What should I ask for?

They seriously aren’t that bad. My SFN pain makes an EMG more like a tickle.

I wish I had more guts! I admire you!

Hi, @gen55 ~
I copy the answers given by @jillb329 and @aaroncush. What they shared totally mirrored my experiences (one on lower limbs & feet; the other on arms & hands.) Annoying? Yes. Something to be feared? No.
~ Barb

If an EMG will give me an answer to my leg and foot pain for 3-1/2 years, I'll do it. I had one done maybe 2 years ago and the guy didn't do a good job to get an answer, so I've suffered. Good luck.

Yeah but it sucks. I was experiencing a great deal of peripheral neuropathy in my feet- to the point of pain. Was given a prescription for darvocet which worked quite nicely but alas it was taken off the market. Perhaps they have replaced it with a similar medication, but it was the only one that worked for me. Good luck, Chebo54. Ps let me know if you find anything that works.

@aaroncush

I don't know whether you're frequenting these pages, but I thought I'd try reaching you. I'm still at an impasse with getting a diagnosis for the cause of my peripheral neuropathy after two and a half years. It's not very painful but I'm finding it pretty hard to walk. My feet and lower legs feel pretty dead.

Dr. Goodman wrote my initial assessment after my first EMG/NCS test at Mayo Phoenix 2.5 years ago. Another test a year later basically concurred with his assessment. Then I had a third test later where the neurologist came up with a totally different assessment which seemed wildly off-base to me, but I seem to be stuck with it. (?) He thought the problem was spinal despite my physical history and the test results being at odds with that diagnosis.

Anyway, I'm wondering if you were able to see Dr. Goodman? I called Honor Health and they said he's not taking new patients. But I was thinking that I'm "kind of" an "old" patient since he did my first EMG/NCS assessment.

I have horses and animals and I don't know what I'll do if my ability to walk declines further. Thanks... if you happen to see this.

PS: I also have kappa light chain MGUS, which the heme/onc thinks is unrelated to the PN. I'm not convinced; bone marrow and fat biopsies for AL amyloidosis performed 2 years ago were negative, fortunately.

@nancyworld, yes I was able to see Dr. Goodman at HonorHealth by telling them I was his patient previously at Mayo and being forceful on wanting to see him. He ordered a bunch of blood work, one came back positive, and he shrugged it off as maybe a false positive instead of digging further. That left me feeling like he was a completely different doctor and I haven't decided if/when to try a follow-up. Feel free to try the same tactic to see him but I went from feeling like he was a 10/10 doctor to maybe a 6/10 doctor after that last interaction about the test.

@aaroncush Oh my, I'm so sorry that things turned out that way. I get the feeling that neuropathy sufferers are kind of the black sheep of patients because it can be so hard to determine what's going on. But maybe not. I just don't know.

If I thought I'd get a 6/10 result, I still might try. The last guy I saw at Mayo was like 2/10, amiable but way off base. He was about to retire so I just waited till he was gone until I tried again. As you know, they try to keep you in "teams" (which is usually fine).

I hope you can figure out what to do next and be able to get some relief. What a difficult situation for you! I'm so sorry...