Neuropathy due to post viral infection???

[Gracygirl]

Last March (2006) I started to experience symptoms of numbness, tingling, burning and severe weakness in my thigh and calf muscles. Simmultanously I also got carpel tunnel in both wrists. I was very sick from the pain found that sitting relieved my symptoms briefly but eventually they would return when I attempted to walk. Gradually I began to get sicker and my neuroligist told me after several blood tests that I had the coxsackie virus, but he was not sure the coxsackie was responsible for the neuropathies. After 5 hospital vistis including the Cleveland Clinic, 2 muscle biopsies, MRI's, CT scans, spinal tap and several rounds of rehab, all testing was negative except for original bloodwork which showed my immunogammaglobulins were out of wack and my ANA was slightly elevated. It was concluded by a neuromuscular specialist that I suffered from a post viral syndrome and she felt that I would slowly recover within a year . I am not confident that this is what caused these symptoms and am concerned that something is being overlooked. The diagnosis given was purely based on exclusion. I was using crutches, and a walker for the first 5 months and then for the final part of the year (7 months)I was in a wheelchair and unable to walk. I started walking in mid-December and have continued successfully without a great deal of pain until now. The past few days I feel the symptoms cropping up again and I am not sure if it is normal for this to happen after such a long illness and recovery. The weather is very damp here and It may be just a temporary setback, but I am searching for anyone who may have had this or knows someone who did. I need advice on how to deal with the pain. Can I recover from these neuropathies? Thanks all.

[tutu220510]

i had neck pain at first and then back pain.  numbness on my hands and feet started too.. right now the neck and back pain is gone but numbess on my hands and feets are still there.  went to the hospital and they do not know what causes it and wanted me to go for MRI which is wayyyy too expensive.  some chinese doctor says it is due to the viral infection.  anyone know what causes this??? pls help

[dockboy]

I have had a similar onset. I had burning  and tingling in my feet, then ankles , then calves, forearms etc. bilaterally. I also went to Cleveland, but the Case University neuromuscular center and had biopsies, taps, etc. It has been 6 months since onset and has progressively worsened, It is sensory but it is so bad it interferes with walking. NO diagnosis yet. I am going to start IV IG in two weeks
I honestly don't know what to do

[fiona1]

Hi there, i agree completely that these things take such a long time to recover from. I had a virus in 1999 - they think it was encephalitis -. Took 2 years to recover and probably 3 or 4 for the symptoms to go completely. IN the past month I've had a flare up after a virus. So it's quite normal for you to be feeling ill after this amount of time. It takes a real long time for these things to clear up. Good luck, Fiona

[patsy10]

A very similar thing happened to me back in the early 90's.  I had fevers, elevated liver enzymes, vomiting, diarrhea, numbness, tingling ,rashes, partial paralysis of a leg, carpal tunnel and much, much more.  I was tested for hepatitis and epstein barr.  They were negative.  About 8 months prior to this I had 3 bullseye rashes, followed by all sorts of weird symptoms like joint and eye pain that never resolved.  The doctors said "non-specific" virus.  Anyway, I finally put 2 and 2 together after my brother mentioned lyme disease.  My rashes looked exactly like the pictures.  I saw a specialist on lyme and took a few months of antibiotics and I started to recover.  It took about 5 years to recover.  It all hit again in 2005.  I'm not saying that you, or I for that matter have lyme.  I just wanted to say it took many years to recover from whatever it was.  I was about 30% recovered after a year.