from scratch.

The only people I envy on this planet are the healthy ones..I would give anything short of my soul to have my health and a normal working brain back.

I am knocking on wood as I type this, (hitting myself on the side of my head) but so far, my left foot is feeling better than it did before the block. My toes on my left foot feel somewhat normal. It is amazing not to have that feeling of desperately having to stretch out my toes.

Unfortunately my right foot is still as as irritable as it has been ..... but I get a block in that one in a few more days.

My left foot still has some swollen feeling in the ball of the foot, but that may go away as the block fully sets in. I'm not sure. One thing I am sure of is that I can deal with this level of irritation in my foot. Hopefully my right foot will improve to this degree when my doctor does that block.

How long do nerve blocks last? When I rode horses they would do nerve blocks on the lame ones to isolate/identify the injury.

For neuropathy, they usually they need to be done every 3-4 months.

I can live with having big needles stuck in my feel if it helps.

I had a facet block done in my back that combined the anesthetic component with a steroid. That was effective as far as resolving the sciatica I had in my right leg. That has not come back.

However, I did have this issue a couple of nights before I had the foot block done, and it felt like someone wrapped exposed wires around my knee and toes, and plugged it into the outlet. That was not fun.

Man, that sounds great!

I have pain issues but not so intense as yours. My real trouble is my heart. No pain. Slows me to a crawl.

When I think how good I'd feel if one of my issues improved, and then to hear that one of yours is improving, it makes feel so good for you.

Hopefully that right foot will enjoy similar success with the block.

When did this happen to us?

I tellin' ya. It came out of nowhere.

I wish I was that spry.

On the bright side, I do have a nicer cane than those guys do.

Send me the link to the cane, would you?

Mine has a flat top handle, and is height adjustable.

I have seen some really good looking canes ... I saw one with a dragon handle, and another with a lion .......and I'd like to get one of those, but I really want an adjustable cane ... and most of the really top end ones are a solid staff.

Actually ..... I bought mine at Wal-Mart. It's still nicer that the canes those guys have.

You guys need ones that match mine.

http://kickin-canes.com/products/cleveland-browns

That's pretty cool.

I would put that on my cane if I wasn't afraid that the Browns would let me down yet again. That could be highly dangerous with a cane.