[edeneden]

Hi

My mother had a genetic form of peripheral neuropathy diagnosed in her late 50s.

I have had a trapped sciatic nerve for 18 months with no relief - pins needles numbness in right leg/foot. Past 6 months have also had some nerve pain and stiffness in both feet and one foot very painful generally. Does any of this sound like poss PN? I'm early 50s. I slipped a disc 12 years ago.

I am seeing a spinal surgeon next week and waiting to see neurologist. I don't want spinal surgery if it is possibly neurological cause.

[Susanne C.]

You can have both going on at the same time. 12 years ago, when I was 38, I had two ruptured discs, with some fragments pressing on the sciatic nerve, it reached a point within two months that I couldn't walk at ll, my left leg was useless. A simple laminectomy corrected that instantly. Meanwhile I had numbness in my toes on both feet which continued to progress. I did develop the stiffness and pain that you describe, and I was diagnosed with hereditary neuropathy, or CMT. The stiffness is the hardest thing to deal with, and it has progressed. Especially since your mom had it, I think it is likely that you do as well.

[glenntaj]

--is, in the end, functionally neurological; the bulging/herniated discs or arthritic bone spurs press on nerve roots or the spine itself.

That said, as Susanne indicates, you can be "co-morbid"--you can have mechanical/pressure problems with nerves that stem from spinal situations and you can have other neurological insults simultaneously (the so-called "double-crush phenomenon").

It would seem that you need some extensive imaging of the spine to see if there is a direct obvious cause of symptoms coming from there--but a standard work-up for other neuropathy causes wouldn't hurt, either. And, if the genetic form of neuropathy your mother has is one with known and observable biomarkers--which is likely, if she was definitively diagnosed--that testing should be done, too.

Many hereditary neuropathies have varied presentations in terms of location and intensity of symptoms, so it may not be easy to tease out just how much of your symptomology is from what percipitator.