Type of pain?

I had some pain in my lower left leg for about six months before I was diagnosed with CIDP. It got fairly bad – I would describe it as a similar to a severe toothache, but in the leg. I also had some numbness and tingling in that leg and foot.

I eventually got referred to a pain management specialist, who diagnosed it as a pinched nerve. He said that the only thing that surprised him was that I only had pain in one leg. Like clockwork, within a few weeks I began to have pain in the other leg as well. I went through a series of steroid shots in my back, that had little or no effect. Then, I started going to PT, which seemed to help.

Now, I am beginning to wonder if it wasn’t really caused by the CIDP all along? I know that numbness and tingling are also symptoms of CIDP, which seems to fit.

I still have the pain, but it has been at a much lower level since I have been treated for CIDP, which also makes me think it might be part of my CIDP experience.

So, my question for those who have had pain is: what kind of pain did you experience? (Mine was a deep-seated ache that seemed to originate within the bone itself.) Or is there even a characteristic type of CIDP pain?

By the way, I got pretty good response to a medication called diclofenac, that my family doctor prescribed. The downside is that it takes about an hour to really kick in, but then it really takes the edge off. Didn’t totally eliminate the pain, but made it much more bearable.