Painful diabetic neuropathy treated succesfully with pregabalin- a case report
Introduction
A 47 year old gentleman with type 2 diabetes attended the clinic with small fibre neuropathy in his feet. Secondary to this, he has had neuropathic pain in the feet which had proven very difficult to treat.
He described pain in the feet, both sides, right worse than left. Burning type pain, lasting for the last year. Continuous with associated numbness of the feet.
He had tried Diclofenac, Co-dydramol, Gabapentin and Amitriptyline. Unfortunately, the Gabapentin and Amitriptyline gave him side effects including excessive tiredness and urinary retention. He worked as a hairdresser and was on his feet all day, finding his job more and more difficult to do. His diabetes was relatively well controlled with Metformin and Gliclazide, with an HBA1C of 7.3%.
New medication regimen with Pregabalin
This gentleman was started on Pregabalin 75 mg twice per day. This was increased to 75 mg am and 150 mg pm, and he found that the pain improved greatly. He had some adverse effects, including dizziness but overall was happy that the pain had dramatically improved. The plan is to keep him on this medication for the next 4-5 month