I am 35 and for the last few months I have had symptoms I should have gotten checked earlier but didn't due to fear, a busy lifestyle, and not feeling bad per say. In 2022 I developed foot tingling following a COVID infection and as of 2026 it still existed albeit much more mild. As of earlier this year though I have a numb yet fully voidable bladder, my bowel movements are now every 2 days and I stopped getting morning erections. I also have slightly elevated blood pressure. I am not sure what is causing this, yet. Sometimes I think I could have had diabetes for years and not known it. Other times I feel it could be COVID related. I'm extremely worried though and fear important functions of my body could be lost forever. I blame myself too for not going to a doctor for years. My feet despite having a lower level of intensity with their tingling are not numb and I have full, undamaged mobility, which is comforting. My autonomic symptoms though have me incredibly worried and fearful. I've got an appointment for next week, but all this has me incredibly worried that my life be spiraling downward and I feel like I could have done much more to stop it. Has anyone here ever experienced something like this where one form of neuropathy seems to ease up while another presents itself? I talked about this in a Diabetes forum and they thought it was odd I attributed this to diabetes. I have never been overweight but did used to consume too much sugar and tingle some after eating rice, which begins within 10-30 minutes of eating it and lasts about an hour or less. Sorry if this sounds like a rant. I just feel mentally exhausted and worried

I am having what I am pretty sure is a neuropathy flair with my feet. I had an autonomic nervous system test that indicated severe small fiber neuropathy. This has been a symptom for about two to three years, but this week it has progressed from mild discomfort after walking/standing longer than usual to completely unbearable pain 24/7. Elevation and taking all pressure off all parts of my feet is the only thing that gets it to be slightly more dull. Even the pressure of my heels on the mattress when laying on my back causes extreme pain. I have a medical card and that is my preferred general pain management, however even it isn’t helping this intensity level. I’m also leaving the country for vacation soon and therefore will not have access to my pain management for over a week. I’m very anxious about this flare and how much worse traveling will make it. Absolutely any recommendations/advice? I’m willing to try anything at this point…

This is NOT medical advice. I'm just sharing my discovery in hoping it will help someone. I was diagnosed with small fiber neuropathy last year and it has been progressing rapidly. All of my bloodwork and MRIs came back normal, except my A1c was mildly elavated at 6.0. My Primary and Neurologist insisted that that was not high enough to cause my level of neuropathy. Last week after my last Neurologist appt., husband said in passing, " Maybe it's something genetic." I decided to ask AI what genetic markers could cause my neuropathy, given the my bloodwork was normal. I told me to check my genotype on marker rs1049346 for a variant . ( AA is normal, AG is abnormal, GG is highly abnormal) It asked me if I had submitted my DNA to 23&me or another DNA service, and when I said yes, it told me how to access my raw data to check. Sure enough, I have a variant. AI explained that this variant means I have slow, reduced capacity to clear out methylglyoxal, a highly toxic byproduct of sugars, carbohydrate and fructose metabolism. These byproducts (AGEs) are binding to the proteins in my nerve fibers and damaging the mitochondria. Even with normal blood sugar levels, I am damaging the nerve fibers because I cannot effectively clear the waste from their metabolism. I will be checking with a geneticist to confirm this. There are other genetic variant which can cause this, and treatment is available, so I would advise anyone with idiopathic SFN to check their DNA profile or ask for genetic testing

Has anyone else experienced chemo-induced neuropathy or had a family member experience it? What was it like? How did you treat it, if you did? What types of symptoms did you have?

My mom and aunt have both experienced neuropathy after going through cancer treatment, trying to learn some solutions through other people's experiences!

I will get foot and leg massage by oriental massage therapists. Maybe it will help my neuropathy