Pain in legs

[Carolyn1964]

Diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy and having every other day injections plus taking b12 boost and Berocca. My legs are now painful rather than just weak and feeble - is this a good or bad sign?

[pvanderaa]

Pain is a counter intuitive symptom in the recovery of a B12 deficiency. As the nerve heals, the signal to the brain gets stronger and gets interpreted as pain until the brain recalibrate. Worry and stress make it appear worse.

Gentle exercise of all the muscles which uses the damaged nerve stimulates the repair of those nerves. This is range of motion exercises and not lifting weights, etc. that comes later.

Trying to relax and telling your brain that the pain is an illusion helps get through it. Getting started is the hard part but I find that once I get started, the exercise is easier.

Taking a pain medication also helps. For me tooth ache is unbearable and no amount of self reassurance helps get through it.

Start a log book and try to assess your own severity score. If the pain reoccurs after each injection, you gain confidence that it is indeed from the healing.

The repair of nerve damage occurs at a snails pace and any issues reverse things pretty quickly.

The recovery is like a roller coaster ride with highs and lows. The log help you monitor your progress over months.

[fbirder]

If the pain gets bad then ask your doctor for something to treat peripheral neuropathy pain. Normal remedies are amitriptyline (an antidepressant) and gabapentin or pregabalin (anticonvulsants). I take gabapentin (4 x 300 mg per day) works very well with few side effects.

[jillc39 in reply to fbirder]

I take pregabalin - legs so much improved - but about once a week I still get unbearable pain in one foot. I will try to tell it that the pain is an illusion at 2 in the morning! Sorry to laugh, and I will try it. I will try anything.

[fbirder in reply to jillc39]

Yes, gabapentin and pregabalin are very good for neuropathic pain.

I'm on 1/3 the maximum daily dose and it works very well. Occasionally I'll take a double-dose (especially if I've forgotten one) and the only side-effect is that it makes me sleep more. Considering I started on it because I was having problems sleeping I'm not that worried about that particular effect.

Pregabalin is a bit new for much information of overdosing. Gabapentin has been tested in rats and it proved impossible to kill them (at a dose equivalent to me taking 800 grams of the stuff). Humans have taken up to 50,000 mg in one dose - all recovered after a good kip (and a few trips to the loo).

So don't worry about any FUD you may read.