Idiopathic diagnosis

[dadio]

Hi I hope you can help clear up something that's troubling me.  I have quite severe neuropathy which has spread over three years from feet to tops of legs and now hands.  I have had significant tests and no cause can be found.  About a year before all this started I was going through a traumatic time and was on anti-anxiety medication but stupidly also drinking rather heavily.  I hasten to add this was only for a period of about a year.  In your professional opinion do you think this could have "kicked off" the neuropathy and if so would it have taken a whole year to start showing symptoms and also as I don't drink at all now and havent for years why is it still progressing?
Thanks you so much for a fantastic forum.

[CCF-Neuro-M.D.-PW]

Unfortunetaly about 30% of neuropathies remain undiagnosed after standard testing, although this number is decreasing over time. Alcohol is toxic to nerves and causes an axonal neuropathy - this means that there is injury to the nerve fiber itself rather than just the lining in other cases (a 'demyelinating' neuropathy). Once the alcohol has stopped, the injury should stop but there commonly is residual nerve damage which may or may not heal completely over time (usually after 12-18 months there is no further improvement). Real progression of the injury after this may be due to other reasons than alcohol. An EMG or NCS may be helpful both in the prognosis for further recovery or to follow over time to document if there really is an objective worsening of the neuropathy. A screen for the other common causes of neuropathy should be done also if not already such as B12, diabetes, monoclonal antibodies, autoimmune etc. to exclude other causes.

Good luck

[missmellie]

are you still taking the  anti depressants?, they can cause the symptoms you are having, in some people they cause tingling, burning etc, look at the rx side effects!