@sb4ca
Everything you have written about sounds like an autoimmune problem to me. Do you see a rheumatologist?

@gabriellec
An orthopedic surgeon and a confirming second opinion from a neurosurgeon diagnosed my severe lumbar spinal stenosis and a need for surgery. The spinal stenosis was reported on the MRI results and was very easy to see on the MRI imaging.

A lumbar fusion surgery is recommended but still pending until I decide what I want to do. Both surgeons said surgery may relieve some of the back pain but probably won't help the foot drop. I'm not the best surgical candidate so pain was going to be the "deciding factor" for when to do surgery. A neurosurgeon last year said I should have surgery sooner rather than later. The foot drop happened five years ago so "no chance of it improving."

The neurologist who originally interpreted the EMG/NCS results diagnosed the peripheral neuropathy but didn't know what caused the problem with my nerves. It is still "idiopathic" so the cause is unknown. The neurologist can't say for sure that it is CIDP but peripheral neuropathy can be autoimmune related.

The rheumatologist that I see for my autoimmune conditions says inflammatory arthritis may have caused the severe arthritic changes seen in my spine which led to the lumbar spinal stenosis. There is a lot of damage to my spine but I have never had any trauma to my spine. I had chronic back pain caused by inflammation. I took prednisone for the inflammation but prednisone doesn't prevent the damage that the chronic inflammation causes.

I now take a biologic medication for my autoimmune problems. The inflammation has stopped so I don't have too much pain anymore. The damage to my spine is permanent. I feel like the peripheral neuropathy is improving. Maybe the foot drop has improved but it is still a problem.