Back to Top Peripheral Nervous System Disorders Neuropathy Neuropathy, also known as peripheral neuropathy, is disease in the peripheral nerves - the nerves that lead to and from the spinal cord and connect with all the various parts of the body. It is very common in HIV patients, usually in the later stages of HIV disease. It can manifest itself in several different ways. Distal symmetric neuropathy. Patients often feel a strange tingling and painful burning sensation that can spread up the legs and arms.
Some patients feel numbness or weakening in the arms and legs.
This is very similar to Guillain-Barre syndrome. The onset of this kind of neuropathy is usually very rapid, sometimes developing within hours to days. Polymyositis Myopathies are neurological disorders that involve the skeletal muscles -muscles that are connected to bones, like the biceps in the upper arm and quadriceps in the thigh. Most people with PM don't feel the intense muscular pain that other myopathies cause, but they do suffer muscular aches, cramping and tenderness. The muscle weakness, on the other hand, is quite intense.