numbness in my feet

[Honeybeeblue]

Hey. I am a little concerned. I recently started having numbness in my feet. I can walk fine but flexing my feet seems impossible. I did get blood work done and I am waiting for the results. Has anyone had this issue before. All the research is pointing toward B 12 issues. Any info would be helpful. Thanks

 

[brooklyngirl]

I've seen some people talk about "drop foot" and that being related to b12. Was it @SHales maybe?

 

[Elizabeth N.]

Yeah, I'd be worried about B deficiencies in terms of nutrients. There are lots of other reasons for this to happen, though, so get it fully evaluated. Don't self diagnose.

 

[southernlady]

B vitamins are the most common obvious culprits after surgery BUT it's not always the case. The numbness in the feet need to be evaluated by a neuro along with a FULL lab panel.

I have peripheral neuropathy (PN) which is damage to the peripheral nerves in the body. It is classed as either sensory (nerves used for feeling/touch), motor (voluntary nerves involved in walking/balance) or autonomic (involuntary nerves involved in things like your heart beating, stomach functioning).

I have all three types...and MINE is caused by years of uncontrolled blood sugars, aka diabetic neuropathy. There are over 100 types of peripheral neuropathy. Some are mononeuropathies...affecting just one nerve or part of the body. Examples are carpal tunnel.

There are three main types of peripheral neuropathy are diabetic, alcoholic, and idiopathic. I have diabetic, dh has idiopathic. They do not know WHY he has it...they checked his B levels back then (it pre-dates his DS by 6 years) and they were all normal (and yes we saw the actual lab values cause I was paranoid even back then about B12 and B6).

Most common drugs are neurontin (generic name is gabapentin) and lyrica (generic name is pregablin). I know that neurotin has a bad rep with ME...it's why I have permanent memory issues and it caused my highest weight recorded. When lyrica came along, I was coming off neurontin and swapping to t ramadol (had to split it to get past the banned word list)and amytriptyline.

And just to confuse issues, many of the same symptoms of PN are similar, and even the same as MS. But MS affects the central nerves not the peripheral nerves. The peripheral nerves GET affected by the damage to the central nervous system as they can't properly send signals thru the damaged central system.

I have very limited feeling in my feet...so the ONLY time I am barefoot is in the shower or bed. It is dangerous to have numb feet and go barefoot.

 

[SHales]

I've seen some people talk about "drop foot" and that being related to b12. Was it @SHales maybe?

I did experience foot drop with a B12 level of 613 or something close to that number. It wasn't verified but it went away after a B12 injection and hasn't happened since. I didn't have numbness though. High B6 can cause problems also. I would get it thoroughly checked out, it may have nothing at all to do with your surgery.

 

[star0210]

My toes, in particular, go numb quite often and its related to my lower back issues.

 

[SHales]

What @star0210 said ^^^. I have have a LARGE numb spot on my outer thigh from lower back problems.

 

[Charris]

Have you been diabetic before. I have and gained the diabetic neuropathy in my legs and feet they go numb and tingling. I take mega doses of neurontin. Have the done a CMG to test?

Edited word correction, grammar correction.

 

[southernlady]

Have you been diabetic before. I have and gained the diabetic neuropathy in my legs and feet the go numb and tingling. I take mega doses of neuropathy. Have the done a CMG to test?

@Charris I think you mean neurontin? If so be careful, IT DOES CAUSE weight GAIN.

The test is a Nerve Conductivity Study and HURTS!! I've had both legs and both arms tested over the years. While I was in a Parke-Davis study back in 1999/2000, I was given one about every 2 months for 18 months of the study.

But even if you aren't diabetic, if you were, you can still develop diabetic neuropathy.

 

[Honeybeeblue]

Thank you all for your reply. I will post my lab results once I get them back. ☺

 

[Charris]

@Charris I think you mean neurontin? If so be careful, IT DOES CAUSE weight GAIN.

The test is a Nerve Conductivity Study and HURTS!! I've had both legs and both arms tested over the years. While I was in a Parke-Davis study back in 1999/2000, I was given one about every 2 months for 18 months of the study.

But even if you aren't diabetic, if you were, you can still develop diabetic neuropathy.

I did mean neurontin. I take the highest dose possible. 800mg 4 times a day. They just restarted me on it because it's cheaper than Celebrex. It also works better for me. CAUSES WEIGHT GAIN? Crap I've been on it 5 years. I'm gonna need to do some investigating. Thanks for the information.

 

[southernlady]

I did mean neurontin. I take the highest dose possible. 800mg 4 times a day. They just restarted me on it because it's cheaper than Celebrex. It also works better for me. CAUSES WEIGHT GAIN? Crap I've been on it 5 years. I'm gonna need to do some investigating. Thanks for the information.

Actually, the highest dose I know of for PN was 7200 mgs a day. The dosage listed is the highest possible for Epilepsy which is what it was designed to treat. Neurotin as a drug for PN is OFF-LABEL. I don't remember my highest dose well but it exceeded 4500 mgs a day. And I started at 1200 mgs...kept having to titrate up about every two to three months. Lost a week to the fuzzies every time I moved up.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a694007.html List of side effects.

I hit 250+ (highest weight I ever saw) in 2000 and stayed up at 250 til 2002. Had to tritate off it but once I was off, I lost 40 lbs that year.
And it "rots the brain". I ended up on SSDI due to the memory issues it caused.

 

[Charris]

Oh wow scary. Both pain management doctors I have been to told me that 3200 was the max. But maybe for pain management clinics or something. It made my supervisor, mom and her twin fuzzy in the head. I don't have any of that i know of.

 

[Sheanie]

Too much B6 can cause nerve damage. Bulging discs in the back can cause numbness in the feet. My husband has this. He goes for decompression therapy if it becomes bad. (Think medieval "rack" torture, stretching the torso)

Keep us posted.

 

[Razbry]

Renauds?