My neuropathy...

My neuropathy may not be from chemo after all...  or, at least, not totally.

I started noticing the tingling and spiny jabs about 2 years ago - roughly 5 months post Tx.  It wasn't pleasant to say the least, but eventually I was prescribed Gabapentin and that seemed to calm it down.  After a year or so I began winding down the Gabapentin as the neuropathy seemed to be dissipating, or maybe I was just becoing accustomed to it and didn't really notice it as much.  Regardless of the reason I wasn't bothered by it nearly as much.

Then, starting about 6 months ago, I started noticing more numbness and tingling, especially in my hands.  So I started to ramp up the Gabapentin to about 3/4 of what I inititially took.  But a couple months ago I started waking up at night because my left arm was super numb and my hand would hurt terribly from the numbness, and all I had to do to relieve the numbness and pain was to move my arm to my side.  This, I thought, was not neuropathy.  So I went to see my PCP and with one question - "Does your arm go number when you put your wrist back and apply pressure?" - to which I answered "Yes, while I'm riding my bike", she gave her educated guess diagnosis - t was a classic case of carpal tunnel syndrome.  I got an EMG a week later and CTS was confirmed.  So it seems that at least some of the numbness I had been experiencing was due to CTS.  I'll be getting that fixed next month and since, I was told, it is usually bilateral I'll likely have my right arm checked (I've since begun feeling a little numbess in it) and fixed as well.  My PCP was able to identify the symptoms as she went through it herself.  The doctor performing the test said my carpal tunnel was mild enough to be completely reversible.  My PCP said hers was cured almost immediately.

On top of that, the numbess in my feet (especially the big tow on my right foot) may not be due to the chemo either.  While talking with my older brother it seems that I've been experiencing the same maladies as him, just 2 years or so later.  One of them that he suffers from is numbness in his toes and a burning feeling.  Yep, that's me, too.  He also gets a tightness as if his foot is in a vice, which I don't have, so I can be thaankful for that... so far. His doctor thinks he has "familial peripheral neuropathy".  Who needs chemo induced peripheral neuropathy when genetics can do it for you?

It will be interesting to see what happens after thecarpal tunnel surgery.  If the numbness caused by it goes away will that arm feel normal again?  There is likely not muh that can be done for my feet, but I'll try whatever I can.