Idiopathic Peripheral Neuropathy

Welcome to Healing Well, Seattle21. I'm a 3rd generation Washingtonian, born in Seattle. I also have small fiber peripheral neuropathy caused by my Crohn's disease.

Has your husband been evaluated and tested by a neuropathy specialist? Has he had a boat load of tests? If not, then he needs to search one out and get the appropriate testing to see if there is a cause. While something like 20% of neuropathy cases are idiopathic, I think its important to make sure all avenues have been evaluated.

As to whether his surgery caused the neuropathy, my guess is unlikely. However, I'm not a doctor.

I'd tend to agree with Mercy.

I'm not a doctor....

As I think of the possible connections,...well, I don't really see any.

I'm not sure how a ruptured appendix in 2009 would cause the neuropathies you mentioned.

How did his surgery go?

M.

Have you had nerve testing?

Peripheral neuropathy isn't the same as central pain, but the symptoms are the same. Nerve testing would tell the difference. Infection is on the list of central pain causes.

According to the Central Pain Syndrome foundation:

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CAUSES OF CPS?
Some common causes are stroke, spinal cord or traumatic brain injury, cancer, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis and Epilepsy. Less common causes of CPS are:
• AIDS, especially end-stage
• Aneurysm
• Arachnoiditis
• Arteriovenous malformation
• Cauda equina syndrome
• Cervical myelopathy
• Charcot Marie Tooth
• Chemical toxicity
• Cluster headaches (some think this might be a form of central pain)
• Gunshot wounds
• Infection (bacterial or viral; such as Shingles and encephalitis)
• Lead neuropathy
• Meralgia paresthetica
• Mercury toxicity
• Myelomalacia
• Neurofibromatosis
• Posterior myelitis
• Post-polio syndrome
• Prion disorders
• Radiation exposure
• Reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome
• Spinal cord infarction
• Surgical accidents
• Syringomyelia
• Tethered cord syndrome
• Transverse myelitis
• Vascular malformation
• Vitamin B-12 deficiency
• Any condition that causes nerve demyelination or other nerve or brain damage

Even if the dr did something wrong, it's too late to take any legal action.

Sounds like he might need a MRI of the area in his back [lumbar, pelvis] where the pain is. There might be some issue with his spine. Or if there is a foreign body in his abdomen it would show up.

Hi. im not sure if the neuropathy was caused from surgery or not but i had neuropathy following chemotherapy for 15 years. it caused numbness in my feet, couldnt feel anything when i walked outside barefoot except occasionally pain if i walked on something really hot. my drs told me there was no treatment, so being young, i guess a little niave and trusting i believed them.....until about 15 years later (last year) i decided there had to be something to help this. i researched a bunch and found a european study using methylcobalamin ( an active form of B12 and befotiamine- a fat soluble form of B1) to treat diabetic neuropathy. So i tried it. their product contained 300mg benfotiamine plus methylcobalamin but i honestly dont recall the dosage. i was too cheap to buy their expensive product....so i figured id try Vitacosts brand as i have had good results with their products.
I only used 150mg befotiamine because the study said some people get diarrhea on higher doses and my tummy can be quite touchy at times.
I also started on 3000 micrograms (3milligrams) of methylcobalamin. I took that dosage for about a week then went up to 5000, then 10000, then 20000 up to 40000 micrograms daily in divided doses. i increased doses because the first dose initially was helping- but not like youd think. my feet started to hurt significantly more within the first week or so. they became even more painfull to stand and walk on and cold temperature increased the pain as well.
But once the increase in pain resolved, it just kept getting better, with reduced pain and tingling and numbness. i upped my b12 dose because everytime i did, i felt improvement except 40000 did not give any improvement after a week so i went back down to 20000 and stayed there for over a year.
This summer was the first summer since i had chemo that i could feel grass under
nder my feet. i can feel i have toes touching together when i wiggle them

In case you cant find my long post- i used benfotiamine 150mg daily
and 3000-40,000 micrograms (3.0 -40.0 milligram- not a typo!) of methylcobalamin increasing doses until no further healing of nerve
damage was noted, then back down to the last dose i showed improvement on (20,000 micrograms) and stayed at it for a year or a little longer. I stayed on befotiamine for a year as well, doubling the dose near the end to 300 mg to see if id get improvement again and i did get some additional mild improvement. I have gotten lazy though and have been off both about
6 months with no return of symptoms.
Hope this helps someone!!!!!
Ps. bought both online - used vitacost brand but any reputable brand should work. must be methylcobalamin NOT cyanocobalamin!!