Hi – I’ve been lurking around the forum here for about a month now, but have only posted a time or two. I’ve been reading & digesting a ton of information from the old posts, and a few of you (Mrs. D, etc) are almost starting to feel like old friends. So, I figured, I should at least introduce myself.

I’m turning 53 tomorrow, and I live with a few ongoing health issues - including IBS, anxiety issues, and about a 15 year history of occasional vague numbness/tingling in the extremities. (The numbness/tingling was thoroughly checked out years ago, but labelled “idiopathic”. These symptoms have continued to come and go a time or two a year)

In July of 2014, I started getting some stiffness/tingling in the legs which progressed into twitching, then cramping. It spread to the arms and other areas as well. After seeing four doctors, and having numerous neurological exams, blood/urine tests, 3 MRI’s, somatosensory evoked potentials testing, EMG, and nerve conduction studies – they told me they could find "no neurological cause for my symptoms”. They also left me with the feeling they thought it was “all in my head”. I was prescribed Gabapentin, which seems to control the twitching and especially the cramping fairly well. I tried to ignore the symptoms, and just move forward with life, and over several weeks my strength returned pretty much to normal.

Then, about 2 months ago, my feet started burning. I mentioned this to my primary doctor as well as my neurologist – and both said it was probably caused by the same “idiopathic” problem that was causing my other symptoms. I was offered anti-depressants, but turned them down since I’ve had very bad experiences with them.

About a month ago, the burning feet got very bad, and since the doctors don’t seem to be able to help – I started doing my own research and ended up here (among many other sites).

Based on the knowledge and experiences the members here have shared over the years of past posts, I’ve made significant dietary changes and started on some vitamins and supplements. Obviously, it’s too soon to tell what the long term outlook is for me. I’ve got a couple doctor appointments this week to push for some additional testing to determine a cause. But since I’ve started on the supplements and dietary changes the symptoms have at least stabilized. (Considering how fast things were getting worse, stabilizing the symptoms was really important, or I wouldn’t be able to keep working much longer.)

Thanks again to all the past posters, for the great information you’ve provided. I’m looking forward to continuing my “education” here, and hopefully I’ll be able to pass on my experiences to others as I move forward with managing (and hopefully one day recovering from) this illness.