Slow progressing numbness

I”ll jump in here too with Eric, Charles and Dick. I too have had a slowly progressing numbness which started in about August 2006 with a feeling like there was a pad or wooden block under the balls of my feet when I was running. By the end of ’06 I had numbness in my toes and then about 9 months of tests to finally conclude that I have IgM MGUS which is a variant of CIDP.
I read the forum often and cannot get over the pain and difficulty of others. Like Julie who I highly admire for braving the pain and misery of CIDP while reaching out to help others!
With my form of CIDP, there is no pain. Just a slow steady increase in numbness and weakness. My fingers now are numb and it comes up my legs to the knees. I can’t run anymore and small things which require the sensory nerves seem to reveal themselves…like trying to stand in the shower with my eyes closed, or trying to feel the rough spots when sanding wood, etc etc. My family would shoot me for saying this but even picking my nose isn’t what it used to be.
The treatment I am receiving is Rituxan which is apparently less expensive than IVIG. But it depends on what your doctors come up with in their final diagnosis whether they prescribe Rituxan or not.
I just thought I would mention this variant in case that is what you have. There are a couple others here on the forum with the same thing (see the thread CIDP – Rituxan Treatment? at [url]http://www.gbs-cidp.org/forums/showthread.php?t=204[/url]
Andrew