When I was 17 years old (1986) in high school my senior year I hurt my neck playing football.   I had to have neck surgery after I graduated. They cut a piece of bone off my hip and fused it to my C5-C6 vertebra.

I never did get much relief from that surgery and considered it a failure. I always stayed in pain and stayed at home. The pain was in my neck, shoulder and elbow.

I finally got a job one year after the surgery. A few weeks after starting my job, I was hit by a drunk driver coming home. It was not a real bad wreck but a few months later I started hurting in my lower back, hip, buttock and down my hamstring. X-rays showed mild deterioation but nothing that showed surgery was needed.

Well I went for years of hurting with my neck and back with the other areas I mentioned. The only good thing about the different injuries is that when my back and leg were hurting, my neck felt fine and vice versa.

I went to three specialist clinics over the next few years with several different diagnoses, but after going thru one surgery that did not help I did not want to try another one. I decided to live with the pain.

In 1990 I met a girl that I dated for 6 years and then married her. She is the most unbelievable woman in the world. If it was not for her I would have given up years ago. We got married in 1995. In about 6 months into our marriage I started having stomach problems ( ulcers, bowel changes, belching) so I went to a doctor and tests revealed ulcers. I was told I had acid reflux disease. I was put on prevacid (same as prilosic) which I still take to this day. I think it was from all of the anti-flams I took for my back and neck for years.

Around 1996, I started having weakness in my legs and burning in my feet. I instantly thought that I had ruptured a disc in my back but that was not the case. No one could tell me why so once again I just lived with the pain.

Then a few months later I started to have a sharp pain like a bolt of electricity shoot thru my penus just enough for me to scream, "ouch." This would happen about 4 to 5 times a month and it also burned. I had no infections and Still no docs could tell me anything. My feet burned all of the time and I felt like that there was a piece of leather stuck to the bottom of my feet. The small of my back would burn like the dickens for 5 minutes every night when I layed down. My legs would feel so weak when I went upstairs and when I would walk my mile everyday. Sometimes they would just burn and get all kinds of wierd feelings. Then my heels started hurting and doctors said it was spurs, and gave( $300 ) me some inserts that did help the pain in my heels. I then tore a tendon in my ankle and they did surgery which went well. That was around 1998.

The docs could not tell me what was wrong so I just kept going. For the past 3 years or so I have been dealing with the pain all right with leg pain gone and the sharp penus pains were stopping. I could function well enough because I thought I had a pretty good tolerance to pain and I just wanted to live and enjoy life.

Last year I had all of my teeth crowned because I had grinded them down over the years in my sleep because of constant pain. They look good but then again they should for $19,000.

Anyway last August, I started having a pain in my right thigh that was about the area of a half-doller coin. It was very sensitive and burned like the devil. I went to doc. A nerve conduction test showed nerve impairment. The doctor said this was most likely coming from wearing my belt too tight or pants too tight. So I started wearing looser clothes and lost 10 pounds and walked alot. It still hurt but not as bad.

I was doing pretty decent until this January. My back and hip (sciatica) started hurting worse than usual and my feet started back burning and my penus has had milder attacks of the old shooting pains. My back pain seems to be getting higher up and more tightening of my back muscles than I have ever had. That spot on my thigh is burning again. When my pain doc listened to all of my complaints, he just smiled and nodded his head the whole time I was talking. When I was through, he said he thought I had Peripheral Neuropathy and he explained it to me. He tested my blood sugar level and said it was fine. I had never heard of this and I also had never had the confidence with any other doc that I had with this guy. He seemed so sure of himself and for the first time in my life a diagnosis that was given to me sounded legit.

He has prescribed NEURONTIN 100mg 3 x a day along with Zanaflex at nightime. This was just the previous week I got this diagnosis and I have been taking the Zanaflex but not the neurontin because I wanted to research it on the web and ask people about it. I am scared of it and would love some advice or stories about this medicine.

The doc said that I should notice a difference in about 3 days with the neurontin. I go back to see him in 2 weeks. If anyone reads this, please give me any info good or bad about Neurontin...please.

I also would like to say that I am happy that I have vindicated myself in my mind for all of the non-believers who over the years have doubted me and thought I was lazy or crazy. To my Mother and my Wife I will always cherish the fact that you two never doubted me for one minute and I love the both of you so much!!!!! Please anyone with support or info about this disease or neurontin please e-mail me at b-jhatcher@worldnet.att.net.

Brian Hatcher --

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