NeuroTalk Support Groups - question about PN

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question about PN

Hi all,
I was wondering if exposure to chemicals or hazardous waste can be a contributing factor to PN.

We used to incinerate our waste at the hospital but the lab waste was sent out.

Some how.................the lab waste was throw into the cinerato r:eek: without my knowledge. (accidently, I think not). The person who did it let me go in and rake up the ashes and chunks so that everything would ignite again.

I started vacation the next week and the following week nothing was said to me because they had the wrong persons name down as working that shift. So I did not have the 24 hr urine or blood testing for almost 3 weeks. By that time mercury, formaldehyde and any other lab chemicals would have already been well absorbed into my tissue and there was no sign of anything but low level mecury which I was told was in normal range.

This was about 5 years ago and the man was fired and nobody pursued it and so I didn't either. I am losing feeling in my left hand, grip strength, muscle mass, there is pain, sensitivity to hot and really bad to cold and also my feet tingle all the time. This has come on quite rapidly and is moving up my wrist in the past month.

Does anyone have any info on this? I am going to get a list of what exactly was burned that day. I want to give the list to Mayo. I am not a person for law suits, but I am sure that it will be like pulling teeth to get that info, but I have my sources. :D

Any help I can give the doctors may aid them in getting to the root of all of my maladies. Maybe they all tie in.

Any input from you good folks would be greatly appreciated.

Judy

Can't put my hands on citations right now, but the answer is yes.

But if the problem is only on one side, it may be less likely.

rose

about asymmetric neuropathies here. Gold is the only toxin I see mentioned causing asymmetric sx.

Very general rule: Asymmetric neuropathies tend to be more treatable than symmetric types.

Your malady could be a lot of things, ranging from something in the central nervous systems to thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS), which has a room on this board. I thought of TOS when you mentioned shoveling.

Thanks Rose and Steve,

I will be leaving for mayo on the 30th and I guess I am grasping for any info that I can gather. Great sites!!!!!!

I don't intend on trying to be the doctor there but anything that I can tell them about my problems and past exposures may assist them in narrowing down my problem.

You help is greatly appreciated, and perhaps by the grace of God and the wonder of medicine, I will return with a diagnosis for the first time and begin the road to recovery.

Thanks for everything and God bless,

Judy

Hope everyone on neurotalk does well and keeps the bond that they have formed.

Were you tested for arsenic?

This rare event was just in the newspapers:

Quote:

Doctor: Park may be poison source
Woman's arsenic level was elevated

January 19, 2007

BY TINA LAM

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

Stacy Karafotis believes her favorite pastime, softball, could someday lead to cancer.

"It makes me so angry that no one ever told us," she said.

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click here
Karafotis, 39, of Garden City and her doctor believe she may have gotten arsenic poisoning from playing softball at Central City Park in Westland. The park was closed in early November after the Free Press began asking questions about contamination there. State, county and some Westland city officials have known since at least 2001 that the park was contaminated but didn't tell park users.

Karafotis played her last game two days before the park was closed. Tests a few weeks later showed she had arsenic levels several times higher than what is safe. Arsenic can cause cancer.

Michael Morgan, deputy director of Wayne County's health department, isn't convinced Karafotis got high arsenic levels from the park.

"We don't have data that shows there's arsenic on the baseball diamonds," he said.

Tests have shown arsenic elsewhere in the park.

Karafotis has played softball three nights a week for 20 years.

"People kiss the plate, rub dust into their cuts and lick dust from their hands when they get up to bat for good luck," she said.

Karafotis' physician, Dr. Michael Harbut, said her arsenic levels dropped 75% by December, evidence that her exposure could have come from the park. Because arsenic is excreted in urine, levels drop after exposure ends, he said. Harbut is an environmental medicine specialist and testified to Congress on the current arsenic standard.

Testing in 2005 found elevated arsenic in soil and woodchips near a pressure-treated wooden playscape at the park. An arsenic compound is used in the pressure treating process.

Seven other soil samples from other parks showed arsenic levels that wouldn't require a cleanup.

Harbut said dust from the playscape, near the baseball diamonds, could easily have blown to the dirt ball fields.

Morgan of the county health department said: "If it's a problem, we need to know about it. But we have looked over preliminary data and see no areas of arsenic other than the playscape."

Karafotis has been advised to have yearly screenings for cancers linked to arsenic for the rest of her life. She urges people who played at the park to get tested.

Contact TINA LAM at 313-222-6421 or tlam@freepress.com.

Here is another medical article:
http://www.emedicine.com/neuro/topic20.htm

Quote:

Neurological: Paresthesias and numbness, usually in a symmetric stocking-glove distribution, and muscle weakness are a result of peripheral neuropathy. The onset and progression may be mistaken for Guillain-Barré syndrome. This problem may persist long after arsenic exposure stops. Fatigue and weakness are major complaints. The neuropathy is not seen acutely but develops over the weeks subsequent to exposure in acute or subacute toxicity. In regular, long-term arsenic exposure, the presenting complaint is frequently a sensory neuropathy with features that resemble an alcoholic neuropathy. Burning paresthesias in glove and stocking distribution, early loss of stretch reflexes, and later weakness are seen. In severe toxicity, flaccid paralysis may appear in the lower extremities, then the upper extremities. This is maximal about 4 weeks after acute exposure. Again, the clinical picture resembles Guillain-Barré syndrome.

Arsenic can be inhaled as a gas from fires. And can be in well water.

I'd searched out possible prior...

toxic exposures in prior life as causes for my PN....can't prove it...Identifying exposures IS important tho...

Usually after such a period of time, toxic effects should not be apparent, unless there are things such as molds, or chemical/metal content waters or foods particular to your area.. It's hard, very hard to prove...Mainly because we don't all live in either 'test tubes' or perfect environments.

That doesn't mean it's wasted effort! All things that mite have happened in the past can, shall I say...predispose you to reactions at this point in time of your life. In my own case that mite be the issue...a long term bout of pneumonia, followed a couple of months later by the 'onset-symptom' stuff.

It's frustrating! So few folks ever find out any direct cause/effect! But hang in there...You have to be your own advocate--wracking your brain about every little thing [it's what one DOES, what else can we do?] It will probably be you w/all the puzzle pieces that will put together the real puzzle picture...even if you can't prove it. Nearly all the time, be sure not to blame yourself...for any aspect....I mean: How the fruitcake were we ever supposed to guess THIS would happen? It's worse odds than trying to win the lottery! At least, then, we could be easily able to pay bills?

Hugs in the meantime...Look up LizaJane's lists and try to herd up as many tests, reports, films, etc. as you can from your prior life.

More hugs! - j

heyjude, i responded to another thread..... i dont know if you havent been back to check ?......the barretts esophagus is a RED flag for celiac disease/gluten sensitivity, please make sure that is followed up....PN is also common in gluten sensitivity....as are some of the other things lsted in that posting..... good luck

Thank You All For Your Input.

I Have Always Believed That We Have To Be Our Own Advocate When It Comes To Our Health. Doctors Are Only Human And They Can Use All The Help We Can Give Them.

I Have An Itemized List Of Every Ailment I Have Ever Had Or Currently Have. I Have All Documetation Of Every Surgery And All Blood Work That Pertains.

This All Goes Back About 10 Years And I Have Also Mentioned That I Had Hepititis A When I Was 2. The Water In The Town We Had Just Moved To Then Was Contaminated And A Vast Majority Of This Tiny Village Got It. I Was The Only One In Our Household.

The Hospital Pretty Much Ignored My Request For A List Of What Was Incinerated That Day, But All I Have To Do Is Tell The Mayo Doctors To See What Their Lab Sends Out To Be Properly Dispsed Of And That Should Give Them Some Idea. Labs Pretty Much Use The Same Basics.

My Exposure To Des Invitro Is Also On The List. I Do Think I Am As Prepared As I Can Be.

I Have Researched Anything That You Great Folks Have Given Me And I Will Try To Suggest Things Without Sounding Like I Am Trying To Do Their Job. I Don't Want To Get Off On The Wrong Foot With Them.

I Expect To Return Home With A New Outlook On Life. I Expect The Best But Am Prepared For The Worst. As Long As I Come Back With A Diagnoisis, I Will Be Relieved.

Thank You Again For Sharing Your Knowledge With Me. Most Of You Have Been Down This Road And Sometimes It Just Helps To Know You Are Not Alone.

Big Hugs To All Of You That Have Responded.

Judy