I mentioned in a previous post that I was prescribed Cymbalta, primarily for anxiety, but the medication also helps with neuropathy. Over the past six months, Cymbalta has helped as the number of neuropathy attacks have decreased in frequency. However, it does not eliminate them altogether.

Yesterday, I had an attack on my right foot. It was more a buzzing numbness rather than pain. The weird thing was that the attack was on my lower leg instead of my foot. I have never experienced any neuropathy that high up, and I am worried this is a new trend. This morning around 2:00 am, I woke up to a new attack on my left big toe. This one hurts a lot and is about an 8/10 on the pain scale.

I took two Tylenol PM pills and so far, it has done nothing for pain or sleep.

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Ouch. The neuropathy attack in my left foot has gotten worse. I was unable to sleep after I made this post so now I am really tired and in a lot of pain.

I have wondered how it would feel if I got a really bad neuropathy pain attack while wearing a cast? Luckily, even though I did experience a few attacks while wearing a cast, none were too bad.

Well, one of the worst attacks just started about twenty minutes ago. Unfortunately, the location is in my right foot, near the top of my inner sole. The pain level is probably nine on that pain scale. It is at the “involuntary screaming” level, and I have experienced that a few times before. However, in the past, my entire lower leg was not swollen and sore from physical therapy. I tried using a percussive massage on the location and of course, I can barely feel the massager. Even worse, the pain attacks are coming in fast, sometimes every ten seconds. I already took an oxycodone pill, and it is not helping at all. Other than lying down and screaming several times a minute, I do not know what else to do.

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So, it has been almost three hours and I have not been able to sleep. The oxycodone pill did nothing for the pain; I think it has gotten worse. Additionally, another two locations on my right foot are starting to experience pain.

What is worse than super painful neuropathy? Super painful neuropathy in three locations.

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I have tried to massage the pain spot so much that I have broken the skin, and I am now bleeding. The wound is pretty small, but I still had to put a bandage on it. The pain intensity has not decreased in the past four hours.

Fuck.

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In the past, sometimes I would shake 0r swing my lower leg vigorously, and that would alleviate some of the pain. I think it gets more blood into my lower leg and foot, though I am unsure why that helps. Today, when I tried to do the same thing, my lower leg and ankle would swell up due to my ankle injury. My entire foot is numb now from the constant nerve pain. I am still unable to sleep or even feel tired. I also do not know how long I have to wait before taking more painkillers. In addition to the worst neuropathy pain ever, I may get addicted to opiates too.

Fuck. Fuck.

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My right calf is so swollen and sore right now.

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Updated: Saturday, April 20th, 2024

I ended up falling asleep around 3:00 am Tuesday and woke up at 6:00 am. The pain was still there but more muted. Throughout the week, I would get occasional flare ups at the same spot, which has not happened. This evening, six days later, the pain came back in the same spot, though around a six or seven on the pain scale. I had finished taking all the Norco I was prescribed for my ankle operation, so I tried taking 5 mg of Oxycodone. Even though it is supposed to be stronger than Norco, I really do not feel any difference in pain afterwards. Maybe I need to take Tylenol at the same time? It has been two hours since I took the pill, and again, I cannot sleep. At least the pain is not as bad as Monday’s attack.

I had a wild dream that my foot and ankle operation would somehow stop the peripheral neuropathy attacks. Wishful thinking of course, and my first post-surgery neuropathy attack just started this morning at 2:00 am. This time, the pain is in my right heel. With the splint on my leg, I cannot reach the site to try and massage it. My right heel is also the entry point of a metal rod that runs up and into my legbone.

I took a Norco pill at 2:00 am and it did help. However, the narcotic effect wore off hours ago and I need to wait eight hours between pills. The instructions said not to take other pain medications, so I am not taking Tylenol either. The pain seems to be increasing so this may be a bad attack lasting hours.

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Due to the pain, I cancelled my English call to Ukraine this morning. I have about three hours before I have to leave for my two-week post-surgery appointment. I am going to try and take a nap if possible.

It does seem each attack is worse than the previous one, but the current attack is probably the worst ever. I twisted my right ankle badly during a work party and it started hurting a lot more this week. I came home early because I could feel the swelling and the pain intensify. When I got home, I tried to take a nap but after thirty minutes, both feet exploded in neuropathy pain. After settling down a bit, ther are now four active sites that are hurting. The worst is right below the left inside ankle. On the right side, the entire foot is swollen and sore from the sprain, but there are three points of intense pain. I can barely walk and there is no way I can sleep, yet I still need to go to my sister’s house to take care of her two dogs.

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Since I could not walk that well, I called my parents to go and feed the dogs. I was able to get about an hour’s worth of sleep, and my fee3t seemed better, except tor the ankle. I picked up some dinner, then went to my sister’s house. I was so tired that I fell asleep fright after eating.

At around 1:00 am this morning, I woke up with both feet on fire. There were four pain sites on my left foot, and my entire fight foot was numb. If I tried too put weight on the right foot, sharp numbing pain would engulf the right edge of my foot, and I could my ankle hurting below all the numbness I can barely walk to the bathroom now.

There is no way to sleep with both feel in intense pain non-stop. It has been four hours and I need to sleep more. This feels like the worst case scenario for my neuropathy: 24/7 intense pain and sleep only when you pass out from fatigue. Great.

Last night at our company holiday party, there was a small roller-skating area set up along with roller skate rentals. One of my coworkers used to figure skate and suggested we try. Growing up in Canada, I spent hours each weekend skating in our local community center ice rink It has been a long time, but skating is like riding a bike, no?

No. I wiped out pretty bad right away and then a second time where I skinned my knee. I did not know that since my long pants did not rip, but it turned out there was a lot of blood, but it just stayed on the wound. Since it was also fairly cold last night, I did not feel anything until I got home. Ugh. I should not have sucked that badly.

When thinking about this today, I remember that I had zero sense of balance. I can also ski and ride a bike, so I have some balance. What else could it be? I then saw this and many other articles:

Symptoms of peripheral neuropathy
The main symptoms of peripheral neuropathy can include:

• numbness and tingling in the feet or hands
• burning, stabbing or shooting pain in affected areas
• loss of balance and co-ordination
• muscle weakness, especially in the feet

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/peripheral-neuropathy/

I am ususlly so focused on the first two items that I forget about the other two. It was stupid to even try since I know my core muscles are already weak. I am glad I got away with just a scrape and that I did not break any bones or fall on my head and getting traumatic brain injury. Stupid idiot.

In addition to my bad cough and sore throat, my peripheral neuropathy is really bad right now. There are five areas that are hurting all the same time, three on the left foot and two on the right foot. There is really no pattern to the pain, and all of it seems pretty random. My refrigerator is mostly empty, so I need to go to the supermarket to get some groceries. Hopefully, some of the neuropathy will go away as I walk.

Usually when an attack comes, the painful part only lasts a second or two. Then the pain would fade, and things would be normal until the next attack seconds to minutes later. Tonight, the attack pain is lasting over five seconds, and between attacks, there is a dull throbbing pain at the attack site. During the long attack time, the pain is more excruciating because it does not fade but lasts the entire long duration. Altogether, the pain level is probably close to ten times worse than previous attacks. Of course, the attack starts right at bedtime so if I cannot fall asleep (very unlikely), it will be another all-nighter of pain and suffering.

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It is now about 8:45 am. I did manage to fall asleep for a few hours. However, each time I wake up, the pain comes back immediately. The intensity is worse this morning than it was last night.

F#cking hell.

The neuropathy attacks have been continuous for a week. Luckily, I got a reprieve during the sleep disorder study so I could sleep and provide data. Otherwise, my feet would have been in constant pain. The latest attack started about 2:00 am. Initially, both feet were in pain, but that has been resolved to one major pain point on the fourth toe on my left foot. This is about the fifth or sixth attack in the past seven days and is about a 8/10 on the pain scale.

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Ugh. I tried using a wand massager to massage the top of the affected toe since I thought I felt something. However, I was wrong. I only managed to remove the layer of skin on my toe, and it still hurts like a bitch.

It is now 3:00 am and another neuropathy attack just started in my left big toe. The problem is that the prior attack on my ankle is still happening. There is pain shooting though both sites on my left foot, so I am in constant pain.

Each time my neuropathy flares up, it feels like the worst attack ever. This time, with two pain points at the same point, I know it is the most painful attack ever. I have a sleep study tomorrow night at the hospital clinic. I hope this means I will have a pain-free night Tuesday so the clinic can get clear results.

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4:27 am. I have given up trying to sleep since the pain is unrelenting.

This one is pretty bad. It started this morning as I was lying on my front in bed checking my phone. The pain point this time is right under the left inner ankle bone. Typically, the initial pain intensity is pretty low, and it slowly builds. This time, the first attack was about a six out of ten, and it has gotten more intense over the past six hours. My entire leg is numb after each attack and the frequency is still increasing. I have taken two Tylenol PM caplets, but they made no difference, and I have been unable to take a nap. Now my entire left foot is numb and experiencing pain in multiple places, albeit not as intense as the main ankle pain point.

Diabetes. The curse that keeps cursing.

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It is 12:45 am on Monday, September 18, and the neuropathy attacks are still happening. Luckily, they stopped for about six hours while I drove to LAX to pick up my sister, but resumed when I got home.

My feet have been hurting all weekend. It is actually worse than that. My left big toe (#1) started hurting Thursday during the day. The attacks were pretty far apart, and the pain was not very intense. It was still bothersome, and I did not sleep well for a few days. Then the pain shifted to the toes in my right foot (#2) Friday night and was also very intermittent. The pain seemed more diffuse as I could not even pinpoint which toe was hurting.

Because of #2, I could not sleep last night until around 4:00 am. I was up moving some furniture and computers around in my home office. I finally fell asleep and just woke up 20 minutes ago. As soon as I woke up, my right big toe (#3) started hurting. The pain is spread out across the entire toe and the attacks are still minutes apart. In addition, each attack lasts about 3 to 5 seconds, which causes a lot of numbness as well. I am heading out to lunch with a friend; it would totally suck if this was just the beginning of another 24 hour painfest.

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Ugh, the pain jumped back to area #2 last night as I was trying to fall asleep, and I ended up awake all night. I am so tired. Luckily today is a holiday so I do not have to work.

I have been telling people that I get peripheral neuropathy attacks monthly but since I have been marking pain points on a diagram, it has been happening weekly.

This one is a bit strange. I am supposed to go to church this morning since two brothers in our group are getting baptized. However, I was dreaming my foot was hurting while at church. I ended up sitting in a back room and did not see anything. When I woke up about twenty minutes ago, the marked location on my left foot was only sore. Soon, however, the real pain started. Was I experiencing the first few attacks while asleep and my brain converted that to a dream? Or was it something like PTSD since any nerve twitch will trigger a feeling of dread? I wish I understood the immediate triggers because it is literally random at this point.