Hi Everyone

Great to find this site. I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction on here.

I've been diagnosed with small fibre neuropathy after I was poisoned earlier this year. I wondered if there are people on here with neuropathy following exposure to toxic substances. My neurologist has been great and she is referring me on to a professor who specialises in SFN. The thing is, although she has been able to explain why I have the pain, numness etc in my limbs, there are other symptoms which are very distressing which I don't have answers for yet. The worst is a weird kind of numbness around my throat, which comes and goes. Also, I seem to be very sensitive now to things which didn't cause problems before. Eg if I drink alcohol it really aggravates the pain, plus last week I was in a room where someone was doing some cleaning with solvents, which were quite strong smelling. That night, my symptoms went into overdrive and it took me two days to back to some kind of normal, although now with this, things are not normal anymore.

Hello Gildedlily, and welcome to NeuroTalk.

I'm sorry that you've been through such a tough time, and I'm really not quite sure what advice to give you.

We do however have an excellent Medication Forum where MrsD just may have some ideas to help you. Other than that may I suggest you check out our forum for Peripheral neuropathy.

I did an on site search for you and this link will show you posts that others have made about the same subject. http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/se...g_searchinfo=1

It's good to have you with us Gildedlily, and I wish you the best of luck.

Hello GIldedlilly and Welcome to NeuroTalk. I do hope you'll take a look around and make yourself at home. Everyone here is very friendly and helpful and I know you'll like it here. Glad you found us.

I think you need to find an environmental physician who can
deal with this more creatively. There are several ways to remove heavy metals. Some doctors use chelation, IV or oral, plus some supplements to speed the detox.

How did you get poisoned?

We have a PN forum, but I don't recall a poster who was definitely diagnosed with arsenic poisoning. (even tho this happens).

Since arsenic affects mitochondria, some supplements that help restore mito functions may help you.
These are acetyl-l-carnitine, CoQ-10 and r-lipoic acid, and biotin.
(some drugs and toxins cause neuropathies by poisoning the mitochondria of cells)

We discuss these at our neuropathy forum here:
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum20.html

Some chemical sensitivies may remain as reflexes following an exposure. I myself react to ammonia that way, I get bronchospasms (and my exposure was back in the early 70's).
I keep an albuterol inhaler around as insurance. If I go to a public store that has just stripped
their floors, I can get an asthma attack. Gasoline and diesel will also set me off.

There is a connection between arsenic and alcohol:
http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/co...full/164/2/194

When alcohol creates "pain"... this is also a cardinal symptom for lymphoma.
It can be a sign of it, before any others are noticed.

Hi and welcome to NeuroTalk! You've been given some great advice and reference points...I do hope you get some relief from your condition soon!

I am sorry you are experiencing difficulties!

However, I am glad you are her with us!

I occasionally post in the neuropathy forum.
I think yo will like the PN forum a lot!

I also think you will find many other forums here very interesting!

Welcome, again!
Make yourself at home!

Hi, Gildedlily! Welcome to NeuroTalk!

I hope you'll find our community supportive and informative.

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome and really helpful information.

It's a bit tricky for me to give specific details about how I was exposed; if I put specific details on a web forum I've realised it would be very easy for people who know some of the detail of what happened to work out exactly who I am, and I'd like to preserve my anonymity if possible. It was a really unusual situation and it happened while I was at work. Sorry to sound so vague!

Hello
I was doing an online search just now searching for poisoned survivors and came across your post. I was exposed to a high level of arsenic poisoning that was a very dangerous level in 2005 that left me with close to $60,000 of medical expense to keep me alive and to maintain my life. I have had to rely on a caregiver for over 7 years now being left disabled because of the medical trauma i faced and endured in 2005. All the bodily function i have gained now over 7 years later came with a huge fight. I am considered a walking miracle compared to where I was in 2005 and to even having survived the immensely high level of arsenic exposure. I have gained a lot of knowledge from my doctors in this area to give you some answers to what you are experiencing being that i have undergone an extreme level of this for such unbearably long time. You had mentioned you wondered if there is neuropathy after exposure to toxic substances, well yes with high level of exposure to arsenic and to mercury for example. I am more familiar with high level arsenic exposure since this is what has turned my world upside down for over 7 years now. I have had peripheral neuropathy in my entire body from head to toe for over 7 years. This affects my ability to swallow, and other bodily functions for example since the neuropathy is in my entire body wherever there is skin in my body there is damage to the external set of nerves to go with it. So i cannot feel extreme temperatures like when the summer has 98 degrees temperature and everyone complains around me I am absolutely clueless, i can't even feel the sun as a healthy body would feel the sunshine coming down onto their skin, I am clueless there is no sensation on outer layer of skin to feel this type of sensation.
Only in the last 2 years have i have gained maybe what seems like 1% of any type of sensation so instead of staring at the wind blow the leaves on a tree and feel absolutely no wind against my skin whatsoever just recently do i feel kinda something there against my facial skin when i see the wind blowing but it is barely any sense of touch still. For example in the winter i can go from a boiling hot shower and throw sweats on and go outside in a snowing blizzard and feel absolutely no temperature change and no shivering at all whatsoever. My neighbor who is freezing outside all cold looks at me in puzzlement as i stand there oblivious to the cold temperature her healthy nerves can help her feel. You mentioned you have numbness around your throat i am not sure if you mean inside your throat the numbness and if affects your throat. For me I have the neuropathy also inside my throat and tongue and anywhere there is skin inside my mouth so when i drink water i dont feel it inside my mouth barely at all, maybe 1% not even of any sensation of the water or any food inside my mouth when i swallow, I have to drink lots of water to get the food to help aid in my swallowing for over 7 years now. And people with healthy bodies are absolutely clueless what this is like since you can't see neuropathy you can only observe neuropathy in a human body. This that i am describing now is the residual effects of the exposure from 2005 I have come a very very very long way compared to where i was back in 2005 fighting for my life back then. For me to have the comprehension that i have gained to write this and to type and do all this cognitive functioning currently was impossible back in 2005 for almost 2 years. Of course with neuropathy this extensive i do not have a sense of smell or taste for over 7 years as well. My vision as well the optic nerve gets affected and i always have to fight to read and write anything.
Even to press against these keys to write on the computer is such a challenge that no one thinks about.
To answer your puzzlement on the sensitivity to things that you never had no inclination to notice prior to the arsenic exposure, my doctor explained to me that once the human body endures high exposure to arsenic toxicity the liver gets overburdened to handle all the excess poison that the body has to find a way to keep the other systems operating. So in short version explanation the liver is burdened in your body and this is why when you drink the pain gets worse the excess alcohol that goes into your system has to be filtered by your liver as you drink and this is why the pain in your body would increase at that moment. For example because the concentration of arsenic exposure for me was so high in 2005 it had over flooded my liver's function to filter it all and my body started to push the metal arsenic ions into my muscle fibers thru out my entire body as the human body's ability to keep me alive. It is a miracle i survived and my doctors are still amazed of my progress from where i was and that i have even survived. So the stress this puts on the liver is immense even if your liver is not showing signs of liver damage on your bloodwork any type of high arsenic exposure will put a burden on the liver and kidneys of course too. So I have been extremely sensitive to all kinds of products for over 7 years, that prior to the exposure there was absolutely no reaction. Think of it as your body is still toxic if you still have the arsenic poison in your body and even if you have underwent removal which takes years, i doubt you have undergone enough of the removal process yet.
Your body will still be considered toxic and cannot handle any more toxic type of substances. Even if it appears something minor. What you described how it takes like 2 days to overcome a mild substance has been identical to what i go thru for the entire 7 years plus. I can recommend my main doctor's website of his practice. My main doctor's name is Dr. James Frackelton, he is an M.D. he has an online website of his practice, but i am having difficulty this format site will not allow me to post it. My main doctor happened to take on a special interest in heavy metal exposure for the past 40 years researching this area and also treating patients, he took on this interest cause the effects of high heavy metal exposure is so severe and rare, if a poisoned patient survives like me we have no where to go to for help. My doctor is the best of the best, he knows how my body has been damaged by the high exposure forwards and backwards. I highly recommend him to you. Thank you for reading this I pray it helps you to find some hope. It is very rough being a survivor of being poisoned at high levels it is so rare and people walking around in healthy human bodies have no frame of reference to relate to me. Sincerely, Jodi