Hi lanesra,

Signed up here to specifically reply to you since you are from the UK too and probably under the NHS!

My liver is shot and I have alcoholic neuropathy. B12, thiamine and all those can and do help but unfortunately some of the damage is irreversible. I can only suggest you stay away from the booze, or at least reduce your consumption if indeed you think you have this condition.

Initially I was diagnosed with polymyalgia rheumatic, however, treatment with steroids and knowing my alcohol abuse history I got the diagnosis I did.

It literally happened overnight. One day I was fine and mobile, just having the usual aches and pains, the next I was debilitated and couldn't get out of bed. That was five months ago and I haven't had a pain free day since.

I knew alcohol was bad for you, but naively I never knew my abuse could result in this. What previously would be just a walk I could do in twenty minutes, which effectively amounts to walking down the stairs in a fifteen storey building and then back up again is now a really daunting and painful prospect. Writing this I am riddled with pain through my right shoulder down my arm through my wrist and into my hand.

Pins and needles, typically circulation problems, but alcohol neuropathy affects the heart, which pumps blood and so can lead to circulation problems.

Curb the alcohol, decent diet, if you need the vitamins take them. I'm fifty one, you don't want to wake up a few decades down the line and wake up one day like me.

No one who knows me would have credited my alcohol consumption would have landed me where I am today. I am not a social drinker, I haven't lost my home or my business. I just have a quiet drink in front of the pc arguing with others on my favourite forum. I am a functioning alcoholic, awaiting to see if a liver transplant is my only option available.

Please heed my warning, don't fret and don't be anxious, oh alcohol induced anxiety I could write the book, sadly.

Take care.