Neuropathy

[Anonymous]

I was diagnosed with neuropathy. Thankfully is affecting only one foot, is not of the painful burning type and is well compensated (no visible change in gait). Dr is not sure what is causing it, likely degeneration in certain areas of spine (as seen in xray) or an inflammatory process (responding well to steroids). For now is wait and see approach but I am nervous because there is no official cause for it and is not always the same (some days are worse than others). Would you insist for further testing? Would you just let it go and see if in 3-6 months is going to get better or worse?

[Anonymous]

Well, any decent doctor will do what they can to get to the bottom of it, and you have had a scan and they started steroid treatment. So it sounds like they looked into it and there may not be much further testing that makes sense at this point. Sometimes there isn't an easy explanation with regard to where a symptom is coming from or what is causing it -- especially with neuro stuff. I assume they did blood work and ruled out diabetes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, any decent doctor will do what they can to get to the bottom of it, and you have had a scan and they started steroid treatment. So it sounds like they looked into it and there may not be much further testing that makes sense at this point. Sometimes there isn't an easy explanation with regard to where a symptom is coming from or what is causing it -- especially with neuro stuff. I assume they did blood work and ruled out diabetes?

Yes they did blood work. Dr was suggesting, if symptoms are not improving, to do a nerve conduction study

[Anonymous]

DH had a nerve conduction study. Good news it ruled out spinal causes. Bad news compressed nerve in leg that had gone on too long (like years while he pursued endless back focused things) that it couldn't be fixed.

Get the study now.

[Anonymous]

Get the nerve conduction study. Did you do a full autoimmune workout before you started the steroids? It’s much less useful if done while on or after steroids.

[Anonymous]

EMG and nerve conduction are pretty standard, or so I thought. When I had nerve issues, those were both done on my first visit to the neurologist.

I have small fiber neuropathy and take 1200 mg alpha lipoic acid per day at the suggestion of my neurologist. It's a supplement you can buy off amazon. Not really sure that it helps but the medical research suggests that it is effective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get the nerve conduction study. Did you do a full autoimmune workout before you started the steroids? It’s much less useful if done while on or after steroids.

I tested negative for RA and Lupus, dr was not sure the blood test timing was correct. The steroids were given empirically and worked well. Now it is a while since I stopped taking them and symptoms are emerging again

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:EMG and nerve conduction are pretty standard, or so I thought. When I had nerve issues, those were both done on my first visit to the neurologist.

I have small fiber neuropathy and take 1200 mg alpha lipoic acid per day at the suggestion of my neurologist. It's a supplement you can buy off amazon. Not really sure that it helps but the medical research suggests that it is effective.

OP here. In the DMV area are pretty standard but I don’t live there anymore and here access to testing considered standard takes longer