Hi...my 30 year-old husband has recently been diagnosed with moderate to severe peripheral neuropathy in his feet. This all started within the last year. He has had numerous blood tests (including for diabetes) come back normal. He has had an EMG which gave the moderate/severe results. He is going for a spinal tap this week and possibly a nerve biopsy if the tap doesn't give any abnormal results.
My question involves medication induced neuropathy. You see, my young husband has quite an extensive medical history. He takes betapace for atrial fibrillation, zetia for high cholesterol/trigylcerides, allopurinol for gout. He also has a "fatty liver." He was diagnosed with Lyme disease in April but was noticing problems with his feet months before this. Is anyone aware of any link between some of these meds, particularly the allopurinol or zetia, and PN? Our neurologist seems to blow this off.
Also what exactly is he looking for with the spinal tap and nerve biopsy? The neurologist did vaguely touch on a connection with cancer. What sort of disease progression do we have to look forward to? What can we do to treat/stop the neuropathy? He is sooo young to have all this going on. I feel like maybe there is one thing that could tie all this together.
Thanks!

Hi there hon.

Welcome to our little family. You will find lots of information here. I'm a wife just like you.

Your husband sounds like he has had a rough journey. He is lucky to have such a loving wife.

Keep reading, someone will help you on this board.

All the best,
Melody

This drug is reported to cause neuropathy.

While it is not common, it can happen:
There are a few other reports on Medline, but they do not have abstracts I can access.

--is likely to look for autoimmune markers and/or infectious agents--either which could cause a neuropathy, depending on what is found.

It could also come out clear as a bell, though, without eliminating the possibility of autoimmune or infectious factors at work.

There are some paraneoplastic syndromes that produce neuropathy through autoimmune mechanisms--and many of the blood cancers (lymphoma, Waldenstrom's, myeloma) can have neuropathy as a concurrent or presenting symptom. I would assume (though maybe I shouldn't) that if he's gone through at least a bit of a work-up, he would have been checked for obvious signs of these--have they done a peripheral blood smear and cell typing, and an immunofixation electrophoresis of serum and urine (to check for the monoclonal or M-proteins associated with blood cancers and neuropathy)?
This reminds me--always good to put in a plug for getting copies of all of your and your husband's test results, and to organize them using the Liza Jane spreadsheets:

www.lizajane.org

Much easier to track results/patterns and to suggest other possible tests to physicians who otherwise might not think of them.

I am a former Lyme case, physician diagnosed at the time, and with an EM rash as well. It has been 14 years, and I have read that Lyme is associated with PN, but that doesn't help you much unless you have an active case of Lyme, as it is simply dubbed a 'post Lyme'. A PCR for the Lyme organism from spinal fluid, is often used to rule out current infection. A positive blood titer does not mean you have current infection, only that you produced antibodies to the organism at some point in your life. What is a current infection with Lyme, and how to diagnose it remains very controversial.

I would assume he is having a biopsy for Amyloidosis, as he is young for fatty liver.

Small fiber neuropathy is best diagnosed by epidermal nerve fiber density biospy, which involves taking punch biopsies of skin rather than sural nerve, unless for some reason, the doc really wants to see that nerve. Docs are of the growing opinion that if they don't need to take Sural Nerve they don't, because it can cause some permanent effects. That said, your doc may need the Sural Nerve for some reason...but I would research that first.

Epidermal Skin Biopsy for Never Fiber Density can often be the only positive finding, when EMGs and Nerve Conductions Studies are normal. It sounds like your husband already has some abnormal tests.

You can have a heck of a bad case of Small Fiber Neuropathy and be normal on a lot of those more routine tests, as in my case.

I suggest going to a Tertiary Medical Center (often associated with a Medical School or Research Facility), with a good Neuro Dept. I muddled around with a local, but large clinic for 10 years when I should have gotten myself to a better medical institution, and I am worse off because of it. There is a lot I would have, and would not have done had I known I had Neuropathy.

I can't tell you how many carpal tunnel tests came back inconclusive yet my hands were numb or tingling or in terrible pain for a decade....'borderline carpal tunnel'..."Here have another wrist splint." approach.

Check out his medications online for neuropathy as a side effect.

Glenntaj has a ton of good info. Oh, and on the paraneoplastic syndromes, small cell lung cancer has the highest correlation to paraneoplastic PN coming on as the presenting symptom, but several other cancers can present with PN. It could also be a purely neurological phenomenon and have nothing to do with cancers. There are many, many reasons for PN, and several types of PN.

And lastly, a good quarter of PN is Idiopathic...which means a cause is never found; diabetes, thyroid, autoimmune disease and a huge number of diseases have PN as a symptom, so don't panic. Toxicities are a possibility as well. It is hard when you get the news and we all jump to the worst possibilities. Diagnosis will likely be a process that takes time. It is hard, I know, and my telling you to relax won't help, but keep in mind, it isn't always a worst case scenario. It does feel that way, tho. Keep the faith.


Feel free to PM me.

Hey MRSD

Would a 'Yellow Jacket' motel work to trap the nasty critters and let your 'hummer' eat in peace? Just so she can't get into it....take a look at one and make sure she can't use it, or, well, it would not be good....I think it would be OK for her, as the hole to get into the 'Motel California' is small and once you 'check in you can't check out'. I use the fly motel and the yellow jacket motel, both outside....that fly motel really reaks like a garbage can. It is poison, and not for use around people....I am not a fan of pesticides or herbicides, but when you live down the road from a corporate farm flies are like exterior wallpaper. The fly motel is the lesser of two evils and it beats spraying the house so we can all breathe in a neurotoxin. And yes, we use the old fly swatter.

I could never work with 'medical maggots' and the mere suggestion of treating some one with them makes me, well, nauseated, to say the least.

Thanks for all your suggestions and info...

In terms of his symptoms, he just has decreased sensation in the bottoms of both feet. No pain, tingling. He used to be extremely ticklish, now I can tickle his feet and he barely notices! We were at a waterpark this summer walking around barefoot on the concrete and the skin on the pads of his feet was hanging off and bleeding. I had to point out to him that he feet were bleeding to figure this out. He had no idea! That's when I decided we should have this looked in to.

He actually had his spinal tap yesterday. Is it normal for him to be having pretty bad pains in his neck today? They come and go and do seem to ease up somewhat when he lays on his side. His pain started as a headache and worked its way down to his neck. He isn't running a fever but just doesn't feel well.

I will look more into the nerve biopsy if it gets to that point. Thanks!

Lisa

Hi, just got this off the internet:

Here you go:
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Risks
Although infrequent, several complications can occur as a result of a spinal tap.

Headache


About 5-30% of people who have a spinal tap get what is commonly referred to as post –lumbar puncture headache.


Your headache may start up to 48 hours after the procedure and usually lasts for 2 days or less.


The headache typically worsens when you are in an upright position and lessens when you lie flat.


The cause of the headache is leakage of the spinal fluid from around the puncture site.


Younger people and males have an increased risk of headaches after lumbar puncture compared with older people and females.


You reduce your chance of getting one of these headaches by drinking plenty of fluids, especially caffeine products such as tea, coffee, and cola.


Occasionally, a blood patch is needed. An anesthesiologist or pain management specialist injects a small amount of your own blood at the site where the spinal tap was performed. You usually experience relief within 30 minutes after this procedure.


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Hope this explains it.

Take care,
Melody

It's probably best to go for the skin biopsy BEFORE the sural nerve biopsy. From my knowledge, the skin biopsy has no complications usually but the nerve biopsy leaves the area permanently numb/irritated. And yes, MANY people get spinal tap headaches and they usually last for a week. I hope your husband finds a cause so they can treat it right away. Have you guys tried natural medicine/alternative treatments? EG. Vitamins, the rebuilder, microvas, tens, anodyne and the like?

Hi Lwm, a fatty liver and gout, just wondering if he drinks alcohol and has he he had a Glucose tolerance test or just a normal Glucose blood test which is useless for any possible prediabetes.
Brian