Question: I'm concerned about a problem I've had for over 25 years. My leg gives out and I fall. I'm 70 years old, and have fallen many times. I have neuropathy in my feet and lower legs, and don't know if they're related conditions. I swim five or six days a week, ride a trike three days, and exercise on a makeshift stair stepper about ten minutes daily. I was on chemo about nine years ago, and I fell a lot. I have fractured a hip, fractured my pelvis, broken my arm, and am glad I didn't break more bones.
Dr. Hibberd's Answer:
You are describing a neuropathy that has not been investigated. Though chemotherapy can cause neuropathy, it usually is symmetric. See your primary doctor for workup of neuropathy. Once baselines have been established, you need a neurological consultation, nerve conduction studies, and appropriate imaging for evaluation of why one leg is giving way. It would be in your best interest to search for some correctable causes, and perhaps find relief from your continued, and perhaps advancing, disability.
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