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Small nerve fiber neuropathy, severe head pressure and blurry vision
Brain & Nervous System | Last Active: Dec 14, 2025 | Replies (14)Comment receiving replies
@gently I greatly appreciate everyone who chips in with information. I am a retired nurse and I am appalled at what healthcare has become. I retired from nursing after Covid hit. It was the first week in March of 2021. I woke up two days later and had pin pricks from head to toes and in my eyes. Going off constantly they were. The first question that I asked the neurologist was How many of your patients experienced what I did. He said none it’s rare. In May I was diagnosed with Small Nerve Fiber neuropathy non length dependent and idiopathic. After 20 tubes of blood and nothing showed up that was it. I’d had the skin biopsy. I do take Alpha Lipoic acid and it helped a lot but I still get pin pricks and some of them are more stubborn then others. So I am guessing my small nerve fiber is deciding now it wants to do other things. We will see. This site is a good place for people to come and ask questions. I find it friendly and helpful. No one in my family had any type of issue like this. I got two Covid shots in January and I was in the time range to have a reaction. It will be years in the making if they find that out. You are right about the neck and different positions. I will sit in my easy chair and fall asleep with my head bent over. That’s bad. I tell my husband to keep his eye on that. I do have arthritis in my neck along with disc issues. Trying to get answers from Doctors is like pulling teeth. I am gonna do some more reading about neuropathy. I saw the ARNP because they said my Neurologist didn’t have an opening for four months. The head pressure was one thing for sure but when I happened to be sitting in the Neurology office and I noticed the feelings that I was having that was weird. One came on my ear lobe. One on my left arm and one on my right arm. I noticed awhile back I had some tiny twinges in my cheek. I had that again tonight. I did wondered when I had it if it was a part of small nerve fiber. I know it has nothing to do with my teeth. I have dealt with the pinpricks but the head pressure has totally unnerved me. I go to bed and lay there and I am not sleeping well. I most certainly will be seeking answers for sure. I am 69 years old but I walk like I mean it. I most certainly am not giving up either. I will seek answers.
Replies to "@gently I greatly appreciate everyone who chips in with information. I am a retired nurse and..."
Hi. I’m 68. I have cerebral narrow vessel disease. I have had an eschemic stroke and brain bleeds. My brain vessels have plaque. I have dizziness and get freezing cold. Very bad if I rush around. We may have very different problems, but in case it helps.
@rnlorena I have NLD SFN as well. I got sick February 2023 and I agree the healthcare system is horrible. My symptoms started with dry eyes and mouth, blurry vision, shoulder/neck/back pain, weakness left sided, off balance, numbness, tingling just to name a few. My neurologist I was using at the time for migraines and tremors wasted my time for 2.5 yrs. Finally did an EMG (shows large fibers) which was normal. Didn’t bother to do a skin biopsy. 3 different times he said my symptoms were from anxiety (it’s in my medical history). I said of course I have anxiety I’ve been sick 2.5 yrs with no answers to why. I took myself to a neuropathy doctor he did sensory testing and thermography showed I had neuropathy and 75% sensory loss in both feet. I sent him the results of that and the skin biopsy and he said nothing about either one. The nurse responded Dr saw your results. I said no response? She said no. What a sorry excuse for a Dr. He was wrong and said nothing not even I’m sorry. I didn't expect anything I only sent it to say I told you so. I found a new neurologist (stroke) told him my dr experience and he was kind enough to get his colleague to do a skin biopsy which showed NLD SFN. He referred me to neuromuscular neurologist said they could help me better. First visit she said normally SFN is unknown cause which told me she wasn’t gonna look for a cause. I was having cognitive issues she said I don’t usually do cognitive referrals so I’ll refer back to Dr that referred to me (who is stroke specialist and felt I needed diff neuro) my vision went from blurry to double then halos, bright light sensitive. I was scared of losing my vision. She just responded to my message with I’m sorry to hear your not feeling well. Before my follow up appt I asked her to fill my migraine and tremor meds as I thought she was my neurologist. She said she’d refer me back to the same dr for that, that she treated me for what he referred me for. WTH? Now I’m without a neurologist and trying to do a provider switch at the office of dr that wasted my time. I’ve had 6 Rheumatologists and not happy with current one. He did some labs that I’m always positive for but I was negative. I noticed the Rheumatoid factor was Hemolysized (meaning red blood cells had burst releasing hemoglobin and damaging the sample which will cause incorrect results). He said he’d redo the one test but not the rest that I’ve been positive for for 3 yrs. I’m a big advocate for myself, I do lots of research and request tests to be done that end up being positive like P-ANCA MPO Vasculitis positive. I had looked back in my medical records to 2020 and found I was positive and nobody ever followed up on it. I just requested multiple labs from my PC as I need answers. It is affecting my autonomic system severe GI issues, incontinence while sleeping, temp regulation (mine stays 96-97 as low as 95), orthostatic hypotension, spikes in resting heart rate. I got a referral to Autonomic Center but my appt isn’t until December 2026. There’s only 62 doctors in the country that treat it. One of them is near me. So in the meantime my PC is ordering tests I ask for that will help when I finally get to see the dr. I got her to refer me to Neuro Opthamologist as NLD SFN can affect your vision by not dilating properly letting too much light in damaging the cornea and the optic nerves. I complained to all my drs about my concern for my vision and not one said anything or put 2 and 2 together. My drs think I just have SFN I have to point out it’s NLD and very rare and affects every body part.
As for your pain in ear/face is a symptom of NLD SFN. It can affect any part of your body. I have ringing in my ears, ear/jaw pain, my lips and teeth feel numb, lower part both sides face get numb, creepy crawly tingling of my scalp. Research and advocate for yourself and push for answers. Google, Mayo, Johns Hopkins, Cleveland Clinic etc. I know way more about what I’m dealing with due to my research. Doctors haven’t told me one bit of this information. I hope you find answers.
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I have ALS, I know totally different. I too, wonder if the two covid shots affected me somehow. I have headaches when I lay on my left side at night, laying awake for many hours. I also have restless leg syndrome and leg cramps adding to little sleep. My dr suggested gabapentin. I could not take the first suggested dose, so now experimenting with lesser amounts. I am 112 lbs. so any suggested dose? Not too much so all I want to do is sleep, but enough to stop rls. I recently read about a medication for ALS, seems it's been on market a while that was never mentioned Radicava supposed to slow progress 33%! Anyone ever hear of it!???