Hey tomhe204,

Welcome to the forum. It sounds to me like you have some form of sensory neuropathy. I went through something similar myself. I hear you at the sense of disbelief even medical professionals exhibit. Currently you are going through the worst of your symptoms. It is an awful miserable time. But this is the nature of PN. Things will get better. Symptoms will ease.

I was lucky in that my symptoms coincided with the first lockdown so I was able to rest and recuperate. Its awful that you lost your job, but for me I think rest is a key to recovery. So its an opportunity. The body is a great healer. You have to create the conditions to accelerate recovery. But you have to be patient too.

I didn't even bother with medications/ painkillers once I realised they did nothing or even made things worse.

So a brief plan of action would be this

1. Rest. Gear up your day to getting a good night's sleep. Practise guided meditations with earphones, there's plenty available on YouTube for free.

2. Take all the appropriate supplements.. There's plenty of information on this Forum

3. Eat some kind of anti inflammatory diet. For me it's a plant based diet. Avoid alcohol which is neurotoxic.

4. If you can take a gentle daily walk but don't do anything that hurts in the short term. But get outside. Sunlight is a great healer. Don't spend all day in front of a screen. Appreciate panoramas, mountains, seas, lakes sunsets etc .It sounds mad but there is scientific evidence to show that these things are beneficial to wellbeing.

5. Maintain friendships. Share your pain. Its easy, especially for a man who does sports etc to lose his sense of identity of who he is and what he does. Share your pain with appropriate friends. It helps.

6. Be patient. You are going through what I consider to be the acute stage of symptoms. This eases with time. I cannot tell you enough about the joy of recovery, of symptoms easing. It will happen.

Best wishes,

Atty