Hi Will,<\/p>\n
Thank you for your question.<\/p>\n
It sounds as if you have had a hard time of it recently. I am sorry to hear about the cancer and the peripheral neuropathy.<\/p>\n
PN can be caused by some of the early HIV drugs or by HIV infection itself although this only usually happens at low CD4 counts. Atripla is unlikely to be causing this so if you are getting on well with this HIV treatment then maybe you should think about sticking with it.<\/p>\n
Once someone has neuropathy unfortunately there is little that can be done to reverse it. Some things have been known to make it worse which you should try to avoid. These include smoking, amphetamines and vitamin B12 and E deficiency.<\/p>\n
The Lyrica (pregabalin) you are taking is more commonly used for diabetics experiencing PN as a result of their diabetes. Are you also a diabetic? Lyrica has not been found to be effective against HIV-related peripheral neuropathy.<\/p>\n
You should discuss with your HIV doctor about changing this medication. There are several alternatives that have been found to be more effective at reducing the pain. The most common is gabapentin although some people do find this makes them drowsy. Opiods like codine or morphine have been shown to reduce pain in severe cases.<\/p>\n