@thurlibier
I am a 55 year old female. When I was 47, I started to have burning/pins/needles in my feet. Long story short, it took me 8 years to get diagnosed with a variety of things as my condition and quality of life worsened. I am a single parent of a teenager so this scared me (have no extended family).

My pain, weakness and numbness worsened over the years and traveled up my body and I had various symptoms from head to toe. I was finally diagnosed with cervical (neck) spondylotic myelopathy (spinal cord compression injury at C5-C6 which caused pain/weakness/numbness in arms/hands, legs/feet, and affected my bladder). This was caused by congenital spinal stenosis, degenerative disc disease, osteoarthritis. I was also diagnosed with idiopathic small fiber neuropathy (they did a skin punch biopsy to confirm and don’t know the exact cause), etc. My lower back/lumbar spine was also a problem with compression causing neurogenic claudication). I had ACDF surgery on my C5-C6 to decompress my spinal cord/nerves, surgery on my L3-L5 to decompress my spinal cord/nerves, etc. Many of my symptoms improved. Many don’t know that a cervical spine problem can cause weakness in your legs.

Did they do MRIs of your head, neck and lower back to see what is causing this neurological problem affecting your ability to walk? I also had a hard time walking. I had all of these MRIs to rule out things like MS but that is how they saw my spinal issues. I had to read my own MRI reports because some doctors missed really important things (like my cervical spinal cord injury). Sometimes, doctors don’t look at test results in detail. You would also benefit from getting EMGs on your upper and lower limbs to see if you have any radiculopathy to your arms/legs. EMGs do not diagnose spinal cord/nerve root issues that affect leg weakness according to my orthopedic spine specialist/surgeon. For example, my EMGs at one point showed radiculopathy and not on others. I had a diagnosis of bilateral carpal tunnel but that was actually tied to my cervical spinal cord injury. My recent EMG of my lower body limbs were “normal” but I was experiencing pain/weakness/numbness in my back/hips/buttocks/legs and feet (this was caused by compression of spinal cord/nerves and symptoms from neurogenic claudication).

You may benefit getting 2nd and 3rd opinions from neurologists and orthopedic spine specialists/neurosurgeons. Do this asap because injury to spinal cord/nerves can cause permanent nerve/cord damage. Because it took over 5 years and 3 different surgeons to finally get properly diagnosed, I have some permanent damage to my cervical spinal cord/nerve roots/nerves which causes weakness and numbness in arms/hands.

Best wishes yo your as you assertively and aggressively advocate for your own health and improving your quality of life! I have dealt with and still dealing with major depression from chronic pain/disability so caring for your mental health is also very important on this journey for answers. Prayer is also very important and helpful.