Neuropathy Symptoms but No Pain

Posted by pah17 @pah17, Nov 27, 2023

I've been experiencing numbness and tingling in my feet and calves for about a year. I've had a full work up, including negative EMG. The neurologist said that I could have a skin biopsy to R/O small fiber neuropathy but regardless of the results; i.e., positive/negative the treatment would be the same. She prescribed Gabapentin which I've been taking for a week or so. I think it helps me to sleep better than my usual tossing & turning, but now I feel like my symptoms are more pronounced and I get cramps in my feet and calves more often. She also recommended PT to help with my gait since I constantly feel like my socks are wadded up in my shoes or that I'm walking on pebbles. But I won't be able to start that until December.
Has anyone had a similar outcome with Gabapentin? Treatment for neuropathy seems to focus on pain which I don't have. It's more of constant discomfor.t

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AFO - Ankle, foot orthoses. The type I have - walk-on-flex by Ottobock. Again, not for everyone with PN, mine was covered by insurance because the doc wrote out a prescription due to drop foot. There are all types out there and I went to a company that specializes in orthotics. Ed

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@ray666

Hi, Ed– I'm glad you mentioned these AFOs again. I have an appointment to see my podiatrist in two weeks (on an unrelated matter) and I'll ask him if he thinks AFOs might help with my gait. I wouldn't mind retiring my cane to stand beside the fireplace with my cross-country skis, all reminders of the way life once was. –Ray

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Ray, good idea to get an opinion. I have not retired my cane, but it has reached semi-retirement.....still active now and then! Ed

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@njed

Ray, good idea to get an opinion. I have not retired my cane, but it has reached semi-retirement.....still active now and then! Ed

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Ed– Nor am I going to retire my cane. That was only a burst of wishful thinking. It still comes in handy. I noticed just the only day there was a flash of ice on my partner's walk. I'd seen it, so I was aware, yet as I set one shoe down on the ice (there was no stepping over it), I felt a little slide. I was using my cane, and at that moment I was happy to happy that extra "leg" on dry pavement. –Ray

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@njed

AFO - Ankle, foot orthoses. The type I have - walk-on-flex by Ottobock. Again, not for everyone with PN, mine was covered by insurance because the doc wrote out a prescription due to drop foot. There are all types out there and I went to a company that specializes in orthotics. Ed

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Thanks Ed, I appreciate how much I learn here.

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@dbeshears1

I’m curious Ray - how are you when you walk in the dark - is your balance more challenging?

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Debbie - This morning, 5:30AM....I'm walking in the house and the electric went out for about 5 minutes. No lights at all everywhere. Odd this would happen after you just posted this yesterday. Not good, lost in space. Managed thru it but not easy. First time this has happened with PN while walking in house. Some things you never think of....until....

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@njed

Debbie - This morning, 5:30AM....I'm walking in the house and the electric went out for about 5 minutes. No lights at all everywhere. Odd this would happen after you just posted this yesterday. Not good, lost in space. Managed thru it but not easy. First time this has happened with PN while walking in house. Some things you never think of....until....

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I had been outside late one evening at a 911 service and wondered if it was a new med. It was pitch black and walking back to my car was a doozy. It’s not like I had my eyes closed. My nightly bathroom trips are fine but I have a little light. But with the time change I’ve found myself outside a little more and now realizing the difference in my balance skills is like night and day (literally 😎)

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Almost a year before I received my PN diagnosis, I had what I see now as a memorable experience, and probably a foreshadowing my my diagnosis. I was at a friend's house. His house has a steeply inclining––declining as you're leaving––driveway. It was well after dark as I was leaving. I remember having the damnedest time getting down that driveway. My legs felt like rubber pylons. (I'd had no alcohol, by the way.) In the light of the following day, I remembered my struggle but chalked it up to one-time weirdness. Now I wonder. Was that "one-time weirdness" my PN saying "Hi, Ray. I'll be back, and I'll be worse"?

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@cjay

What are AFO’s?

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Ankle/foot orthotic I think…

Steve

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@ray666

Almost a year before I received my PN diagnosis, I had what I see now as a memorable experience, and probably a foreshadowing my my diagnosis. I was at a friend's house. His house has a steeply inclining––declining as you're leaving––driveway. It was well after dark as I was leaving. I remember having the damnedest time getting down that driveway. My legs felt like rubber pylons. (I'd had no alcohol, by the way.) In the light of the following day, I remembered my struggle but chalked it up to one-time weirdness. Now I wonder. Was that "one-time weirdness" my PN saying "Hi, Ray. I'll be back, and I'll be worse"?

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PN diagnosis?

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@bmort43

PN diagnosis?

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Hi, bmort43 (@bmort43)

My PN diagnosis? I was using shorthand for my idiopathic axonal sensorimotor peripheral neuropathy. I still find all those words to be quite a mouthful. 🙂

Ray (@ray666)

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