What’s causing my nerve pain?
QCOULD you tell me whether there is anything other than pregabalin for treatment of peripheral neuropathy? I feel the condition was brought about by excess dosage of prednisolone for treatment of polymyalgia rheumatica some years ago.
My doctors did not decrease dosage as per the consultant’s instructions and the error was not discovered for some time, this also applied to instructions from my eye consultant regarding glaucoma eye drops and l am now blind in my left eye. Will I ever get my sight back?
AIN polymyalgia rheumatica, muscles become inflamed, usually starting around the shoulder and hips, which can make it difficult and painful to brush your hair and get out of bed.
The cause isn’t known but treatment with steroids can be very effective. The starting dose is usually between 15mg and 20mg of prednisolone a day until symptoms subside.
The dose is then very gradually reduced, at a rate of about 1mg a month to 10mg a day, then 1mg every two months and in this way it is usually possible to get to a maintenance dose of 2.5mg to 5mg a day, in order to prevent symptoms returning.
Although steroids can have lots of side effects, peripheral neuropathy is not one of them. A slight overdose of treatment drops for a neuropathy such as glaucoma is also highly unlikely to have led to the loss of the sight and it is much more likely the glaucoma itself is to blame.
When an illness occurs such as damage to nerves (peripheral neuropathy), for which there is no clear explanation, many people want to blame medicines they are taking.
Occasionally drugs are to blame but in the vast majority of cases they are not – it’s just a coincidence that symptoms of an illness appear while you are on treatment for something else.
I’m sorry that I cannot give you any advice about the lack of sight in your eye, as I do not know the exact cause.
Peripheral neuropathy is often best treated with drugs that decrease the messages that are passed down nerves, usually known as “pain modulating agents”. These drugs, which include gabapentin, pregabalin and carbamazepine, were originally developed to treat epilepsy and are still used for this, though at much higher doses than those used for neuropathy and chronic pain.
If pregabalin is not effective, then I suggest you discuss with your GP whether it would be worth trying one of the others.
QI AM a healthy 70-year-old man who has a lot of Campbell de Morgan red blood spots over my torso. My GP says the cause is unknown and there is no treatment. What could have caused these?
Can they be treated and how do you prevent more coming. I have a regular diet and am not overweight, nor allergic to anything. I have read on the internet about treatments including piercing with heated needles. Are these safe?
ACAMPBELL de Morgan spots, known medically as cherry angiomas, are tiny pinky-red, slightly-raised spots in the skin. They generally start appearing after the age of 40 and increase in size and number with increasing age.
It’s thought that about 75 per cent of people over the age of 75 have several of them and though they can occur anywhere, they are most commonly found on the chest and back.
The reason they appear isn’t known but hormonal factors may be involved.
They usually cause no symptoms and are usually best