Hi Cindy, Maryann, Beth! Fantastic resource you have going here!


Gislat, ditto on the duration for me. Years, coming and going. Doctors have told me I have arthritis, or some slight pinching of spinal nerves perhaps. And symptoms get better when I do the rehab exercises they prescribe -- but not consistently, waxes and wanes. Three+ years ago I was feeling crummy in all the various ways and my doc sent me to a rheumatologist and a neurologist. Neither really came up with anything, and about eight months ago I went back to the neurologist. He now had the skin biopsy he could do, and that pinned it down.

Though the thing about the patches of profound numbness that come and go, and a period where my sense of smell was clearly changed for a period of time, does make me wonder if I have something more going on in the CNS, like MS. One of the questions I'll ask when I see the next guy in January.

My neurologist was also reassuring, that this kind of thing is rarely debilitating or life-shortening when its discovered at my age (48). But, still, it's Idiopathic PN, so I'm wanting to pin it down further.