Originally Posted by Hermes

I have those same symptoms. Mine started 2 years ago with numbness in the thighs and then pain which spread into my calves and feet. This is backwards as most PN starts in the feet and works up. I'm now getting the "sunburn" feeling on my back as well as my my legs in addition to an invisible guy with an ice pick, or could be an pneumatic drill, following me around. Got to keep a sense of humor.

I went to Johns Hopkins in Jan '10 after my local doc said she didn't know what to do next (she had ordered MRIs of my spine and head and an EMG - both normal). All the tests that JH did also came back normal, blood work, another EMG, skin biopsy. So they call it idopathic polyneuropathy, which means they don't have any idea what is causing the symptoms. They did recommend some meds - Neurontin, Cymbalta, & Lyrica. My local doc had already tried Neurontin which did nothing. I'm currently on Cymbalta and Lyrica and while the pain got better for awhile either it meds stopped working or I would be in a whole lot more pain if I stopped taking them. Local doc referred me back to the JH pain treatment center. I have an appointment the end of Sept. I'm fortunate in that JH is only about a 2 hour drive for me.