Not sure if I passed this along before, so here it goes....
The herbalist gave me this formula for soaking the feet that results in an internal massage, not just a soaking. First you soak in either epsom salt or sea salt in warm water. Sometimes this results in more swelling. Then, you soak the feet in cold water. The 2 together result in an internal massage of the area. The shocking of the area seems to increase the blood flow. Frankly, between you and I, I wasn't too successful with this method. The sensation continued and the swelling remained and even got worse.
While I was using that aforementioned method, I decided to use just cold. Let's call it the ice method - gel packs in the shape of the foot that wrap around the foot (often used by women like flip flops). The wife had a pair in the freezer. The gel inside the slipper freezes up like ice. I put them on my bare feet and left them on until they thawed out. I wore them in my slippers. That not only diminished the pain, it reduced the swelling. When I first tried it I thought it would be painful on the bare soles. The result was just the opposite: it was comfortable and seems to be therapeutic.
One more item, the podiatrist indicated that sometimes the neuropathy is due to the fact that the person doesn't process the various Vitamin B's properly, so she recommended that I take Metanx. My wife is of the view that it did help out some.
A strange thing here with the cold is that the herbal doctor indicated that it is best to keep the feet warm because the pain is partially due to the coldness of the lower extremities which is caused by the lack of circulation. The blood flow of youth. However, as you can see, the fact that ice worked to reduce the pain is just the opposite for me.
One more item, if you get more sensation when you're lying down, one doctor suggested that's a sign of sciatica, not neuropathy.
The reason he gave was that the sciatic nerve must be exercised, but walking does not exercise it. There are specific exercises for the sciatic nerve that must be done.The sublingual pills I told you about for sciatica would probably work better.
Good luck.
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