Can herpes cause feet neuropathy?

Question

Hello doctor,

I have developed feet neuropathy, primarily the right foot from the past one year. The symptoms went away six months back but returned a month back (burning, tingling, etc). I suffer from high blood pressure and anxiety. The neurologists could not find the cause after all tests. I tested negative for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) but tested positive for herpes 1 and 2. Can herpes cause this? It has been so long since I had these symptoms.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com. It is less likely that your symptoms are related to herpes. Herpes infection does not usually lead to such a clinical situation. Besides, a positive test does not always indicate an active infection. The fact that your tests resulted in positive means that you have gone through this infection in the past. In fact, herpes 1 is a very common infection (almost everyone has gone through it). So, I do not think that your symptoms are related to these types of infections.In many cases, no cause of peripheral neuropathy is found (idiopathic peripheral neuropathy). Regarding the pain and burning sensation, I would recommend starting treatment with Pregabalin or Gabapentin. Another possible treatment option would be Duloxetine. I would also advise you to be active. Physical therapy can help improve your clinical situation. You should discuss with your doctor about the above treatment options.

Answer 2

Hello,

Welcome back to icliniq.com. You should know thathigh blood pressure can lead to chronic damage to the small vessels and thus lead to worsening of neuropathy (by damaging the small vessels which supply blood to the nerves). For this reason, it is necessary to have a better monitoring and control of your blood pressure values. Regarding anxiety, it does not have any effects on the polyneuropathy. But, anxiety can worsen the feeling of burning and tingling sensation (sensitive persons are more susceptible to suffer from pain than other persons). Anyway, all the above-mentioned drugs help reduce anxiety and also the pain from polyneuropathy.