Nerves

I've been diagnosed with a variety of auto-immune diseases/nonsense that causes an even bigger variety of issues. One of my main issues is pain.

I have all types of pain.

Muscle pain, nerve pain.

Honestly, I think the nerve pain is the worst. There's no massaging nerve pain to try to get some relief. It's really hard to find any way actually to soothe it. 

People often ask me to explain how it feels, and the best relatable way I can explain nerve pain is by comparing it to a toothache. In reality, a toothache is nerve pain. When a tooth hurts it's generally because a nerve is damaged, exposed, or having pressure put on it by your sinuses.

Because of multiple sclerosis many of my nerves are damaged and stripped of their protective coating, leaving them much like an exposed nerve of a tooth.

Think about how well your TV or charger works after a pet chews on the cord and exposes the wiring.

The nerves start to misfire causing a myriad of issues, and pain. I get nerve pain from other things too, like fibromyalgia and erythromelalgia. Sometime's it's hard to tell what's causing the pain.

My neurologist put me on Cymbalta which so far has made one of the most noticeable differences in quality of life compared to any other treatments. I started on 30mgs and am up to 90mgs. My new rheumatologist at Jefferson is considering adding Lyrica in the future. Cymbalta has drastically cut down on my nerve pain.

Do you suffer from nerve pain? What gives you relief? What analogy do you use to explain your pain to others?