Hello again Second post! This will be long, but I don't know how else to say it all...

I have peripheral neuropathy which started as carpal tunnel syndrome after the birth of my first child at age 30 (2001). Literally about 4 weeks after he was born I got nasty shocks in my hand whenever I would grab something, to the point that I would drop many items due to the surprise of it LOL. Not fun. Eventually that severity died down but the issue remained, although it would mutate and sometimes it would burn in my forearm, it would feel like ice on the back of my hand, etc. Had CT release about 2 years later, EMG/NCV did show slowing in CT cannal, but at the time I didn't realize I was also having ulnar nerve symptoms, I just chalked it all up to radial/CT.

Got better for a while, but not long, I continued to have problems and finally went back to the doctor, another EMG/NCV this one showed improvement in CT area, but Guyon's cannal was slow and I also had irritation further up in my arm. Cervical MRI done, had a herniation and bone spur at C5-C6 impinging nerve as it exited to go down my arm. Surgery for that done in 2005.

It got better, I at least don't have the SAME symptoms. I still can't use that hand with a mouse for any length of time. But now my left arm is also getting easily irritated, using a computer is not something I can do for long stretches and if I do I pay for it (which sucks b/c I love to work w/photo editing). Of note, since I did read some in here first, I had a corneal abrasion courtesy of my 8 month old's fingernail that took flipping forever to heal and I had double vision for months afterwards. A second corneal abrasion 3 years later was also slow to heal and eventually resulted in removal of the cornea. Not fun. Schirmer's test neg.

So I figure I have one bad hand, and the other is going bad b/c I'm overusing it on the comp to save the first hand. Get pg again, and I felt great for the first time in years (aside from all the pg stuff). My hands didn't feel stiff, my rings weren't tight, just NORMAL. Gave birth, all nerves flared up again. Got told by my pcp that I was just 'holding the baby so much'.

5 days postpartum I had a bizarre episode where I felt like I was going to faint, shaky, etc. Blood sugar was fine (I had GD), bp was up. Had a doc appt anyway but when I got there these 'waves' of something were causing my HR to jump as well as my bp, like 140's HR and 190/100 bp. They called the ambulance and shipped me off to make sure I had no pg/post partum complications. Everything was fine. That was Aug. 2007.

This 'spell' has happened a few more times over the years, until just about 1 1/2 years ago it started happening a little more frequently. Switched docs a couple of times, went through meds for depression and anxiety, blah blah, I have to literally have one of those spells in front of a doctor for them to understand it, but anyway lots of work up done including nuclear scan for pheochromocytoma, thyroid, autoimmune (sed rate was a whopping 3), Sjogren's antibody, I don't even remember what all. NOTHING showed up. Finally got to see a neuro who did all his testing (ouch) including EMG and NCV on all 4 limbs and said I had neuropathy in all of them. Brain MRI was normal. Most recent neck MRI shows slight bulging above and below my fusion but no sign of cord impingement. EEG showed 'abnormal spikes on both sides of the brain' so we did a 3 day one and it had abnormalities as well. I can't pin him down on a specific dx, just that he thinks the spells (HR/BP/etc) are seizure manifestations and I'm now taking Keppra.

I do tend to eat a low carb diet but I'm being even more cautious right now esp re. gluten b/c everything has flared up significantly this past month where before I had been doing really well. I feel like I'm being strangled/my neck feels tight, yet also fatigued like it can't even hold up my head. My hands are a tingling mess, my knees are tingling, I get random shooting pains and cold sensations in my arms and legs. I don't know what to think or do anymore.

We did the Whole 30 diet in November and that was during part of my 'feeling great!' time so I'm getting out of the holiday eating habits and back into strict 'food for fuel' habits, but so far it's not helping.

If you read my novel, bless you