Hi there, all!  I have neuropathy (but not edema) as a complication of lumbar disc disease with arthropathy, mild cerebral palsy left side, and have had five surgeries on my left foot which is probably what caused the nerve damage there along with foot drop. I also had five surgeries on both hands because of 'trigger fingers' and carpal tunnel syndrome on my right hand.

Between the foot problems and the hand issues, along with the back..I can tell the difference between Bone pain (nasty chronic aching, sometimes sharp and other times a monotonus throbbing, et.al..) and Nerve pain which is tingling, and numbness like when we were kids and a foot would 'go to sleep'. Having it all at the same time is very strange and disabling for the duration.

   I take Lyrica, a prescription med. for nerve pain. It helps a little in that it cuts down the intensity. I have been taking a newly increased dose of it for the last 2 weeks (100 mg. in the a.m. and again in the p.m.)

   I took Physical Therapy at the place our insurance sent us to, more than once. That place has no water therapy available and the PT said, "You really need Water Therapy" so we had a therapy pool built in our back yard late last year. It is heated with jets. We heat it to 94' and there is some relief for a little while. I can exercise in the water. A couple friends come and join me since they need it too. We use giant 'Noodles' for exercises..those are long huge foam things that aid exercise.

   I  don't drive due to my disability, never did. But we bought a car with heated seats. Good for if you go on a road trip, even if it is hot enough to run the AC in the car. I use ice therapy also, and pain meds. Whadda life, huh!?;)

  I walk with forearm crutches, and have a custom manual chair, plus two power chairs. One is a Jazzy. We got a really great price on it new out of the box. Our insurance paid for the manual chair, only. My Jazzy came with the contour seat so we simply had that replaced with the one that should have been on it in the first place, and I like that very much.

 OK, Janette, there is my story again. Hope it doesn't disappear this time.

Carolyn

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