Neuropathy in feet and limited toe movement?

Hi Lori, and others with toes that are difficult to move, especially independently. Linda (my wife) has bad PN in her feet. She has also developed an inability to move her toes independently. She can still wiggle them as a group but not individually. She asked me to tell you guys that she has found that she can improve her ability to do this by pulling on them, putting her thumb between each pair of toes and kind of pulling on them. I have included a couple shots of her doing this. It seems to help her so she thought it might be helpful to someone else. Best, Hank

@jesfactsmon Hi Hank......those images are so accurate for the neuropathy foot. Sometimes, my toes get stuck with one on top of the other. I also have to reach down and unhook them. I think most of that is part of the restrictive movement from the neuropathy. There are two or three yoga poses that really help those "twinkle toes". One is "legs up the wall". That pose encourages the valves to open so that blood can return from the feet easily. The other poses encourage greater steadiness when I walk and help my ankles. First you simply flap the feet up and down while they are above your head. The second one requires you to turn the feet round and round while they are overhead. You can find this Yoga pose on youtube I think. I'll take a look for you.

May you and Linda be free of suffering and the causes of suffering.

Chris

a little off- topic: for what it’s worth; I have found that doing calf stretches and massaging my calves and feet before sleep has improved my nocturnal cramps greatly. Just FYI Helen

Good afternoon, @helennicola, You know what? My lie partner does some stretchy movements every night because of his restless legs which are laced with Charley horses if he doesn't get up and move every few minutes. Thank you for the suggestion. Nice to see your name pop up.

May you be content and at ease.
Chris

Hi Lori, and others with toes that are difficult to move, especially independently. Linda (my wife) has bad PN in her feet. She has also developed an inability to move her toes independently. She can still wiggle them as a group but not individually. She asked me to tell you guys that she has found that she can improve her ability to do this by pulling on them, putting her thumb between each pair of toes and kind of pulling on them. I have included a couple shots of her doing this. It seems to help her so she thought it might be helpful to someone else. Best, Hank

Hello @plbelanger, I would like to add my welcome to Connect along with @!lorirenee1 and other members. I don't have the pain with my neuropathy but I do share the issues with my toes. In fact my neurologist said "hammer toes" are common in most peripheral neuropathy patients. It's hard for me to bend my toes. I've thought about having the surgery to straighten them but I'm so old now I don't think it makes much difference.

Did your doctor prescribe any medication or treatment until you have your appointment with a neurologist?

PN runs in my family and I was told it was HSN it HSPN or the Anglo-Saxon disease as my family was from southern England. Same symptoms as yours. Pins and needles in my lower extremities, spasms, no feeling in my toes, inability to bend toes, etc. I just had a neuropathy panel done at Stony Brook Neurology. Simple saliva test that looks at 83 known genes that cause neuropathy. Results came back yesterday. I have CMT4 based on a positive SBF2 Gene mutation. I also have SMA or Spinal Muscular Atrophy based on a positive SMN1 mutation (entire coding sequence deleted). This one really sucks. I also have Giant Axonal Neuropathy based on a positive GAN Gene mutation. I also tested positive for the SLC52A3 Gene mutation. Not sure what that means yet. Need to do more research. I'll be meeting with the neurologist in September to get a clear understanding of what this all means and what treatments, if any, exists. I have MDS/MPN-RS-T which is an extremely rare blood cancer. So now I have four extremely rare diseases. Gotta love it.