Foot drop ?

I had an abnormal EMG. Does this discount TMS as the root cause? The working diagnosis was that the shingles virus attacked my nerves in my lower lumbar. I am convinced it is TMS. Please advise.

 

I had a severe (and frightening) foot drop. Consulted with a neurosurgeon and surgery was scheduled. Before the surgery date arrived, the foot drop disappeared and symptoms popped up elsewhere. When I cancelled the surgery, the surgeon said that resolution of the foot drop was impossible and that I was either a liar or a malingerer. He slammed the phone down on me. I dodged a bullet. After learning about TMS, I realize, in retrospect, that the drop foot in my case was indeed TMS.

 

I had foot drop following an injury to my sciatic nerve. It lasted a few months and then resolved on its own. This was 35 years ago, and have had no problems since.

 

Thanks so much for your quick responses! I am now having hip pain on my right side. My gait is off due to the foot drop; however, I am wondering if this is just another TMS manifestation. I have not done PT as prescribed at the recommendation of Dr. Sarno's books. I am off all prescribed Meds and only use over the counters when pain is unbearable. I am wondering if this is sabotaging the healing process?!

Denise

 

Wow.

 

According to Sarno, TMS can affect nerves as well as muscles and tendons. All that the EMG tells you is that a nerve is affected. It doesn't say why. It could well be TMS.

TMS symptoms are not all in the mind. They are the result of physical changes in the body, caused by the unconscious. For example, I've had back spasms caused by TMS, and they were real back spasms.

Sam's tale is a good caution. If the symptoms don't resolve with the TMS program, consult a TMS specialist, not just any doctor.

 

How long did you have the foot drop and when you say severe, what was that like? Did you have sciatica symptoms?

 

Started with sciatic symptoms. Contracted shingles. Before shingles, I had slight weakness. After shingles, complete foot drop. I have had since October. Sensory damage has been 90% restored. Foot drop is slowly improving.

 

The tingling and numbness and stabbing pain has gone away also. It was neuropathy like.

 

Great thanks for your reply

 

Yes, I had severe, painful sciatica along my right side, from the hip down to my feet. The pain and dropped foot lasted for about eight months, and after the pain subsided, the foot drop remained. It was at this point that I went to the neurosurgeon.

 

Thanks Sam

 

I should have said, "...from my hip down to my

foot. I only have one foot on my right side (and one on my left side).​

 

Well spotted; I missed that grammatical error (shamed because I am a teacher) but I caught your drift!

 

Hi Denise!

Sounds like a frustrating and difficult situation to be in! Having an abnormal EMG does not tell you for sure that your situation is or isn't definitely TMS. Shingles itself is an actual physical illness, like you said, a virus that attacks a nerve root. This may take some time to heal. Make sure you take any kind of antiviral medication prescribed to you for the shingles. Shingles generally attacks just a single nerve root, so if you're experiencing widespread pain (such as in your hip) that is more likely to be TMS. However if the shingles affected the nerve root that was contributing to foot drop, this could be a real physical, non-TMS cause of your symptoms. It should be improving with time. It's sometimes tricky to differentiate which aspects of something like this are physically caused and which are TMS. As a PT, I know that healing takes time. Try to get back to your normal activities and walking, even though your gait is off from the foot drop. If that was caused due to the shingles, it's ok to do foot strengthening exercises.

Hope that helps and made sense...TMS can definitely piggyback on an actual physical process like shingles, which makes it confusing! Message me if you have any medically related questions I could help with. Hope your pain and foot drop keeps improving!

 

Were the shingles on your leg? They run along a very specific nerve route. If it wasn't on that leg, then it seems improbable that it's the cause. I had them on my arm and hand. The nerves are slow to recover there, but I can tell you this: I can feel that same nerve pain in other places, which tells me that it's TMS, because of my fear about shingles. It's a maddening loop our brains play on us. I daily remind myself that it's fear-based and psychological.

 

I had abnormal EMG in my hands and was told that it was irreversible. My wrists were very limited in mobility, kind of locked in, and fingers clawed in (sounds a bit like a foot drop?) because the muscles were extremely tight. Tingling, neuropathic pain, swelling, extreme sensitivity to cold and touch. After 9 months of what I call "doing a Sarno thing", I started getting better. I am about 70% recovered. I am waiting for 100% recovery so I could ask for a repeat EMG. I am curious what it is going to be.

The most convincing argument that I had TMS was that neurologist who was doing EMG and who was dead certain that my nerves were permanently damaged, told me that he had patients who had better EMG in a hand with pain and really bad EMG in the hand that was not painful at all. Interesting that he was still undeterred about his diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome, despite the clawed fingers, swelling in the forearms and similar but weaker symptoms in the feet and ankles.

 

What a story!!! I can;t beleive the surgeon had a nerve to talk to you like that. He should not be practicing medicine and switch to running a butcher shop.

 

Fortunately, he has since retired.

 

My shingles were on the opposite side of my foot drop and were on my upper back and a little on my front belly button area. I did take the antiviral. I will be seeing a TMS doc soon. But, preliminarily he thought that the shingle attack of nerve roots was not the true diagnosis. I get 2 1/2-3 hours of sleep because the hip/sciatic pain wakes me up and I can't get back to sleep. I don't know if I should take something over the counter to help with the pain or just "tough it out."

Denise