peripheral neuropathy

[hellsbells4]

My 95 year old mum has been diagnosed with this. She lives in Australia. The symptoms are a lack of feeling in her hands and feet, but she can also suffer bouts of extreme pain in them. It is apparently untreatable and incurable - although she has experienced a remarkable improvement in the last six months. I have never heard of this condition before - is it called something else in UK? or is it a releatively newly discovered condition? Does anyone have any experience of this?

My dad has this, but his is related to his diabetes. The pain can be helped by Gabapentin and Amitryptiline, and she needs to be very careful about checking for injuries to her hands and feet

Thanks CMOT, I'm not sure what painkillers mum is on, but she needs them primarily for the severe osteoporosis in her lower spine. Mum doesn't have diabetes but I can understand there being a connection with diabetes - it's about poor blood circulation to the nerves in the extremities I guess. The nurses do check her regularly for injuries.

I have this as a result of chemotherpy. It is horrible. Somebody on another thread recently suggested acupuncture but I haven't looked into it yet.

sorry to hear you are suffering tallulah. Do you get the feeling your feet are on fire during the night? My mum wears special non-cotton boottee type things to bed because she finds the sheets unbearably painful.

I have this due to spinal cord damage, I have been on gabapentin and pregabalin for the pain but I didn't like either so I just use old hypnobirthing thingies when it's bad. It is really important to check hands, legs and feet for injury though.

Spinal cord damage?? Now that's probably the cause of mum's PN - she has virtually no bone left on her lower spine, so the spinal cord is very vulnerable, and likely to have been damaged.

Sounds like it could be, mine is due to a complication of spina bifida called tethered cord syndrome but I am sure the same kind of thing can happen from bone degeneration.

My mum has this, caused by a combination of Lupus, a severe case of shingles (made worse by the Lupus), and her spine collapsing due to her medication for Lupus thining her bnes and fiving her Osteoparosis.

She gets "itchy,tingly, painful restless" feet, and also conversely has a lack of sensation which means she is very unstable on her feet and walks with a crutch.

She fell down two steps in May, as a result of not feeling the steps, and broke her pelvis and fractured her arm.

She is seeing a Neorologist for this condition.