Icehouse, 1888 days is awesome :)!

As far as the ciggies are concerned, I found that stopping the last few per day was hard as well.

I like your "mental choice" approach. One thing that helped me was to realise that part of it was enjoying the tactile sensation of a smoke in my fingers - finding something that I could fiddle with, replacing that tactile sensation, helped.

Just a thought.

Do not know what I have
 

Hi Everyone, spent most of my day reading everyone's stories on here. It actually made me feel better to hear people struggled with what I am going through but also depressed as my symptoms seem to be much different in ways and it is leading me to think I have MS and not AN. I will be seeing a Neuro soon although my PCP told me he is almost positive I don't have MS based on no family history, and my symptoms. Anyway, I have not been drinking for over 6 weeks and things got better for a few weeks but then worse when I got stressed because I thought my girlfriend was pregnant.
Now all I can think about is the way my body feels all day and it is running my life into the ground. I have so much anxiety i can barely focus on anything else. Here are my current symptoms. Like I said, I unfortunately think I may have MS and will find out soon but wanted to thank everyone for their stories and share mine in case someone has a similar one to me.

34 years old, used to dip tobacco but quit 3 years ago when i had my first bout of cold feet and a few fingers and decided that was the reason. Quit drinking as well and lost 50 lbs and got into ridiculous shape. Fast forward to 5 months ago I herniated two disc's in my back while lifting. I had been binge drinking for over a year and most definitely may be the highest functioning alcoholic ever lol. I could drink an entire magnum sized bottle of Merlot on a Tuesday night and be at the gym the next morning at 8AM. I was drinking a lot per week we'll say.

Well My feet were numbish and I kept drinking, and I went to a bachelor party in Nashville and I drank pretty heavily from Thursday- Sunday early AM. I drove back to ATL and was feeling cold in my feet and legs and then that night woke up and was soaking wet and my arms and legs were burning. I preceded to self diagnose myself and figured I was going through Alcohol withdrawal. I kept reading about the DT's and counted down the days to that 42-72 hour window when they start and of course had a chest pain and convinced myself I was having a heart attack and checked myself into the ER(False Alarm of course).
After a week I went to the PC and my symptoms were kind of stagnant with my fingers and feet going from cold to not cold and some burning in my arms and legs. He prescribed me some vitamin prescriptions and Gabapentin(sp?) Which i did not take because I would rather know how bad my symptoms are rather than mask the pain.

However the numbness around my body subsided a bit and then when I got super stressed 2 weeks ago about girlfriend they came rushing back and I have been stressed ever since, and this week traveled to Austin, TX for work and the building was cold and the temp was a different and all of a sudden I was getting tingly sensations in my face and hair line and my nose got cold and my knees would burn off and on.

So that is where I am as of tonight. I have no idea if stress can make things worse or if I truly have alcohol related neuropathy or some other ailment that just coincided with my drinking habits but from everything I have read on here no one has said anything about their face being affected. I'll never drink again regardless of my diagnoses and I'll make sure to update the thread so in case someone has my symptoms down the road. Anyway, thanks for baring with me, I don't really have anyone who knows what I am going through so this helped from a psychological standpoint.

Hey Sean, welcome here.

You'll probably appreciate that it's virtually impossible to give a diagnosis over the internet. That said, the symptoms you report are certainly not unusual when it comes to neuropathy. While for most people it is mainly hands/feet, there are quite a few patients who have pains and sensations in other "extremities" (lips, hairline, etc.). It's certainly not a one size fits all condition.

It's also not always easy to diagnose. For some people it becomes clear after an EMG, for others it takes forever to be sure.

One thing: in my case stress is a major influence on how I feel, on how much pain I experience. So much so that I sometimes wonder if "it isn't all just in my head". It isn't - my EMG was very clear - but it doesn't cease to amaze me how much stress influences it.

One other thing: the whole concept of "high functioning" is best forgotten/dismissed. It usually means you have more time to damage your health before you get into serious trouble.

Finally: until you have some actual tests done, it's very hard to say what exactly is wrong. Stress and anxiety can cause the weirdest sensations, and you may have neither PN or MS, but a) that's not a good reason to start/continue drinking and b) the doctor (and be as honest as you can) is your best bet to find out what's what.

Hi Sean

Welcome to the community.

I think that Wide-O has offered you some great ideas.

Apart from being in remission from alcohol abuse I am also in remission from clinical depression with some anxiety as a bonus. I got a lot of help from a clinical psychologist who has experience of working with clients with depression/anxiety - she taught me a number of techniques (CBT, mindfulness, relaxation methods). Maybe you could consider getting your GP to refer you to a similar mental health professional?

Well done on deciding to stop drinking! That is a big step forward. It might be that in the early days (it surely happened to me!) you will drink again. If that happens and I hope that it doesn't, please don't beat yourself up about it. My clinical psychologist has wise words about this; "Remember that it is just a lapse, not a relapse.".

Please keep your thread up-dated; nobody will judge you and all will do their best to offer you support and encouragement.

Metanx update
 

Hello all. I posted about Metanx last month. I want to report that I have had significant , indeed very significant results with this product. I have much better feeling in my feet and legs, and a tremendous reduction in pain and related symptoms. I am stunned and very happy about this result. Just one person's experience, but I recommend giving it a try if you are interested.

Great News!
 

Hi Newstown.
It's good to hear that this particular drug is working for you.
It's been a while since I last posted, a good while in fact. Sorry about that, drink has been taking precedence. Of late, I have really been struggling with alcohol, and have only this week started to see an alcohol worker. My symptoms have been getting steadily worse, and only yesterday I had a real bad attack of strange, almost painful, extremely tingly feelings, not only in my hands and feet, (which is now constant), but throughout my whole body. This was worse if I bent my head forwards, to the point where I thought I was having a stroke or something. This triggered a major panic attack. Also, three weeks ago I foolishly attempted to quit drinking without first cutting down steadily. This resulted in me having severe epileptic type seizures, (three in one day), and ending up hospitalized. To be honest, my GP has not been of much use, so it looks as though I will have to change him.
I shall, as of now, stay more in touch, and keep up my efforts to get sober.
Good luck everyone, and thank you.

Coopster, I am sorry to read about your experiences.

I hope that seeing an alcohol worker will help you.

One thing that I have learned from this thread is that there is no "right" way to deal with alcohol abuse - whatever works for you (or anybody else) is all that matters.

Please keep us posted - nobody will judge you and all will do their best to offer support, suggestions and encouragement.

Coopster!

Walk. Vitamins. Accountibility.

I think you are doing great, as your mind appears to be a in a good place....one day at a time. We can do this!

1600 days without C2H6O. ;)

Wide-O, that is a tremendous achievement :)!