There have always been reports of B6 as a cause of neuropathy, but some reports don't even include the doses people might have been using.

This report does give doses and is from 2005:
from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...&ordinalpos=18

Many studies echo this:
Everyone is different. The only way you will find answers to your particular situation is to stop all B6 intake for several months, and see if your PN improves (studies say it does for toxicity). If not, the other factors may be present for you.
I have used P5P 50mg for almost a decade and never had any problem but instead have had nice improvement in my carpal tunnel issues.

mrsD,

Thanks for all of your input. I am going to stop all B6 intake (both the 25 mg P5P and the 18 mg embedded in the multi-vit) for a number of months and see if the PN improves.

I may also move forward with the lumbar stenosis surgery as it is becoming harder and harder to live with and who knows, perhaps it is contributing to the PN as my neurosurgeon believes and not totally ruled out by Johns Hopkins.

If you do not have symptoms elsewhere besides the legs, I would agree with you that the lumbar issue may be your culprit.

Toxic PNs usually appear all over, not only in one place.

I would get tested for Vit D too, next time you have blood work done. Many people are low in this, and low levels contribute to chronic pain, it has been recently discovered.

Good luck on your surgery, if you have it.

mrsD,

My vit D level was checked not long ago and was ok.

My symptoms include the normal burning/stabbing in the feet but also pain coming downward from the low back through the buttock area and into the backs of my legs along with weakness through the legs. It also seems that when my back is flairing up my feet seem to be worse. That is why I have always wondered about some connection between the two or if I'm dealing with two separate issues?

Thanks again for your help and unless I hear any strong reasons why not to have the lumbar surgery, I will probably go ahead with it.

When my PN started back when I was about 30 (years before my son was born)...I had it in both hands and feet, but not the legs.
Mine is a metabolic form, due to low thyroid functions.

I think if there is a toxin, or global metabolic reason, or autoimmune component, there will be symptoms all over the body, and not localized. When localized I think looking for a specific trigger/reason is more helpful.

Please keep us up to date and I wish you a successful surgery should you decide to have that done.

you could well have two different things going on. Peripheral Neuropathy in the feet and sciatica or something similiar from your back through your legs. This has been going on to me for the last ten days. I have sensory motor axonal PN in my legs from the knee down and in my hands. My feet are dead numb. About ten days ago i started to get the constant pain in the lower back which radiated to the outside right upper thigh made my upper right leg numb. It has slowly been getting better but still hurts today. I have been taking muscle relaxer and aleve. I also have buldging and herniated discs in the lumbar and cervical spine but when i have lower back pain usually its more sharp type of pain then this current one and with the usual lower back pain i can find a comfortable postion to lay down or sit whereas with this there is no comfortable position. Because we have PN we are more susceptible to other nerve related injury or symptoms. Its called the double crush phenomenon. Glenn has posted about this many times here and if you do a search on it on here he explains it in much greater detail than i do.

Basically what im saying is that you can have more than one thing going on. Back surgery may help one but not the other.

Echoes,

I am almost convinced that I have the double crush phenomenon going on. That is probably why my feet are worse when my back is really hurting. When I lay down with heat on my back, both my back and my feet are somewhat better after a period of time. And now since the stenosis is horrible in my back, my back symptoms are worse and so are the feet. In the meantime, the elevated B6 could be responsible for the original SFN diagnosis.

Like I told mrsD, I've stopped the B6 as instructed and I have lumbar stenosis surgery scheduled for 11/30. It will be very interesting to see what happens with the SFN in the next 6 months! Thanks for your input.

When I first 'got' PN then another neuropathy 'version' I did the whole vitamin route.... and cautiously I mite add. But, My neuropathy kept getting worse! So, I persued various medical testing, while I could still walk and drive and got myself all that testing!
I then took a look at all my meds...cross referencing side effects etc. AND there were some... BUT WHEN I took a whole gander at my vitamins? I found out that B-6 was thrown into almost anything! I was ingesting over 6+ times the MDR for B-6 from this combo! I switched to pre-natal multi-vites and then searched for any other brands of other vites W/O b-6.... It Can be done! And yes I am a lady, but that doesn't mean the combos of vites if pre-natals aren't for you?
Thing is? You don't want to make things worse, and B-6, while in some instances is needed? Too much of a good thing this is NOT.
I hope this helps -'s - j
Also? Application of heat or cold - remember this rule [Told to me by a former ER nurse] 20 minutes on any spot? 20 minutes off that spot. For Heat? I use a moist heat-heating pad and simply rotate, same w/ice pacs. You can get some in the drug stores? That are like those chiller packs for toting foods to football games etc? But, these are flexable...cost about $6-10 a pack and are great for the chilling aspects. They sort of thaw after about an hour? But put 'em back in the freezer and in 2-3 hours? They are good to go again! IF You have a severe PN tho? Be sure to use some sort of washcloth or the like between IT and your skin. Too much too fast isn't good nor comfy!