New member - just saying hi
 

Hello just wanted to say hi and how good it is to know I'm not the only person with this.

A quick bit about me my names mike I'm 34 and have been having burning pain, shooting pain for 17 years now my walking is bad I need a walking stick and sometimes need to hold someone to as my right leg can give way.
It is only in the last year the doctors have told me I have
Small vessel diease in my foot this has caused a lose of a toe also have nerve damage in the leg with total loss of feeling from the knee down .

Welcome Mike. I am sorry you have had these problems for so long.

Thank you Sally
I have good days ( think I remember what they are ) and bad days there has been days where I have been in pain that I have thought about taking a knife to my foot/leg just to ease the pain as far as my family go think the words the use are something like I have a sore foot or a foot problem

Glad I found the site as not a lot of uk site for this

Welcome, you will find this site to be invaluable, I know I have. :)

Welcome to NeuroTalk.

It sounds like this might be a hereditary neuropathy, with it starting when you were a teen ager?

Did the doctor suggest that or diagnose that?

Hello Mike
 

Welcome to Neuro Talk. So sorry to hear you have this condition. There are compassionate people on this site. Feel at ease here with any dicussion. Glad you found this site, you may make a few friends too. ginnie:hug:

Hi mrsd hi ginnie
No mrsd the doctors have been as helpfull as a chocolate teapot, for years I was pasted from one dept to the next getting told sorry we can't help try going here.....
Would say its only in the last year I have had test on it ie Doppler, emg, angiography to try to see how bad it is.

Hi Mike
 

Chocolate teapots may taste good, but they don't do much for the health.
I hope you can find a compassionate doctor, that will listen to you and try to help. I hear so much of doctors, that just brush past the patient, not really doing much at all, them charging an arm and a leg. Please look for another physician, and maybe consider a physiatrist. This type of doctor treats the whole patient, not just parts. This has been who I turned to, and it did me a world of good. Mrs.D has talked alot about B12. This was the first thing she did to help my over all health. If you can google up this kind of doc. maybe you would get better help. I wish you the best. ginnie:hug:

Hi Mike!
Is it only one leg that is affected? That would be unusual as it seems like most neuropathies are bi-lateral. Does anyone in your family have similar symptoms?
I love the chocolate teapot line. Useless indeed. I can just picture a messy puddle of tea and chocolate, running all over the table. Most people who post from the UK make me glad that I am here, though we certainly have plenty of useless doctors in the states as well.

Have been told the small vessel diease effects both legs but the nerve damage and loss of feeling is only in the right ( well for the time being anyway) I do get the blurred vision every now and again and have started only in the last few months having the pains and needles pain in my left hand but have never thought any of these are related.
I would give anything to get my mobility back as I use a walking stick because my right is useless somedays it is like I'm pulling it along so I do go outside unless I have to
Hugs to you all
You are really nice people hopeful one day I can call you all friends

Small blood vessels will contract in response to poor diet.

High sugar and high carb intake, increases insulin which then causes inflammatory and constrictive effects on blood vessels.
This is a Cox-2 process.

Low magnesium intake also will cause small blood vessels to
clamp down. You can fix that with supplements of quality magnesium (not OXIDE) and soaks in epsom salts.
This is my magnesium thread: Products with magnesium oxide in them are not appreciably absorbed in the GI tract.
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread1138.html

Certain supplements also help blood flow. L-Arginine is one.

Inflamed blood vessels can be due to autoimmune disorders, and there are blood tests for that. Also certain antibodies made in the bone marrow impede blood flow in the periphery. These can be tested for in blood tests as well.

Hi Mike, welcome. I'm sorry to hear what you're going thru, but you've found a great forum with some really good folks.

MrsD, in Mikes case could his doctors consider using a blood thinner, like Warfarin, to prevent the occlusions he's encountering?

Hang in there, Mike - I've had Peripheral Neuropathy for only 4 months and between the doctors who dont know, the tests, the time stuck in a chair, the frustration and hopelesness have at times seemed overwhelming. But these great folks here have had lots of answers, and always have an ear.

Peace and joy :hug:

/Bob

Thanks for all the advice
I have been given gabaptin by the doctor to take have try blood thinners made the pain just ache more.
I enjoy the hospital vist ( joking) where doctor I see has to send me for the same tests will they read the medical notes I'm not dietetic nor do I smoke or drink but still get given the blood test forms lol

Why use a toxic drug like coumadin (warfarin) if something else could work better?
If there is no evidence of increased blood clotting from testing, I can't see using warfarin.

Some people have posted here who were taking warfarin, and they were much worse with neuropathy than before.
Warfarin is only for blood clotting. Not for constricted blood vessels per se.

Yep, you're right now that i think about it. Clearly I need to leave the advising to you because you know a helluva lot more than I :smile:

Ignore what I said, Mike.

/Bob

There are all sorts of vascular problems with PN.

Some can cause PN, and some are the RESULT of PN.

When nerves become damaged, they no longer can control the
diameter of blood vessels.

But then there are autoimmune diseases, that cause inflammation of the lining of vessels..this is called vasculitis and often treated with drugs to suppress the immune system.

Thick blood from bone marrow disorders can make the blood too thick to get thru small vessels. This is called gammopathy.
Blood tests are used for this.

Eating very high carb and fat foods often will raise triglycerides in the blood and also cause sluggish circulation. So watching diet is important.

So there are many factors that affect circulation in small vessels. A careful diagnostic workup is needed to determine exactly which problem is present.

For some reason warfarin seems to bring people here with PN complaints. I don't know if it is because of its "poisonous" attributes or what, but we have had posters taking it and having worse PN, or new PN developing. I have not found it on lists of drugs that may cause PN... but every list I HAVE found is different from others! So it remains unexplained at this time.