anyone have a good home remedy for burning pain?

[HerMajesty]

Hi,
I know some of you have burning pudendal pain - I have not really dealt with that in the past. I have had a lot of neuropathic itch, numbness, and sharp pain - so to get a little immediate relief I have done well with topical capsacin, menthol, heating pads, NSAIDS, etc.
I have always had a whole-body syndrome for a variety of reasons I have mentioned on other threads, not going to get into it here - but my issue at the moment is, whether it is because my post-operative pudendal condition is clearing up and I have cut my meds, or some other reason: I have been getting burning pain in my hands. I am not going to run off and seek health care for it, I am sick of doctors and have said many times that if i can get rid of this pudendal issue I really don't care too much what issues remain in the rest of my body.
What I am wondering is if anybody has come up with a convenient remedy for burning neuropathic pain, just like I found capsacin will give instant short term relief from neuropathic itch. It feels like I dipped my hands in a pot of boiling water. Ice and cold water do work on contact, but I lose the benefit as soon as the contact ends and I cannot live my life with my hands stuck in bags of ice. For those with burning pain, do you get any long term benefit from intermittant icing, like maybe 20 minutes 2 or 3 times per day? Or do you have any other topicals or tricks that you use to relieve burning pain?
The hands are kind of an inconvenient part of the body to treat - but compared to pudendal, you are certainly not going to hear any serious complaining from me about it! Just wondering what the best remedy is for those who have experience with burning nerve pain - thanks

[Karyn]

Hi Hermajesty,
I'm a bit confused about your hands. I remember you telling me a while ago that you had neuropathic symptoms in that area but I thought is was more pain than burning.
Is it your whole hand, including your fingers? Just certain spots?

Ice and cold water do work on contact, but I lose the benefit as soon as the contact ends

I understand this in regards to my feet. The problem with me was ... the burning was more internal vs. superficial. It felt like the burning was coming from the inside - out.
I guess what I'm confused about is, the hands are not innervated by anything in the sacrum. What you're describing is more cervical in nature. How have your headaches been lately? Is there any connection there?
I hope this goes away for your soon. I agree it's a very inconvenient place to have a burning neuropathy. You need to use your hands!!!!
Love,
Karyn

[Dave]

Any chance you have carpal tunnel syndrome? This is very common and much easier to deal with than PN.

[calluna]

Icing works really well for carpal tunnel syndrome. Sink full of cold water, plus lots of ice cubes, 10 - 15 min soak. And keep doing it every hour or so. Very tedious, but it does settle things down. Don't know whether I'd describe it as burning pain, though.

[helenlegs 11]

Not sure if this will help HM but I have a similar foot problem and get sick to death of ice, water, whatever. I often 'recline' on the couch and stick my leg up in the air one at a time, sometimes both together.Elevation does seem to help sometimes. I'm sure it is very annoying for my husband Arms may be less so.
What about keeping a few round 250 ish ml bottles of water in the fridge to hold? Even something stainless steel, marble tactile egg shape or those small gel hot or cold cushions.

[HerMajesty]

Thanks all, I posted out of frustration this morning trying to do my hair - then I took some naproxen and left the house and I don't remember it bothering me anymore - so Helen I think I may be opposite from you, my hands seem to be particularly unhappy when elevated.
Anyway it's not a pudendal issue so I don't want to labor the point, I just figured it was not too off-topic to ask my "neuropathy buddies", since there are people on the board with burning pudendal pain as well.
It's not carpal tunnel -the distribution of pain in carpal tunnel is very distinctive whereas this is the entire hand like a "glove", just exactly like I had dipped it in scalding water and gotten 1st degree burns. Sometimes one hand, sometimes the other.
Karyn the burning vs. other type of hand & finger neuropathy is new, and I agree it is probably cervical- the one part of my central nervous system between my brain and sacrum that has not been MRI'ed, lol. Tarlov cysts are not uncommon in the cervical area, but if I have any I don't really care to know since I would not be motivated to undergo an invasive spinal cord surgery in that area. I did the one in the sacrum because there is nothing quite like pelvic pain to motivate somebody to try anything to get fixed. I was just really looking for symptom remedies; so far the intermittant icing and naproxen seem like promisoing ideas.

[Stephanie P]

I had burning, reddened, puffy fingers which were diagnosed as RSD. The burning, which coincided with an intractable flare, lasted for some months and then slowly diminished in response to rest and the PN pain coming under better control. I found placing them against the wall at night, when I was in bed, cooling and more soothing than cold packs from the freezer!

[HerMajesty]

I had burning, reddened, puffy fingers which were diagnosed as RSD. The burning, which coincided with an intractable flare, lasted for some months and then slowly diminished in response to rest and the PN pain coming under better control. I found placing them against the wall at night, when I was in bed, cooling and more soothing than cold packs from the freezer!

Stephanie,
That is so interesting - Am I understanding correctly that the central sensitization was due to pelvic pain, but your fingers had pain diagnosed as RSD even though there was no primary injury or pathology in your fingers? If so that definitely expands my existing understanding of RSD.

[Stephanie P]

Yes, that's right, HM, there was neither injury nor primary pathology in my hands. The diagnosis was made by a rheumatologist, to whom I was referred by my GP when his initial suspicion of an amitriptyline-related situation proved incorrect (I had stopped the amitriptyline to no avail -- and ever worsening nerve pain). I was relatively innocent back then and didn't know what RSD was. In response to the specialist's involved explanation, I asked, 'Do you mean my system's overloaded with pain?' He answered, 'In a nutshell!'

[HerMajesty]

Yes, that's right, HM, there was neither injury nor primary pathology in my hands. The diagnosis was made by a rheumatologist, to whom I was referred by my GP when his initial suspicion of an amitriptyline-related situation proved incorrect (I had stopped the amitriptyline to no avail -- and ever worsening nerve pain). I was relatively innocent back then and didn't know what RSD was. In response to the specialist's involved explanation, I asked, 'Do you mean my system's overloaded with pain?' He answered, 'In a nutshell!'

Ugh, Stephanie, that is a bummer!
I have been improving since surgery; but because of the length of time I was deteriorating prior to surgery, I do wonder how much of my remaining issues are related to pathology (need for nerve regeneration after years of compression - I am told this can take 2-3 years), and how much is related to central sensitization. I have glanced at, but not really studied, some recent info about ketamine infusions being used to "reset" the nervous system in cases of central sensitization: That seems like a very new treatment, but since I am waiting 2 years first to see where regular surgical healing takes me, I have plenty of time to investigate Ketamine. Did your doctor do anything for you that helped the RSD, or was it a matter of "yup, you have RSD, now go home"? Or ineffective treatments? Do you still have problems in your hands, etc associated with RSD? I take a low does beta blocker, propanolol (in higher doses it is used for bood pressure) - because it is supposed to help with central sensitization by "calming" the autonomic nervous system. Based on your experience do you have any other suggestions?