Well, good afternoon. First, I want to say just how much there is to be amazed about reading through both the original thread and now part 2 on this site.

Some amazing stories of willpower, recovery, and progress.

I am starting to wonder if some of my pain issues are at least somewhat induced by alcohol. I have been a mostly weekend drinker for over 20 years. Lots of Saturdays and/or Sundays with too many while watching sports and/or tailgating may have caught up to me.

I know as I have read through things, and also started seeing some doctors, one thing that is absent from my symptoms for the most part is numbness/loss of sensation in feet and/or hands. Can one have alcoholic neuropathy without those sensations/feelings? I have a lot of muscle pain/weakness, mainly around the knees, shoulders, forearms, and calves, but again, not so much foot/hand weakness. I also have some mild autonomic type symptoms, too. I just finished seeing a rheumatologist without any remarkable findings in extensive bloodwork. I see a neurologist next week that I have actually seen in the past due to some adverse reactions to an antibiotic that I will expand on later, so that may tell me more at that time with another opinion.

I know I saw a brief reference to alcoholic myopathy by a poster Second Chances in part 2, which interestingly has many of the same symptoms, which is why I have wondered if that may be more of my issue, especially because I don't have the "classic" numbness sensations, but I was curious if some of you have had mainly weakness/lack of body resilience as the primary symptom?

I know I have found forums like these are a great source of information, and ironically nine years ago a similar forum helped me stumble onto the fact I was having a delayed reaction to an antibiotic. I even saw a brief discussion of adverse reactions to levaquin mentioned in part 1, so I identified with that poster. And ironically that antibiotic family has now been identified as one that can cause longterm nerve issues, too, so it's possible some of what I may be dealing with now may still be in conjunction to that, even nine years later.

But back to the present, earlier this spring/summer, I noticed that often a couple days after consuming alcohol, I would have increased pain, which is in part how I stumbled into google searches of alcoholic neuropathy/myopathy. I haven't had a binge level of alcohol since late May, and haven't had any alcohol at all since July 13th. I feel like things aren't getting any worse now, but certainly not seeing much improvement either. Some days feel pretty good, which often means I do more, and then some days aren't so good.

Anyway, that is my rambling story, and any feedback and thoughts from some of you would be very welcome. I know I have found that those who suffer similar maladies provide the best insight.