I really just don't get this disorder. After probably the worst pain day (Thurs, Jan 26) since this started, I woke up Friday and felt almost "normal". A few breakout pains during the day, but generally pain free. I felt so optimistic. I thought: "This is great, maybe I am going into remission, maybe this is stopping or at the least, lessening." I wanted to do everything that I can't do when I am in pain. I wanted to clean house, go shopping, eat crunchy food etc. I laughed and it didn't hurt. I bent over and it didn't hurt. I played with my Yorkie, threw the ball, played tug of war with a toy. I ate a big dinner and it didn't hurt afterward. It was wonderful! My spirits lifted. I felt optimistic again for the first time in 2 weeks. I kept asking my husband why I felt so good, when the day before I was devastated by pain and hopelessness. We analized the whole day before. Did I change my meds - only slightly. I took an extra tiny piece of Xanax (1/4 of a .5mg) during the evening on Thurs to try to lessen the pain. I don't think this had a significant impact on relieving the pain on Friday. What did I eat for dinner for Thurs? This is where we wondered if a certain diet may affect neuropathic pain. I had a high fat content dinner on Thurs night. I almost never eat fat. I hate fat. I cannot stand to have any kind of animal fat on steak, beef, pork or chicken. I can hardly eat the skin on fried chicken and that is the best part! So, we decided to experiment with this theory and when possible, repeat the same high fat dinner to see if I will have the same kind of low level pain the next day. If I can replicate the same outcome, I will post it here.
Okay, so Saturday rolls around and pain is starting to build again. Not as bad as Thurs, but then this seems to be how this disorder manifests itself for me. It starts building each day, until it explodes, then goes away for a day or two and starts all over again. I used to have 2 weeks of low pain before the volcano erupted, but that seems to be a thing of the past. But what floors me is how I can have an almost pain free day in the middle of this pattern. What!, are the nerves worn out and just taking a break? Is my brain telling my nerves that enough is enough, and doesn't transmit the pain signal? Maybe instead of concentrating research on controlling the pain, they should be concentrating on why we have these seemingly spontaneous days of almost no pain. If we can replicate these factors that "allow" us to have these days, then, to me, we have a treatment for this.