glenn: thanks for your response. as to work-ups, i've had every pn/cidp work-up known to mankind, i think, and nothing has given the MDs any clues as to the cause or to even an absolute diagnosis. suffice it to say, i was very disappointed when the ivig round produced no results (unless, of course, the present regaining is a delayed ivig reaction ....). got the spinal tap two weeks ago but won't get results until end of next month. if it shows indications of cidp, the doc may try steroids on me.

mrsD: well, my footdrop isn't exactly bilateral, it's just worse on the right side. plus, i'm pretty sure i've never suffered an injury such as you describe. i'm kind of inclined to think maybe the drinking is, if not the cause of the problem, than at least a big contributing factor. At the time I felt the numbness coming on, I was not drinking and had not been drinking for 19 years. Six years ago, I started up with a bit of wine and then increased that bit of wine to about 1/3 - 1/2 bottle a day and, during that period, the PN took off like a rocket. coincidence or causation, i don't know, of course, but it sure couldn't hurt to lay off the booze for a year or two and see what happens.

thanks again for speaking up!

Of all the alcohol types, I think wine is the biggest trigger, followed by beer. There are congeners in wine:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congener

I can't tolerate wine at all. Flares my PN like crazy. But I can use a "clean" vodka... Some vodkas are filtered to remove congeners, like Skyy, and Smirnoff.
You could test this yourself, and if a "clean" vodka still flares you then it is the alcohol. If not, then it may be the congeners in the wine. Wine also has sulfites in it and some people react to that with an allergic histamine type response. So that is another reason to avoid wine if you have PN.

There is a fat pad behind the knee to protect the peroneal nerve. Some people who are very thin do not have this fat pad and are therefore more vulnerable to compression there.

If your foot drop was from something in your environment which you either consumed or initiated with some sort of activity or accident and that has changed, then you may see improvements like your describe.

With time if your foot drop returns, then further testing to see what may be happening to you as far as autoimmune triggers would have to be done I would think.

And stopping the drinking entirely may also demonstrate the alcohol involvement.