Originally Posted by LeedsLad84

Hey everyone! Long time lurker and I have read a lot of threads here in the past few weeks. I've been debating or not whether to post my story, mainly through fear of hearing things I wouldn't want to, but have decided to do it and hopefully can get some support/help from this great community.

I will try to give enough information without boring you guys to sleep firstly So, quick introduction, I am a 35 year old male living in London (just outside in Hertfordshire for people that know it) with no underlying health conditions, generally in very good shape, and my story started on approx January 31, 2020.

Prior to this for background, in late December to mid-January, I'd had a very bad infection/virus which wiped me out (respiratory but was like the worse version of flu ever!). During that time, I was prescribed courses of Doxycycline (first course. 1 a day for 7 days) and Clarithromycin (2 a day for 7 days and my stomach hated these). Incidentally, during that time I had also started taking high doses of Vitamin B12 (1000ug/day) and Vitamin D (8,000IU/day) which I later STOPPED after reading things online about toxicity.

Fast forward to February 10 when the virus has gone, but I know wake up with the outer border of my right foot feeling very weird. I'd say altered sensation rather than numb because I could still feel it, but it was very disconcerting and I believe the term used is Dysesthesia.

About a week later (February 10), the 'fun' starts. My left calf suddenly feels cold (not to the touch) and there are pins and needles/skin crawling sensations which wake me up one evening, and from then it comes on pretty rapidly....

I experience a range of sensory symptoms throughout the body, ranging from: prickling, feeling like there's electricity/static in my body which is making the hairs on my body stand up, finger tips feeling altered sensation like cold, numb or sandpaper, visible spasms/twitching, feeling spots of warmth and wetness on parts of the body, and lots of other things. All fairly transient and for the most part, not localised. From February to April I'd say it was at it's worse, probably a 5-6/10 and me feeling very uncomfortable (rather than in 'pain') and it was a very dark time for me. I'd convinced myself I'd got MS and had read every article known to man on Google which is generally full of doom and gloom. I should have known better. I am sure my anxiety and mild panic attacks exasperated things and made the symptoms worse during that time, but I did see a Neuro in any case in March.

He did the standard strength/reflexes/sensation tests and ordered an MRI of the Brain/Spine (with contrast dye), EMG/NCS and at the same time I got bloods done by my GP (basic tests). Nothing remarkable was shown from any of the tests aside from raised B12 (the stupid supplement) at 1187 ng/L and raised serum free T4 level at 23.4 pmol/L. The Neuro didn't suspect nerve damage or anything sinister and said he expected it to clear up and that some viruses can cause peripheral neuritis. He did not think it was small fibre neuropathy, but I can't recall his reasoning.

I went on my way and while things had definitely settled a bit in April, including my right foot regaining all normal sensation, but thing was was definitely still there. There were days, maybe even up to a week, where I thought this nearly gone and I would be really happy, but then it would appear with avengence with a big flare up and this cycle just kept repeating itself and my anxiety about it all would come flooding back. I went back to the Neuro who suggested 10MG of Amitriptyline for 8 weeks to 'settle down' the sensory nervous system, but it really did nothing apart from help me sleep better, so I stopped that in June.

I went back to him again recently as this cycle has continued and he suggested the only thing he could do was to look at medical treatments such as perhaps pregabalin or gabapentin tablets at low dose as there was no clear neurological explanation, which I haven't taken him up on. He also said something along the lines of people don't always feel normal and it's nothing sinister, so I did feel a little fobbed off to be honest and it does seem like a common theme from everything I've read than consultants can perhaps be somewhat dismissive of our symptoms.

Decided to do a bit of research and find someone in London that specialises in peripheral neuropathy to get a second opinion, and I saw him last week and described my story. I immediately felt much better with this Dr and he mentioned it sounded like a post viral neuropathy (even said it could have been COVID) and that it could be non-length dependent small fibre neuropathy based on my described symptoms and he ordered a repeat of the EMG/NCS and some further blood tests (Vit D, biochemical profile and antibodies). I had the electrical tests last Monday, along with quantitative sensory testing. Everything was normal according to the consultant. The only thing he flagged with caveat was that with the thermal threshold testing for my right hand, it was borderline but he believed that was more to do with the temperature on the day and I tend to agree. It was 36 degrees in London and I was in a room with no air conditioning and my hands were very clammy/sweaty (TMI sorry). I haven't heard anything re. the bloods yet but I will hear back from him hopefully in the next week or so about next steps!

So I guess here we are at present day. This condition continues to be like the stock market, up and down! Some days are absolutely fine (1-2/10) where I don't notice much at all and other days it can flare up and be really uncomfortable, especially when the pins and needles or static/electric feelings hit as they can be anywhere, and I mean anywhere! Some days I will just get some mild twitching, and then other days recently I've had altered sensation in some of my finger tips, gritty feeling in the toes, cold freezing/burning sensation in my heel. They can be there for most of the day or just come and go. Nothing ever seems to be constant, one day I'll have warm feet, the next day fine, the day after slight freezing/burning in the toes, etc. All sensory.

It's affected my mental state quite a bit. It's been approx 6 months now and I think my fiance is on the verge of changing her mind if I keep going on about this. I have all the common concerns that I have read form a lot of you lovely folk on here: will it go? Is it going to get worse? Why has it happened to me so young? How will it affect me raising a family etc. etc. I've read some real distressing stories on here, but also read some very uplifting things. Either way, I have promised myself however this goes, I will not just disappear from the site if things get better, I will let you guys know as I know how much the 'good stories' have really picked me up on bad days.

The only last thing to note is I am taking some supplements per day, but I don't think they are doing much to be perfectly honest, although I think the twitching has slightly reduced: 1 Vitabiotics Wellman Original, 1x1000mg Omega 3 (High Strength) and 1x250mg Magnesium tablet. I've also got back into going to the gym- my strength etc. is all still there and I can lift fairly heavy, but I do sometimes get flare ups a day or 2 after a workout which I have read is fairly common.

So there it is, I hope you're still with me and haven't fallen asleep! I appreciate you reading this, and would welcome any thoughts/advice from anyone. I will continue to update this thread as I go if people are interested, but the main thing I am clinging onto is that peripheral nerves CAN heal and I have seen signs of improvement rather than deterioration so maybe one day this will be a distant memory. Here's hoping!

Originally Posted by Ds293

Thank you for sharing your story! I feel the same way like nobody will listen after the first few times. My family is already tired of hearing about my neuropathy i understand completely. I'm having so much anxiety about it and its affecting my life so much.

Originally Posted by scynoth

Your story seems to be very similar to mine. I got the FLU (strand B) in January of this year. 2 weeks later I got sick with some 24 hour gastro bug that had me throwing up all day. Everyone in the household got it including my wife and son. almost exactly 2 weeks after that is when my symptoms started. The first week or two it was just my feet. They would burn and tingle off and on. From there it went to my legs to eventually my entire body. I get pins and needles sensations, burning, itching, poking, etc all over my body along with many of my symptoms you described. The first few months it waxed and waned day to day, week to week. Some days it would be a 1/10 and I could hardly tell it was there and others it would be a 6/10 and bud the crap out of me.

Then after about 4 months is basically went away for 2 months. During that time I almost forgot about it all and almost every day was a 0.5-1/10. Then, out of nowhere, it returned back to where it was originally (maybe a little less intense) and for the last month it's been the same off and on waxing and waning. My nuro also suggests it's some type of post viral issue that will hopefully clear up on its own.

I've had a brain MRI, normal bloodwork like CBC, Liver, CRP, etc plus other ones to look for autoimmune disorders and everything has come back normal. The whole thing just messes with my anxiety because of the unknown.