Hi guys,

Hello to everyone and thanks if you can help, give advice or just read post really. I'm totally confused and concerned.

So, long story short, I'm a 31 year old male from the UK who has been living in China for three years. The ex pat drinking culture over here is constant and I've always been a big drinker anyway. In Aug 2020 u developed pain in my hands and feet and shooting pains down my arms. I googled the symptoms, was scared to death by this thing I'd never heard of before (peripheral neuropathy) and feared the worst.

I booked into see a neurologist who confirmed by suspicions that it was PN but was at a loss at to why I was so concerned. She said it was a mild ailment that would just go away. She did an MRI and the NCV test (the painful one) And nothing came up. She gave me some vitamins and pregbalin tablets and told me to cut down on the booze.

I did and it did - by about 95%. Just a slightly odd lrg cramp. Unfortunately though, as I am prone to do, I got cocky with it and returned to, give or take, my old drinking habits.

Fast forward to 22 and it came back with a vengeance. Cold / hot feet, worse at night, numb fingertips, some returning pain in the arms.

I went to see another neurologist recently. Ordered the same tests, said it was no big deal even if they came back positive. They came back all clear. I explained I thought it might be small fiber neuropathy. The doc said it might be but a skin biopsy was "not medically necessary" and seemed confused as to why I was so anxious about the whole thing. He said it was not a big thing and I could expect a full recovery in weeks. He said to try to limit alcohol to two beers a night (this is still way above the recommended amount for regular folks in the UK). I think he gave me pregabalin just to shut me up. I haven't drunk any alcohol since March.

Which brings me to the present day. I've noticed some improvement but not dramatic and lost most of this improvement when I finished my micro course of pregabalin.

I'm so confused. Do I have a life changing issue which will slowly deteriorate, or something that will just go away?

I've been hesitant to post here as I know a lot of people on here have had much, much worse symptoms than me and I would hate to appear flippant. Hopefully you can offer some insights though... Best of luck to you all. Sorry for the essay.

Thanks!

Joe