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Learning Past Cause vs. Quality of Present Life?
Neuropathy | Last Active: Aug 2, 2023 | Replies (52)Comment receiving replies
Thank you John for welcoming me! My journey with neuropathy has been going on for about a year now. I have some other things going on like type two diabetes, but my numbers are low - A1 is 6 so we know that is not causing the neuropathy. I have had an MRI done of my brain and that my brain is fine and I had the awful muscle test done and my muscles are fine. I see the neurologist in August and I’m sure there will be more testing. The left side of my body is more affected and has more numbness. The numbness starts under my arm and then goes down through the entire left side. My feet and left hand are the worst. I have constant pins and needles there. My right foot is also affected but not as much as the left side. My ankles at times feel like there is a metal vice squeezing on them. I also have a weakness in both legs, especially the left one. Some days are better than others as far as walking and on the worst days I need to use my cane because my balance is not great. I find it frustrating, and would really like to know what I’m dealing with. I’m not as concerned about the why of it because it is what it is. I am concerned about where I go from here. Thank you again, John and everyone’s posts that I read. I no longer feel like I’m alone on an island.
Replies to "Thank you John for welcoming me! My journey with neuropathy has been going on for about..."
Welcome @kath737 ! We have the best mentors in this group! @johnbishop never fails to keep folks directed to the most reliable sources of information on various subjects and conversations that are helpful. He & others are also subject matter experts with personal experiences on a lot of various symptoms and recommendations for managing them for optimizing our comfort and quality of life. I have "met" so many folks so willingly sharing their trials and successes (or non-successes). Some help us stay focused on our need to keep our minds focused and positive. I think the biggest learning here is that no two people are exactly alike in this weird PN business, so there are no universal remedies that fit all. I'm glad you have a Neurologist appointment soon. I hope you don't hesitate to get physical therapy if that would help. It helped me get out of a wheelchair 7 years ago - I can't do so many things I was once able to do, but I'm grateful for what I can do. PT helped me regain balance, and keep muscles strong to compensate for the weakness the nervous system creates. I've been taught how to prepare myself if I feel I am falling, and how to get up. It's taught me how to try alternative things or invest in tools that help with what my hands and feet can no longer easily do. I hope you find solutions that fit your needs in dealing with this and find shortcuts to getting ideas from the wealth of experience in this group.
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I, too, wish to say Welcome! There's a great group of people here, and finding out you're not alone may be the forum's greatest gift to all of us dealing with our various neuropathies.
I'm also a relative newbie; I was diagnosed with idiopathic peripheral neuropathy only last August. Mmm? That means my PN will celebrate its first birthday in only a few weeks. 😀 Of course, that's not entirely true. As I think back over a decade's worth of balance and gait "oddities," I realize my PN had been lurking inside me all along.
As John said, there's a library's worth of forum topics. Pull up a comfy chair and make yourself at home!