Hi. My husband Alan had his nerve test done when he applied for Social Security Disability. I knew what he would go through because I had one also.

So the person giving the test is zapping his feet and he is just sitting there. No reaction. Now my husband has had PN for 18 years or so.
He had to go on a fentanyl pain patch for the pain in his feet.

so Alan is just sitting there asking the guy "when are you going to start?". the guy just shook his head. Only when the guy went up past his ankles did Alan go "whoa", and we all laughed. the guy said "well, thank god".

Alan kept saying to me "why did you think I wouldnn't like this test"???

Seems many people with PN are numb so this test is not that bad at all.

Now in my case. I had a pain in my upper shoulder. My doctor sent me for one of these tests. Wanted to see if there was nerve damage or something, I would assume. I also have a lot of anxieties, take xanax for a dental phobia and I admit I can be a pain in the butt about pain of any sort.

Now I had taken the test years and years before for carpal tunnel syndrome and I remembered I did not like the test way back then.

The test on my arm was about 7 or 8 years ago. I'm sitting on the table and the whole apparatus was completely different from when I had had the carpal tunnel test years before.

This time, the nurse is holding some kind of electric prod thing and she just touches it to my arm. I said "ow". She does it again, further up and I said "ow". She does it one more time (remember, I don't have PN, so I'm not numb anywhere). When she did it that third time, I jumped off the table and threatened to punch her in the face. I walked out, went to my doctor and he was hysterical laughing. when I calmed down I started laughing too.

It's all about pain threshhold. If you have PN, chances are you are numb like my husband so it won't be a big thing. He has told me "I would take this test again in a heartbeat".

See how different we all are??

mel