It seems fairly certain I have Sjogren’s, but my labs showed there is something else going on, so I’m to see both a hematologist and a rheumatologist. With neuropathy, if it were me, I’d see both a rheumatologist and a neurologist, at least until you get a firm diagnosis.
My neurologist took labs, but he also had me get an MRI of my brain and a second of my spine. And, I got an EMG and nerve induction test. All these can help the neurologist determine what is causing your symptoms. And, down the line, the neurologist may be able to help you better adapt to neuropathy and also prescribe more appropriate meds for pain.
The pain is clearly the worse symptom. For me I’ve learned to plan shopping, laundry, etc. as these make me hurt worse and are exhausting. Also, sleep can be hard, which you’ve undoubtedly found, so I take 200-300 mg of Gabapentin at night. This helps with the foot pain, nerve pain, and sleep. I also walk 1.5-2.5 miles a day and do Tai Chi exercises, to help keep me in shape and more limber.
I hope you get your appointment soon! Let me know how things go. There are so many informed people on Connects and I was just told about a discussion group for Sjogren’s. PN and autoimmune diseases are both hard to diagnosis and find solutions. Moreover, I’ve discovered they are often related, since I now have been diagnosed with 3! All with different treatments.
It sounds like a minefield, hopefully you'll have a better understanding after your consultations. I'll try to get the ball rolling, I didn't mention to my Dr about the tingling sensation as it's only recently occured. Hopefully, from that along with my other symptoms they'll refer me to a specialist as it's worrying how it's spreading further up my leg and isn't going away. Will do, if anything happens I'll make an update to this page. All the best.