THE NERVOUS SYSTEM REBOOTS:

Why Tingling, Zaps, and “Ice-Pick Feet” Mean You’re Healing

By Rex Wiig
Author, Engineer, and Founder of Subsurface Press™

There is a peculiar cruelty to B₁₂ neuropathy:
When the deficiency is at its worst, you may feel nothing.
When healing begins, you may feel everything.

Most people expect recovery to feel smooth and comforting.
Instead, it often begins with a storm — electrical, chaotic, sometimes frightening.
Pain where there was numbness. Zaps where there was silence.
Tingling, buzzing, stabbing, freezing, burning, and the infamous “ice-pick toes.”

It feels like regression. It isn’t. It’s the nervous system rebooting.

This is the story of that reboot — what it means, why it happens, and how to navigate it with wisdom, compassion, and agency.

PHASE 1 — The Decline

When the Lights Go Out One Axon at a Time

B₁₂ deficiency causes length-dependent demyelination — meaning the longest nerves fail first.
Feet. Toes. Legs. Hands. Balance. Proprioception. This is the silent collapse phase:

Myelin thins.
Signals slow.
Numbness creeps upward.
Tingling may decrease as fibers go offline.
Balance worsens, particularly in the dark.
There is often no pain, because the nerves have stopped firing.

This is the trick that fools both patients and physicians:

The worse the deficiency, the less you feel.

Many people misinterpret this quiet as “not serious” or “maybe it will get better on its own.”

It won’t. Silent neuropathy is still neuropathy — and B₁₂ deficiency continues damaging nerves until the deficiency is corrected.

PHASE 2 — The Reactivation Storm

0–12 Weeks After B₁₂ Therapy Begins

When the Nervous System Wakes Up and Misfires Like a City After a Blackout

This is the phase that terrifies people because it feels like things are getting worse. They aren’t. You’re healing. Here’s what’s happening under the hood:

Blood flow improves.
Metabolism returns to dormant axons.
Schwann cells begin producing myelin again.
Partially repaired fibers fire before their insulation is complete.
The nervous system becomes electrically unstable.

The result:

tingling
cold shocks
heat waves
stabbing “ice-pick” attacks
vibration sensations
buzzing phones that don’t exist
burning patches
painful feet, especially at night
symptoms that flare during exercise

This is the reactivation storm — the price of nerves coming back online.

Paradoxically:

More sensation = more healing.
Less sensation = more damage.

Your brain is receiving traffic from nerve fibers that were silent for months or years. They are sending uncoordinated signals — like a choir warming up before singing in tune.

A Note on Exercise

Exercise increases:

peripheral blood flow
oxygenation
B₁₂ delivery
nerve metabolism
remyelination rates

It also temporarily intensifies symptoms because waking nerves fire faster and harder.
It’s not regression — it’s signal return.

PHASE 3 — Stabilization

3–9 Months: When the Storm Settles

As remyelination proceeds, conduction becomes smooth again.

You will notice:

tingling decreases
balance improves
proprioception returns
zaps occur less frequently
fine sensation (texture, light touch) returns first
deep sensation (joint position, vibration) returns later

This phase is quieter, gentler, and far more predictable.

Many people think they are “90% better” here.
In truth, the deeper work — axonal regrowth — is still underway.

PHASE 4 — The Plateau and the Residuals

9–24 Months and Beyond: The Long Arc of Nerve Repair

This is the part few clinicians explain.

Some patients — especially those with longstanding, severe, or misdiagnosed B₁₂ deficiency — will experience a plateau:

A level where healing slows dramatically
Occasional zaps after heavy activity
Persistent numb patches
A sense that “this is as far as it’s going to go”

This isn’t failure. It’s physiology.

Some nerves never return. Not because you did anything wrong, but because:

the axon died completely
the nerve cell body atrophied
the gap to bridge is too long
remyelination couldn’t complete
damage continued during the early months before you received adequate therapy

This is especially true for people who, like me, did not get proper B₁₂ treatment during the critical early window. This is not weakness. It’s biology. Some deficits are permanent — and knowing this truth empowers people to protect the nerves they still have.

Why B₁₂ Neuropathy Feels Different From Diabetic Neuropathy

B₁₂ neuropathy often brings:

cold sensations
buzzing
electric “fizzing”
stabbing ice-pick pains
vibration illusions
dramatic numbness
proprioceptive collapse
cognitive changes (brain fog, acalculia, mood shifts)

Diabetic neuropathy tends to produce:

burning pain
aching
gradual, symmetrical numbness
less dramatic sensory “chaos”
fewer cognitive effects

Both are serious — but B₁₂ neuropathy is uniquely “electrical” and unstable as it heals.

The Speed of Nerve Healing: What Science Says

Nerves regenerate painfully slowly.

Typical rates:

Myelin repair: weeks to months
Axonal regrowth: 1–3 mm per day
Long nerves: can take 12–24+ months
Severe cases: even longer

The nervous system prioritizes survival: B₁₂ is delivered first to essential organs, not your toes. So yes — damage may continue briefly after treatment begins because the body is triaging

resources.

Your brain, spinal cord, and vital organs get the first wave of B₁₂.
Your feet get what’s left over. It is slow, but it is real.

The Critical Warning Everyone Must Hear

What happened to me should not happen to anyone:

If you are not given adequate B₁₂ therapy in the first six months, damage can become permanent.

You must advocate for yourself.

Seek second opinions.

Ask for MMA and homocysteine.
Ask for intrinsic factor antibody and parietal cell antibody.
Insist on injections if symptoms are neurological.
Do not be “reassured” by a normal serum B₁₂.
Do not wait for numbness to worsen.
Do not let anyone tell you “it’s anxiety.”

People lose function because treatment is delayed — not because deficiency is untreatable.

And let me say this clearly:

If your symptoms intensify during healing, that is normal.
If your doctor dismisses you, find one who won’t.

Your nerves depend on it.

Final Message: The Nervous System Is a Phoenix

It burns.
It collapses.
It goes dark.
And then — with nourishment and time — it rises, sparking and crackling as it rebuilds.

Healing is not linear.
It is a sine wave.
A storm before the calm.
A reboot before the return.

If your feet hurt as they heal, you are not broken.
You are waking up.

The body remembers how to repair itself,
even when medicine forgets to explain it.

Your nerves are finding their voice again.
One spark at a time.

About the Author:

Rex Wiig is an author, engineer, and founder of Subsurface Press. After developing autoimmune atrophic gastritis, he applied his background in systems engineering to study how the body’s feedback networks fail — and how awareness can help restore their rhythm.