First off, I would like to thank all of you for sharing your experiences, knowledge, and trials on this forum. I'm sure there are many folks that read forums like these and never post, but walk away with more knowledge, tools, ideas, etc.

My Story : 46 yr old. Heavy drinker off and on for 25+ years, progressing to alcoholic in the last 2 years or so. The past year, it got much worse, and I was barely passing as a functional alcoholic. In the last 2 months, I kept picking a date I would quit and find a reason not to. Sound familiar?

2 Weeks ago, I noticed an odd feeling in my left foot. Ignored it, because who hasn't had an odd foot pain every once in a while. A couple days later, it progressed to my entire foot and ankle feeling a little numb. Two days of that and I started frantically searching the internet. Never heard of alcoholic neuropathy. Reading all the articles scared the crap out of me; all of them stating it is likely not reversible. I quit drinking that day (9 days sober now). Two days later, cut out all aspartame also - drank too much diet coke also.

The symptoms got worse in my left foot and I started getting mild symptoms in my right. In the morning, right feels normal, left feels 70% normal, but by late evening, my left foot has been extremely numb, and feels like I have an ace bandage wrapped around my ankle. Motor skills are mostly there, but coordination and feeling is gone. Fortunately I've only had only a little pain - none of the burning/stabbing pain. Numbness and discomfort increases when standing for long periods (washing dishes, making dinner, waiting in lines).

For the last 5 days, since finding these forums and reading everything I could find, I started pro-actively fighting it. B-Complex, Methyl B-12, Benfotiamine, Vit E, Alpha Lipoic, Fish Oils, Magnesium. Healthy food. Epsom salt soak each night. 20 minute brisk (clumsy) walk, stretching, massaging. Bought some magnesium lotion today. I'm 90% sure I'm not pre-diabetic. Tested fasting levels and monitored post meal levels - all very good numbers. Going to do a self administered Glucose Tolerance Test next week to make sure. I'll get tested for Vitamin levels next week (as well as other blood work), but I'm sure I was deficient as I wasn't eating well the last five months. This weekend, nicotine is taking a hike. I couldn't stop both at the same time, but I know I can and have to quit and have more motivation than ever.

If I stopped it from getting worse, I can live like this, although uncomfortably. I might still be able to do most of the things I want to do with my children (hiking, biking, skiing, etc). I pray I've stopped it from progressing, especially after reading how bad it can get. I have hope (from reading all of these forums), that it will at least improve a little. Thanks to you folks, I have acted almost as quickly as possible. I now have an idea of how much this could affect my quality of life and feel like an idiot that I probably caused this. Big wake-up call.

My new mantra - "I Don't Drink". It will be a shock to my friends and family to hear that.

Thanks again everyone.