severe electric shock neuropathy

Question

TO ALL THATS HURTING
  Besides having parkinson, ive had neuropthy for about 5 years and its far more painfull  than the parkinson is. my feet and legs are completrly numb, and i get an electricle shock sensation like if you hooked an rlectric cord to both feet and pluged it in to a wall outlet. not quiet that strong but at times its close to that. it varies between a 7 and 10 on the pain level. and because i have no feeling in my feet it messes up my ballance my feet feel like im standing in a room that the floor is coverd with beech balls and im standing with each foot on a seprate ball trying to keep my balance. if im in a room and someone turns the light out i just fall over, or if im out side and shut my eyes or look up ill fall over. cant stand on aladder or ride a bycicle. it makes me feel beter that i can share my problems with someone else out there.because if anyone else dont have it, there is no  way you can explain it to them. if you have some input on this subject please let me know......THANKS.......jamie200.

ggreg · Accepted Answer

JAIME, I have what you have, and I have a lot to say about it.

I have chemo-induced neuropathy in my feet, resulting in the same peripheral neuropathy just like you, and I have your same indescribable symptoms.  I used to have it in both my hands and feet, and talk about a burning pain, hurt SO much to use my hands or walk on my feet, and they were swollen, discolored, and kind of numbish.  So, I know what you mean about how the sensory part of the foot is gone, makes them feel gigantic and like cotton is wrapped around them and strung thru the toes, and yet there's this inner fire in them, makes them bright red, and swells them up, and is painful when I'm standing on my feet or am laying down AFTER I've been on my feet a while.  Sometimes I don't have to stand on them at all; they just plain hurt.  

Well, after my cancer treatments were over, maybe six months out, the neuropathy left my hands for the most part, altho I still drop things sometimes and the tips of my fingers are still numb/sensitive (a contradiction), but also my feet are better, just not as much.  But the good thing about my experience, and you might benefit from this, is I also have a tore-up back from an old car accident, and as I aged, it got worse, and so maybe ten years ago I wound up taking pregabalin (Lyrica) for the sharp nerve pain, and Tyl-Codeine #3 for my Restless Legs, which I believe was triggered by my bad back.  Apparently they help pain in general, because those drugs help my whole back pain situation AND my painful feet! 

See, before cancer, I'd been slowly developing neuropathy in my right foot and up my lower leg for a while, couldn't feel those pin-pricks the docs use, but when I got cancer and did chemo, that's when I got full-blown peripheral neuropathy in all extremities, which is what you have in your feet.  Even with those meds for my other stuff, my feet sometimes hurt right thru it, and I still lurch around and cry sometimes with my feet.  And whenever I get low on my meds, I cannot believe how much my feet really do still hurt.  So, those drugs may help you, they are mild, so could be a good neuro would try my kind out on you, and if it wasn't enough, maybe he'd give you something stronger.

As far as I know, medicine is the only thing that treats it, unless it is secondary to something like diabetes, Lyme disease, or back trouble, in which case if you treat the source, it might go away.  So, you must be tested for those things, as well as whatever else a neuro thinks might be causing it, so hopefully you won't need drugs.  

Also, and I'm sure you've tried some of these things, I've got home-treatments I've learned that help:  Rubbing my feet with lotion, or rubbing them with my socks on to rough it up, or soaking them in very cool water by sitting on the side of the tub and letting the water get all over them, any of that will really give me some relief.  When I had PN the worst, I wound up buying a couple sizes larger shoes, to prevent hurting them with shoes that fit, because they swell some.  I also put some foam in the shoes, and I wore these "diabetic socks" that are very soft, they're in the pharmacy.  An alka seltzer or aspirin is better than nothing, anything that is an anti-inflammatory, you know.  And some teas for relaxing a person can be soothing, since it's all so irritating and all.  I also sometimes wrap a cold pack from the freezer in a scarf, and I put that on my feet for a short while, helps somewhat.

I know I've already said a lot, but I want to throw in something concerning your Parkinson's.  This is a long-shot, but do me a favor.  Next time you see your doc, ask him to test you for Lyme disease and various other tick diseases.  This is because very recently it has come to light that bug-bite poisons, which appear in the tissues as a kind of spiral microscopic bacteria, well, they've discovered that in a number of cases, that little spiral "borallis" (I can't spell it right) has been found at autopsy in a bunch of people with Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and a couple other major diseases.  As a further description, the little squiggly bacteria looks a lot like the Syphillus bacteria, which ALSO can cause cascading symptoms that indicate a bunch of diseases.  Supposedly tick disease is NOTHING like having Syphillus, which carries a negative connotation on account of it's sexually transmitted.  But the bacteria is similar in appearance and similar in the devastation it can cause to a person's health.

You see, I had a great aunt that died from Parkinson's, and it's just such a heartbreaking disease, and very bad for the patient to put up with when it reaches its peak, wherein a person becomes trapped in their body, basically, and so I pay attention when I hear ANYthing about Parkinson's.  I myself experienced a form of it for a short while, a medicine froze up my neck and face muscles for a few hours until I went to the ER and got a big shot of Valium, and I STILL have nightmares about it.  And so, here I am now, listening to you, and you have Parkinson's and also this peripheral neuropathy.  Now, that's not to say they are related in you at all, but it won't hurt to be tested, mainly becuz of your Parkinson's... I just wanted to tell you what I knew about this new thing concerning the cause.

Your peripheral neuropathy, as far as I know, is not connected to that tick-bite bacteria.  But you know what, it's hard to remember everything I read and learn about, so who knows?  But in closing, I KNOW what you're going through, and yes, the pain is very bad, and I can't walk right at all, I spend SO much time on the couch with my poor feet up on a pillow that has a silk case on it, to keep them as pain-free as I can.  It's awful.  But since I have had exquisite pain from a shattered spine, that is indeed a 10, so I have to put my peripheral neuropathy down to a 5 or 6, even tho at the time it can be almost unbearable and is in fact somewhat disabling.  GG

jamie200 · Answer

ggreg,
   i really appreciate comments,and i will say more latter because im real shaky this am and its real hard to type......THANK U VERY MUCH!!!!!!!!

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