I have neuropathy throughout my body, even my torso and face, but I have not found that my speech is affected, (yet?). I know my brain has. My long term memory is excellent, but my short term is terrible and my thoughts are very scattered and confused. I am no longer articulate and I fumble for words.

I would suspect that speech could be affected. It seems that this can affect every nerve in the body so it is highly possible.

I am the exact opposite....

Alcohol does cause damage to the brain, when used excessively.

Here is one article about that:

ALCOHOL'S DAMAGING EFFECTS ON THE BRAIN

Damn you Korsakoff!

I hope you all don't mind my constant babble but I am not going to AA, I am completely alone and I want no one to know that I drink and what I have done to myself. Family only knows that I have neuropathy but cause is unknown.

Being so early in sobriety I have hundreds of triggers in a given day. What keeps me sober is the horrific pain and weakness and then I think of this group and you have given me hope for some improvement in time. I have no illusion that I will ever return to normal function but any improvement will be a blessing. As I have said, the burning is sooooo much worse since not drinking. I would go back on the gabapentin and the atripyline, (don't remember how to spell it and too lazy to look it up), but I don't want to mask the pain because right now it is the only think keeping me sober.

Someone on this thread had said they read somewhere that neuropathy gets worse before better as the nerves regenerate, and they were looking for the link. I don't have the link but I too have seen that quoted by two different neurologists. I suspect I am too early in sobriety to be having any nerve regeneration but it is a valuable visualization and it makes the pain more tolerable.

I have also read that quitting smoking is important as well, as it will help with the circulation and blood flow to the damaged nerves. I tried yesterday but realized I was trying to do too much and I would end up a smoking drunk so I decided one vice at a time. Out of curiosity did anyone see improvement when quitting smoking?

I did manage a short walk today. I walk like a drunk, stumbling about and unable to walk a straight line. Perhaps this lack of coordination is cerebellum damage as opposed to neuropathy. No matter, it is what it is.

LOL...I walked like that too when I ditched my walker and cane and started to walk on my own again. I still have a bit of an odd gait but good shoes (Doc Martens and not my favourite pair of Chuck Taylors) do help.

I have also started doing 20 minutes of leg stretching per day (a week now) and it appears to be helping a bit (why did I wait so long?).

I have really slacked off in the last few months on exercise and it shows!

SecondChances, I think that quitting smoking is a good plan.

Quite apart from the $$ involved, smoking is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, including "circulation and blood flow" and many other things as well.

Quitting is still a work in progress for me. I used to smoke heavily but am now down to 2-3 ciggies per day. What helped me was nicotine patches, which may be available OTC or on prescription.

Maybe nicotine patches might help you too.

Just wanted to check back in. Since my last post I did a lot of research regarding Opiates in general, specifically Oxycontin for me, in relation to neuropathy.

The evidence of a direct link between opioid use and neuropathy is there on more 'official' websites such as the drugs.com or mayo clinic. And there are literally 100's of stories correlating the link on forums such as Medhelp and Bluelight.

The official route is that Oxycontin has a 'less common' or 'rare' side effect of causing 'burning, tingling, crawling sensations in hands, arms, legs or feet'. Sound familiar?

And on the forums I've read of users talking about how using Oxycontin causes PN and when they switch to morphine they're ok; people using fentanyl patches who developed tingling hands but went away around a couple of months free of the patches; chronic pain sufferers describing the hell like cycle between Oxycontin relieving them of their original pain and the PN feelings, but then ultimately they have come to realise it is actually part of the cause of their pain. Even as far as heroin users talking about a side of their body going completely numb for 6 months after injecting.

In the world of alcohol abuse we call our neuropathic pain PN or Alcohol Induced Neuropathy, in the Opioid abuse world they call it RLS (restless leg syndrome) but ultimately the symptoms are identical. AND more dammingly, seemingly almost every user who goes through heavy withdrawals from Opioids suffer some kind of 'crazy legs' or 'charlie horses' as they describe it.

For me personally, the link was very obvious (this is repeated before but I like to be able to read people's stories / timelines when trying to work out what might be happening with me):

Around last October I had my first symptoms of Neuropathy on a sunday - I quit drinking that day and went to the Dr's the following week - Liver enzymes 5 x higher than the upper health limit and all round vitamin deficiencies (especially B's). Changed my lifestyle and the symptoms disappeared 3 weeks later.
I began drinking again a month later, neuropathy returned even worse - stopped again and 3 weeks later it was gone.
Began taking 45mg/day Oxycontin in hospital for treatment of pancreatic attack and after 1 month my neuropathy returned. I quit the Oxy as I left the hospital and it was gone in a week.
Had trouble with more pain and went to see my Dr. who told me there was no link with PN and Opioids and prescribed a dose to 80mg/day (she told me my PN returned due to vitamin deficiency caused by the pancreatic attack). After 2 weeks of this dose my PN came back very strong but it was much more tingly / crawly when I believed it was Opioid induced than it was numb / dead when I believe it was alcohol induced.
I went to the doctors again to check on my blood results to show the cause of my neuropathy but here was the problem...no diabetes, liver enzymes very healthy (I was about 10 weeks alcohol free at this point), B vitamins doing great - high but not too high to indicate lack of absorption etc. The Dr. said it'll still be the pancreatic attack and to not worry. But the pain was incredible, so I booked in with a different Dr and the first thing he said was 'Yeh, Opioids especially Oxycontin has a strong link to pain in the extremities. People have tingling, crawling, burning sensations in their feet, hands and face sometimes'.
So that was last Monday (I quit all Oxycontin use that day) and today is Sunday - Well, I am much, much better. My neuropathy pain was only going one way, worse, and it is now gradually improving. At times I can't even feel the tingling and then it comes back. It's worse in the morning but after a day of activity it's not that noticeable on an evening, and doesn't wake me up now - and this is from being an all consuming pain.

So my theory is this - I damaged my nerves through 5 or 6 years of heavy wine drinking (seems to be a theory out there that wine and spirits are worse than beer) but abstinence and a very healthy diet and exercise brought me back around. The Oxycontin I was taking which usually only affects the nerves of long term or abusive users managed to attack my already weakened nerves within weeks.

Icehouse, I am still wearing my Chucks. That could be part of the problem.

10Decisions, thanks for updating us on your progress. It all makes sense and so glad you are feeling better. Those nerves may always be vulnerable now so stay mindful and healthy.