My experience with neuropathy began about twenty years, innocently enough, with a numbness in a big toe.  Slowly the numbness expanded, turning into episodic pain, which increased over the years to the point where I couldn't get a decent night's sleep.  The pain "gremlins", as I called them, had lots of nasty tricks, stabbing, biting, cramps, freezingsensations that felt like my feel were immersed in ice water, burning like severe sunburn over the tops.  In desperation, I began drinking beer in the evening, which put the "gremlins" temporarily to sleep.  Over time it took more and more beer...