Nyquil for neuropathy?

EZLiving66

It's been almost three years since I was first diagnosed with Stage II, Grade 3 UPSC.  After three chemos, I stopped.  I had many, many bad side effects but the one that has lingered is very painful neuropathy in my feet.  There have been nights I have walked the floor for hours in tears.  I have tried all kinds of painkillers and nerve medications - either they didn't work or the side effects were unbearable. 

Anyway, a little over a week ago, I got a cold - first one I've had in years.  It settled in my chest and I was coughing quite a bit.  I bought a bottle of Nyquil, took the recommended dosage and I slept through the night!  I couldn't believe it; I hadn't slept through the night in YEARS!!  So, the next night I took the stuff and slept AGAIN!!!  Last night was the seventh night I have taken it and I slept until 11 a.m. with no foot or leg pain. Now my cold is almost gone and I don't know what to do.  Should I keep taking the stuff??  I thought maybe tonight I wouldn't take it and see what happens.  Maybe it's just a coincidence that the day I started taking the Nyquil, my neuropathy spontaneously stopped??

It has been so wonderful to sleep!!  Around 5 a.m. I wake up and go to the bathroom but fall right back to sleep.  This just makes my days so much better too.  Before, I would feel so tired during the day; sometimes just nodding off while reading, watching TV or on my computer.  I DON'T WANT THIS TO STOP!!! 

I am almost two months behind on seeing my doctor but wanted to wait until we were back in Wisconsin.  We head back on the 10th and I'll make an appointment to find a new GP since mine became a hospitalist and my oncologist/gynecologist said he no longer needs to see me.  I will talk to the doctor to see if long-term use of the stuff is harmful.  My husband says I should just take a snort of whiskey before bed and it would have the same effect - LOL!!

Any ideas why the Nyquil is working??

Love,

Eldri, sleeping like a baby for the first time in years

takingcontrol58

Nyquil and alcohol

I believe Nyquil has alcohol in it.  That's why you sleep so well.
Check the bottle.

Takingcontrol58

derMaus

Nyquil has a number of

Nyquil has a number of ingredients beyond alcohol. There are a fair number of articles out there citing use of antihistimines in response to pain from neuropathy, fibromyalgia, etc. You might take a look at some of those and decide if you want to start taking a nightly Benedryl or similar. Due to horrible allergies, I did that for years with no ill effects. Best wishes, and I hope this is the start of a good trend for you! B

 

cmb

Antihistamines

I've always been sensitive to antihistamines. For years I've kept Benadryl on hand so that I can take one before bed if I've been having problems sleeping. One pill knocks me out. The antihistamine in Nyquil also makes me sleepy.

During chemo I developed terrible leg pains on the fourth day after my first infusion of Paclitaxel/Carboplatin. No pain reliever that I had on hand alleviated the pain. In desperation after a couple of days, I took two Benadryls, which finally put me to sleep. When I woke, the leg pain also seemed less intense. So I continued taking the Benadryl until the leg pain disappeared after the seventh day.

I told the oncologist about my leg pain and he advised me to take two Aleve every 8 hours, instead of a single pill every 12 hours. This is generally equivalent to the prescription dosage of Aleve. Aleve has always been a very effective pain reliever for me, so that is what I used during the next three Paclitaxel/Carboplatin infusions for the leg pains. (I didn't have any Aleve on hand during the first bout with the leg pain). The Aleve controlled the leg pains to a tolerable level over the three days that it lasted each cycle, so I didn't use Benadryl again for this purpose.

I don't take Benadryl more than once or twice a month or Nyquil longer than I need to for the worst of my cold symptoms since people have different tolerance levels and I didn't want to lose this sensitivity for those occasions when I need the aid in sleeping.

CheeseQueen57

How about the sleep aid

How about trying the Zquil which is a sleep aid like Niquil and has the antihistamine in it but I believe doesn’t have the Tylenol in it. You want to be careful to not take too much Tylenol. 

EZLiving66

CheeseQueen57 said:

How about the sleep aid

How about trying the Zquil which is a sleep aid like Niquil and has the antihistamine in it but I believe doesn’t have the Tylenol in it. You want to be careful to not take too much Tylenol. 

I'm pretty careful with the

I'm pretty careful with the Tylenol but it doesn't seem to have much effect on pain for me anyway.  Nyquil has 650 mg while the maximum daily dosage for a 150# adult is up to 4000 mg.  I can't take any NSAIDS either because my blood doesn't clot very good.  It's why my doctor prescribed oxycodone for me - a quarter of a pill used to take the edge off the neuropathy; then a half and now the half really didn't do much. 

I don't see any alcohol in my Nyquil.  I've taken Benedryl before and it didn't make me sleepy; just stopped the itching.  I take a Claritin every day for allergies but while on the Nyquil, have skipped it.  Maybe it's the combination of all of them together??  I don't know, but tonight, no Nyquil.  If the pain returns I'll know it was that.  If not, hallelujah, I'm cured!!!

Love,

Eldri

cmb

EZLiving66 said:

I'm pretty careful with the

I'm pretty careful with the Tylenol but it doesn't seem to have much effect on pain for me anyway.  Nyquil has 650 mg while the maximum daily dosage for a 150# adult is up to 4000 mg.  I can't take any NSAIDS either because my blood doesn't clot very good.  It's why my doctor prescribed oxycodone for me - a quarter of a pill used to take the edge off the neuropathy; then a half and now the half really didn't do much. 

I don't see any alcohol in my Nyquil.  I've taken Benedryl before and it didn't make me sleepy; just stopped the itching.  I take a Claritin every day for allergies but while on the Nyquil, have skipped it.  Maybe it's the combination of all of them together??  I don't know, but tonight, no Nyquil.  If the pain returns I'll know it was that.  If not, hallelujah, I'm cured!!!

Love,

Eldri

The Alcohol "Alarm Clock"

I got a chuckle out of your husband's advice to take a snort of alcohol before bedtime. Alcohol in the evening does put me to sleep, but I don't stay asleep for very long. When I was a young adult and going out most evenings, I was the only one of my friends who could actually get to an early morning class or job without being late. Of course, I crashed later in the day and had to nap, but the alcohol "alarm clock" was very useful (and forestalled any complaints from the mother about my late nights out). Needless to say I don't socialize like that anymore, but alcohol still affects me the same way.

Like you, Tylenol doesn't work on any of my aches or pain. I hope the Nyquil does the trick for you.

NoTimeForCancer

I have friends who take a

I have friends who take a Tylenol PM for the knock out effect of your Nyquil.  Eldri I am glad to hear you have had some relief and hope you are "cured" of you pain.

MAbound

Thank you!

Eldri, by sharing this you have just given all of us who will develop or have developed neuropathy something else to try for relief. Claritin sure never worked for me. Mine isn't so bad as it was, but it's  always at its worst when I try to go to sleep. During chemo I went weeks without sleep until I found those ice slippers that gave some temporary relief when I needed it most. The inability to sleep from the unceasing burning pain was the worst and I can't imagine how you've endured it this long. I'm really hoping the relief continues for you! Sweet dreams! 

EZLiving66

NoTimeForCancer said:

I have friends who take a

I have friends who take a Tylenol PM for the knock out effect of your Nyquil.  Eldri I am glad to hear you have had some relief and hope you are "cured" of you pain.

I used the Tylenol PM on the

I used the Tylenol PM on the advice of my doctor.  It did seem to help for awhile but then I would wake up around 4 a.m. in pain again.  After a while, its effectiveness seemed to wane.  I didn't want to up the dosage because liver damage was one of the side effects of the chemo and I sure didn't want to make that worse.

Love,

Eldri

EZLiving66

Well, that didn't work!  I

Well, that didn't work!  I didn't take the Nyquil last night and I give my night a C- after an entire week of A's.  I fell asleep ok but woke up at 4:30 with painful feet and have been awake for the past three hours.  I finally gave up trying to sleep and just got up.  I'll take a nap later but I'm back to my Nyquil tonight!!

Love,

Eldri

NoTimeForCancer

Eldri, I just clicked on the

Eldri, I just clicked on the digital coupons for my store and a "Zzzqui" just popped up -- it is supposed to help sleep and is made by the Nyquil folks..  Maybe that will help?????  I can't remember if you said you have tried melatonin or not, but maybe that is worth a shot.  Wishing you future 'zzzzzzzzz'

CheeseQueen57

NoTimeForCancer said:

Eldri, I just clicked on the

Eldri, I just clicked on the digital coupons for my store and a "Zzzqui" just popped up -- it is supposed to help sleep and is made by the Nyquil folks..  Maybe that will help?????  I can't remember if you said you have tried melatonin or not, but maybe that is worth a shot.  Wishing you future 'zzzzzzzzz'

That’s what I said!!!!!

Zquil. NyQuil without the Tylenol!

cmb

ZzzQuil versus NyQuil

I'm not sure that ZzzQuil will work for Eldri since it contains the same antihistamine that Benadryl has, which she noted didn't make her sleepy. However, I plan on buying a package to try for those nights when sleep is elusive since that antihistamine does work for me. So thanks for the heads-up, CheeseQueen57 and NoTime for Cancer!

Eldri, your success with NyQuil may be due to the different type of antihistamine in that product. Plus the pain reliever may also be helping with the neuropathy at the same time. I hope it continues to give you pain relief and sound night's sleep. I can't imagine the toll the constant pain must take.

jodil

cmb said:

ZzzQuil versus NyQuil

I'm not sure that ZzzQuil will work for Eldri since it contains the same antihistamine that Benadryl has, which she noted didn't make her sleepy. However, I plan on buying a package to try for those nights when sleep is elusive since that antihistamine does work for me. So thanks for the heads-up, CheeseQueen57 and NoTime for Cancer!

Eldri, your success with NyQuil may be due to the different type of antihistamine in that product. Plus the pain reliever may also be helping with the neuropathy at the same time. I hope it continues to give you pain relief and sound night's sleep. I can't imagine the toll the constant pain must take.

sleep aides

after using a variety of meds such as ambien, benadryl,lorazapam and pain meds, all of which lost their effectiveness eventually I now use marijuana before bed combined with using lavender oil in an inhaler and no other medication. I sleep well now with no lingering sleepiness the next day.  Approved by my onc.  

CheeseQueen57

Considering other meds

Hey, considering the other poisons we’ve put in our body, NyQuil is probably pretty mild. I’d keep using it if it helps. It was always my drug of choice for a cold. 

NoTimeForCancer

CheeseQueen57 said:

Considering other meds

Hey, considering the other poisons we’ve put in our body, NyQuil is probably pretty mild. I’d keep using it if it helps. It was always my drug of choice for a cold. 

Amen CQ. Well said

Amen CQ. Well said

EZLiving66

IT WORKED!!!  I took it last

IT WORKED!!!  I took it last night - just a little less than I was taking with the cold since I want to see if I can lower the dosage and get the same effect.  I went to sleep around midnight; got up around six to go to the bathroom and fell right back asleep until about ten (I need at least nine to ten hours of sleep a night to feel good).  It was wonderful!!  No foot pain, no waking up over and over, no lying there for hours awake!!  I am in heaven this morning although I did dream I went back to work - LOL.

We will be leaving Florida early Sunday morning.  I'm not looking forward to getting up early but I can sleep in the car.  We are driving all the way to Paducah, KY that day - a 14-hour drive with rest stops.  But then the next day we only have to drive about eight hours to get back to Green Bay, WI.  We'll stay for a day or two and then load up a few things from our Green Bay house in Steve's truck and I'll drive our SUV and he'll drive his truck up there, stopping at our daughter's farm about halfway there to pick up some things she has for us there - they raise beef cattle and pigs so she has meat for us and maple syrup.  Hopefully, by Wednesday or Thursday, I'll be back in my own bed again in the Northwoods of Wisconsin along with my bottle of Nyquil!!  YEAH!!!

I am going to check with a doctor there about cold laser therapy.  Why didn't my GP's or oncologist's office tell me about this?

Love,

Eldri

Jjoptorealist