Is it REALLY neuropathy?
 

My symptoms have been a little strange so I thought I'd start a new thread. I'm new here and young(ish) (age 24) so please be gentle on me.

For 8 months, I had a gradual onset of the below symptoms (in order):
Headache, Flu, Paresthesia (tingling) in feet, paresthesia in hands and face, shocks, pain along nerves, pain around joints.

Due to the ascending nature of it, I assumed small fiber neuropathy. Most tests (including ANA, Lyme, EMG, NCV, etc...) have been normal.

The neurologists shrug and the medicines they prescribe (Lyrica mainly) don't work. (What else is new?!)

So what is it? That is the question!

I have theories I would love to bounce around with people:

1. Cat Bite: I was bit by a sick cat I was cat-sitting a few months before onset.
2. dTap vaccine and Flu vaccine: I received both two months before onset
3. The flu: could this be post-viral? Where is the literature on this type of neuropathy?
4. I'm uber tall (6'10"). That must be a risk-factor. Multiple nerve entrapments?
5. Is it neuropathy at all? Could it be muscular? Connective tissue?
6. I'm crazy. I've had anxiety and somatization forever so maybe this is "just stress"?

Thanks for your time reading and your thoughts. I'd like to prove the doctor's wrong on this one so I'd love your help. :hug:

I tend to think, 1, 2, or 3, or a combination of them.

A cat bite often gets red/swollen, and shows infection. There may be fever and/or swollen lymph nodes. You can get tested for
bartonella I think.
this link explains all the bacteria that may be in a cat bite:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/739023_5
If you don't belong to medscape, you can join free very easily and keep your account open for any future visits.

2) the vaccines really could be culprits.

3) and post viral damage is real, and maybe self limiting, with a recovery period. (shingles pain does pass for many, but not everyone, and some have lingering nerve symptoms).

I will give this example using myself.... I am pretty stable all these years with my PN, but if I get MSG in food by accident from a carry out or restaurant, I can have a couple days of real flaring symptoms. The same with sudden falls in barometric pressure with the weather. So the environment may play a big part of our distress sometimes.

I certainly don't think you are "crazy"!

Seems there has been a few people on here questioning the tdap----my neuropathy started several months after a tdap vaccine, but I have never had a Dr. have even the slightest interest in the connection.
Mine is believed to be acquired/immune related and shows up clearly on the emg/ncv.
I don't think being tall causes neuropathy in any way, but it makes sense that being tall would mean the nerves are longer would require more healing time. I am tall as well (5'9")

I commented on the vaccine in another forum too. There isn't much evidence for it and even the VAERS database doesn't have many claims. But it makes sense if you're body overreacts and starts attacking the cells, provoking something autoimmune.

I know this is awful to say but I'm glad you were able to diagnose it with a positive EMG finding. Ideally, it would be nice if no one had it. But at least you pinpointed the system involved. Now for the healing!

PS: Tall people unite!!!!

Thanks for reading and replying, mrsD. I hope you would. With your knowledge on the subject, you've been helping me since before I joined neurotalk. It feels like I'm talking with a rock star! Regardless, this is no fun to have. I can't imagine having it for many years / decades / rest of my life.

I'm currently being driven by "there always is a cause; it's just a matter of finding it." I just hope medical science is advanced enough to decipher it.

cat bite? Do you think the cat carries a pathogen, have it checked out for common organism cats can carry. Diseases from cats would show up with more symptoms than just PN.
6'10 is huge, but it has nothing to do with Neuropathy, unless theres a disorder related to your height.

3)is the most likely to trigger you event. Flu/cold has been suspected of triggering autoimmune disease/nueropathy.
i dont the vaccine would cause neuropathy, if you had the swine flu vaccine, there can be change you can get both pn and autonomic, but that would be guillan barre syndrome, and its rare disorder as well.

Cat scratch/bartonella

It was one of my theories as well. I went to a lyme doctor and didn't even tell him I had a cat and he said my symptoms are consistent with bartnella (but he suspected from a spider or tick bite). I do get bitten by my bratty cat quite often though. She gets mad if I stop petting her. I don't know why they call female dogs bitches. ;)




https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/...cle/001614.htm

http://www.ashdin.com/journals/jnp/235640.pdf

Hahaha. You are a funny lady!

when my youngest son was 10 months old, his lymph nodes began to swell.
His pediatrician ran so many lab tests, and had us worried about leukemia. It ended up being an infection in his blood caused by a cat scratch. A round of antibiotics and he was fine.
Who would think a simple cat scratch could cause such havoc in the body.

When I was first told I had pn, my gp said that i was tall and it was often found in taller persons. I never thought of it again until this post. Im only 6'3"-6'4" (im shrinking) and took his word for it because he is by far the best dr. I've run across.

Anyone else heard of this theory?