A brief recap, I am in UK and had my first neuro appointment after waiting for 8 weeks. I have had numbness/burning/loss of sensation in legs and now all the way up to torso although my arms are fine, thank goodness.

He did a few walking tests, heel to toe etc. tuning forks for vibration and said my left foot is weaker (which I can feel) although I think it is the whole of the left leg and he thinks it may be spinal compression causing the neuropathy and wants to do an MRI to rule this out first of all. The wait should be no more than 6 weeks.

I feel that my gait and balance is getting worse quite fast and look forward to getting the MRI although he did say if it was spinal compression or impingement they could only halt the problem and not improve it. Will up date later after test. Thanks.

Dear Superstar,

Please keep us posted. How are you getting through the long waits for appointments? Wishing you better days.

Did he mention an EMG/nerve conduction study? My initial neurology appointment involved the same "manual" tests as yours. But after I was pretty sure I had symptoms in my arms and hands in addition to my left foot, I called him and he agreed to do the additional tests, and that provided a little more information about my type of neuropathy.

No, he did not mention that but wanted to rule out spinal compression first as it was the most urgent he said and from what I have heard a 6 week wait is not too bad for our NHS in UK but am hoping it will be less than that. I asked if a brain MRI was worth doing and he said he didnt't think so at this time although I would have thought doing both together would have been better but fingers crossed I will get an appointment sooner rather than later. Spinal impingment was also mentioned and also slipped discs but from what I know that would be very painful and I would know if `i had a slipped disc but MRI will rule these things in or out.

Hi Superstar,

"Slipped disc" is a misnomer for a herniated disc, which may or may not be painful depending on severity. They occur as we age, so it's possible to have many and not realize it. Many of the painful ones can heal on their own (like the one I had a couple months ago). When they herniate enough to cause symptoms is when they become problematical; the MRI is a way of finding out exactly what's going on and how severe.

Doc

Good luck with your MRI, I am in the UK too and agree your waiting time is super fast for the NHS. Hopefully they will find out soon what is going on.
Take care.

Got an appointment now for 18th October so am very pleased it is so soon. He did say to go to A and E (ER) if anything got worse and they would do it sooner but touch wood everything will be ok to wait til 18th and if they have a cancellation I may get in sooner, will update later.

Thanks for all the replies and help from this board.

I'm new to this forum and have a question. How do I start a thread asking this question? "I have just been diagnosed with Axonal neuropathy and have an appointment at the Mayo Clinic the end of this month. Does any one out there have this diagnosis?"

On the forum page, http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum20.html, there's a button that says NEW THREAD on the lefthand side, just above the Sticky threads. You'll need a new thread title—something like, Axonal Neuropathy and put your post in the window below, just like you did posting the above.

You can find more information on how to use the forum in the FAQs:
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/fa...b3_board_usage

Doc

I am lucky as a 3 week wait is very fast here in UK so counting my blessings there. Am quite worried as in addition to the other symptoms I have noticed over the last couple of months that my balance is not good if I look sideways while walking and also my gait is affected, especially first thing in the morning. Neuro had me hop on each leg which I found almost impossible on left leg which tells me there is a lot of weakness there and they feel like lead as if I had walked up 20 flights of stairs. He did say he didnt think it was MS which is something I had worried about but spinal MRI may show something.

Thanks to everyone on this board for helping us newbies.