Just wanted to chime in here, and thank you for this thread. I too have had a very similar journey. I'm 47 now, this all started 2.5 years ago (summer of 2019) for me.

My symptoms started about 2 months after having a bad flu-like infection (fever for a week, drenching night sweats for 2 weeks, then what seemed like a full recovery). I recall that about a month after my recovery I was dong some normal work and I felt a sting --like a needle poke or an insect bite on my leg. Then... another on the other leg a few minutes later. I thought at the time "well, that's unusual!" Little did I know that it was about to be off to the races for me!

Soon (within days) I was having stinging (as in sharp prickling sensations that resembled bee stings or stinging nettles) anywhere on my body below my neck. They could be individual pricks/stings/stabs, or "clusters" that kind of flare for a second or two. And I should mention, this pain only ever lasts for one-two seconds. If they last any longer than that, all I have to do is touch/rub my skin and they go away.

Fast forward about 5 months from initial onset of pain, and what was unpleasant but tolerable daily stings every few seconds (and to be clear, I'm talking _thousands_ of these per day, cumulatively) of a pain level of about 2-4 o/o 10 (again, feeling like a brief thorn prick, or ant bite) began to get much worse. 6's and 7's in intensity, sometimes worse. At its peak, it felt like wasp stings with acid. No exaggeration. Extremely demoralizing. They would wake me up at night. It was HORRIBLE. This was probably 6 months into it, and lasted for about anther 6 months.

Since then, I'd report that I've mostly stabilized. Like Leeds Lad, I have some days where the pain is 0-1 for several days, then I might have a 1-2 kind of day, then back to 0-1s. HOWEVER, about every 10-14 days I'll have a mulit-day flare up, where the stings return with a bit of a vengeance, increasing back to 3s, 4s and 5s, with an occasional zinger thrown in!!! Ouch! Two nights ago I got one on the bottom of my middle toe that woke me up from a dead sleep at 3 am! Only lasted 1 second, but boy did it wake me up

I might also add that I've had full-body muscle spasms/fasciculations that come and go, as well as burning patches of skin. I've gotten used to all of these arriving and disappearing along with the other symptoms. "Tight toes" have been a new one coming and going for 2022... it's always something

I'm in the US, and I went through a whole gamut of tests with neurologists, blood work, you name it. All "normal". I eventually got an appointment with the University of Maryland's Center for Neuropathy and they chalked it up to idiopathic immune response due to the infection. I asked them if they ever experienced someone like me and they said "Oh sure! All the time!" They told me the only thing they could really recommend was Gabapentin, but I never ended up taking it as my symptoms began to improve around that time, and I wanted to see how it went on its own. However, there are times during flare-ups that I definitely reconsider! But usually by then (3-5 days is my average flare), it begins to wind down.

So the big question for everyone is... does anything work for me? Well, my girlfriend (who has been an angel this entire time) believes that it's triggered by stressful events... or at least exacerbated by them. I'm a small business owner, and I've got a TON of responsibilities... in fact, the irony is that the last vacation I had was when I contracted the flu that set all this off!

The ONLY thing that definitely works for me is being submerged in water. 100% relief. I think it tricks my brain somehow. But otherwise, n change of clothing, bedding, being naked, etc does anything. Anyway, it's nice to take a shower or a soak and have a guaranteed respite for a bit. But unfortunately I'm not a fish I'd be curious to know if anyone else has made this association?

I'd also say that the symptoms are worst when I'm sedentary. Driving/reading/laying down/watching tv... that's when I really feel it. When I'm fully active (running, playing tennis, doing manual labor) Im much less included to feel the stings, etc. Make no mistake... sometimes I definitely do! But being "still" is when it's the worst... which is kind of a bummer, because we all want to be able to relax Oh well.

Otherwise I'm gluten-free and eat organic food 99% of the time, decaf coffee, exercise (I'm in pretty decent shape for a 47 yo guy, gratefully!). My goal this year is to RELAX more and take some vacations, get good sleeps, laugh, and recreate. A good prescription in general! But I'll see if I can produce an association with the symptoms, and respond accordingly to this board if anything works. The fact is, although I'm able to rest with my job (self employed), it's hard to ever take a day _completely_ off.

Anyway... perhaps this will be helpful for someone to read, and I wanted to thank Leeds Lad again for starting this thread. It's given me hope, and it's great to know that we can have such similar (weird!) symptoms, and not be alone

I remain optimistic, even though this condition/disease is a literal pain! On the whole, after 2.5 years of this, I have more "good days" than bad... even if my "good days" still have some pain. Compared to what I experienced for about 6 months or so, its definitely all relative!

I wish everyone the best of luck, and please know that there are others out there a lot like you. Thanks for reading a long post. Love and hope to everyone!

-Forrest