A specialist is a good idea for steroid, as yes, they can cause serious and permanent health problems with long term use.

But it would be a good thing to try...just to see if your neuropathy is inflammatory based. They could do 40-60 mg of Prednisone a day for 5-7 days and by then you would know if it would help at all. If it does, then you should see someone about long term treatment and whether you would benefit. Sometimes even smaller doses are enough to help the inflammation and pain. It's the one proof positive test to tell if it is inflammatory based neuropathy.