Hi and welcome, your spine does sound very suspicious but it still might not be the cause, i think its very well worth looking into though, if you can get an MRI on your whole spine as it may show if there is any pressure causing this to affect your feet, normally pressure on your lower spine affect your feet but it can come from the cervical spine as well.

As far as soon as you take your shoes off you feel better, well anyone with small fibre damage in the feet, normally can't stand wearing normal type leather shoes, usually aggravates the heck out of them, as there are many,many small fibre's at the surface of the skin, the small fibre's job is send correct signals concerning heat, cold and vibration to the brain, when there damaged they send confused signals that's why you feel that burning feeling and its very common for the feet to burn more at night, some can't even stand bed sheets on them, which makes me ask, are your feet sensitive to touch? or have you any numb spots any were on your feet ?

Loosing patches of hair, have you been to a dermatologist ? Alopecia comes to mind, someone correct me if i am wrong but i think i can be caused by the immune system, autoimune problems can be asociated PN, like Hypothyroidism and another is Celiac disease which one symptom is diarrhea.

I would defiantly take notice of the previous posters and i would get a refferal to see a neuro that is a PN expert not just a normal neuro, to get all appropriate blood and other tests done.

good luck
Brian

I don't think just normal blood work tests for auto immune issues or certain diseases so you also may want to ask about that too. Also maybe to have it repeated. I know in the past with mine it would vary greatly in between. As for the shoes for me ex even wearing socks can aggrivate my issues to an extreme. It really depends. Have you lost weight through this?That could be a sign to your body is not absorbing nutrients and why the stomach issue,hair loss,and possible other issues.

Hi and welcome -- I hope you find some help here. With regards to your symptoms and back problems: Usually, if a disk or back problem causes neuropathy it is not symmetrical. That is, one side will hurt and the other will not, or will not hurt as much. When the symptoms are symmetrical and start at the bottom of the feet and move up, it is usually a systemic problem, like diabetes, toxicity, or..... idiopathic, which means they don't know what the cause is.

You guys are great. It feels good to post something, go to sleep and wake up with a bunch of responses =). Thank you.

Rose, thanks for the advice. I did buy a bunch of vitamins.... Methyl b12, benfotiamine + B complex, ALA, Gonna order some GLA, Ginkgo biloba, Acetyl-l-carnitine. But I was wondering if it's ok too hold off on the B vitamins until I get a blood test for possible deficiencies? Unless my general blood test should have already tested for them. The results were all in Korean so my GP just said your blood is normal. I don't really understand what she meant by that.

Daniella, I have not had a MRI of my spine. Nor have I had an EMG. I do however, suspect that it is small fiber damage if anything. Also, it's been really hard for me to be referred to a neurologist to get to that EMG/MRI phase. In regards to the blood test, do I have to request a specific blood test? I thought maybe the general blood test covered most things.... Am I wrong? And yes, I have lost a lot of weight. I actually lost about 10 pounds in one month, but I think that was due to lack of exercise because of this. I like to lift weights and take my protein shakes, but have stopped doing this since my feet were affected. I actually feared my feet were affected by me doing squats with a bad back, which would again, be a possibility... But anyways, the weight loss was mostly muscle, and I have started to gain it back by eating, eating, eating.

Silverlady, my diet hasn't changed too drastically from America. I do eat the traditional korean diet, which consists of Rice and vegetables, but I used to eat that in the states since my parents are very traditional. I do of course, eat lots of meat and dairy as well. As of now, I'm only taking alpha lipoic acid 600 mg a day, which my GP prescribed. I have bought some B vitamins but I am waiting on them to do a b-vitamin blood test first.. I don't want any false readings...

Melody, thanks for the advice. I actually bought the B12 cause I read about you raving about it on these boards. I will push for the MRI, I am really hoping that the spine is causing it....but that doesn't explain the diarrhea.

NTlegend, that could be a possibility. The only problem is that I don't eat fish. I stay away from all sorts of seafood. Is there another illness that's similar to that but doesn't require the ingestion of bad fish?

Yorkiemom, I have changed my diet since. I'm mostly on a sandwich diet that is high in vegetables. I drink water most of the time and try to stay away from sugary things. I don't know how it has affected me but I think I may have to give it some time. In regards to shoes, I bought another pair and spent a lot of money on them. I don't feel a difference, but again I may need more time.

Brian, my feet are not sensitive to touch nor do they have any numb spots on them. My feet actually feel normal to the touch; it's just when I put shoes on for about 2~3 hours or so. I've been to a dermatologist, she said it was caused by stress and gave me a steroid shot for them, and the hair seems to be growing back slowly. I wish it was that easy to say "hey, I think I have PN, can you send me to a PN expert?". To be honest, I don't even know if a PN expert exists here. The process to get a referral is painful and takes a long time. I also noticed that you pretty much healed yourself of your condition... how long did it take and how did you approach it?

Dakota, yes my problem is symmetrical, but my right foot burns noticeably more than my left foot. There are times where it feels like both my feet are burning, but in actually it's only my right. Don't get me wrong, the left one burns, but it seems like most of my attention is spent on the right foot. The right foot also buzzes at times, where my left foot doesn't.

Again, thanks to everyone for the quick responses. It's good to know that I do have some sort of support.

Hi again, it does biomechanical if that's the right word, seeing you only have problems standing up walking sorta thing, i would push for an MRI of your spine at least, shouldn't be to hard [ i hope] to convince them that PN can come from pressure on the spinal cord.

It does sound pretty tough to get things done over there but anyway I found this Koreon Neurological Association site that MAY be able to put you on to a good neuro at least, if that's possible at all. http://www.neuro.or.kr/eng/contact.html

In answer to my PN, it was caused by prediabetes and low b12, it was caught early by a PN expert, which over 4 years only took a change of diet [no sugary carbs] and exercise and plenty of b12/ multi B & vit C as well.
good luck with it anyway,
Brian

Do wait on the vitamins, but only if you can get proper testing right away!

And I would start a good fish oil.

rose

I had a question. It seems like my symptoms came on a week from each other; does that mean my cause is acute? sub-acute? or chronic? I know it's impossible to know, but what do you guys think? Also, I'm going in for a colonoscopy to get my gut tested in regards to my diarrhea... I had a question for Rose or for anyone. I noticed that in your webpage about B12, it said that parasites or bacteria would cause a malabsorption of b12. Do you think my colonoscopy would be able to catch those things? I think it would be good to know so I can ask my doctor about it. Anyways, if you don't know, it's not a problem; I can ask anyways. Thanks!

I think you are going to have to have an endoscopic procedure. They take biopsies thru a scope down your throat. I've had it done, found an ulcer, etc. Doesn't hurt, they put you to sleep.

Billye

Not being able to find a GP that will *listen*, being in a country where you don't know the language.... Wow. I'd be scared. Surely there has to be a doctor somewhere that will do what's necessary?? Or am I being overly optimistic?

At any rate, you've found the best place in the world to be (this board) for finding info and getting good, solid, knowledgeable input. Welcome! And I hope you have made some headway.

Barbara

Anyways, this is what I'm planning to do. I'm gonna go to another neuro, give him the normal NCV, and tell him "I talked to my neurologist in the states(of course I don't have one in the states) and he said that you should run these tests: (LIST ALL POSSIBLE TESTS). He said these tests are very important and a condition, especially this one, shouldn't be determined after one test." What do you think? I think it's a good way to get the message across without undermining his knowledge. Maybe he will think " ahhh, this is what they do in America." Hopefully, just hopefully.