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Autoimmune illness and small fiber neuropathy

Neuropathy | Last Active: May 28 9:29am | Replies (51)

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@jenniferhunter

@machak Welcome to Connect. I know it is frustrating to not have clear answers or a path to wellness when you have so many unexplained symptoms. I have at times lived with some diagnosis uncertainty myself. I look at it as a puzzle to be solved one piece at a time, and also I understand how easy it is for the journey to run aground when no one looks at the bigger picture of how one issue might influence another. Sometimes doctors see what they expect to see with their own biases. Sometimes we just have to keep asking questions of why something is. I don't have small fiber neuropathy, but I wanted to share with you an author who writes about how adverse experiences and their stressors earlier in life can influence autoimmune diseases later in life. She covers many aspects of recovery and has herself recovered from an autoimmune disease. She has several books and is a medical/science writer. Here is her website. https://donnajacksonnakazawa.com/

My experience with nerve issues are as a spine surgery patient and also having thoracic outlet syndrome which causes nerve compressions. TOS can cause half of my chest not to expand enough on inhalation which causes issues with trapped phlegm due to allergies and asthma and chest tightness can make my heart speed up a little bit. My physical therapist can relieve this with MFR (see later paragraph). I also have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, an autoimmune condition, and evidence in my case points to old silver amalgam dental fillings causing problems with the thyroid. It's been many years since those fillings were replaced with safer materials, and my blood tests now show I am borderline for this, but after years of it, my thyroid is spent and I require thyroid medication. I did see dramatic improvement in levels of antibodies against my thyroid after removal of the old fillings.

Another discussion you may be interested in is about Myofascial Release which is a physical therapy for stretching fascia which gets the body moving again, and helps re-hydrate stuck tissues. It can help a lot of issues. It can help physical issues and help restore lymphatic circulation and electrical conductivity. If issues are caused by a physical compression that affects nerve function, MFR might be able to help. There is a provider search on the MFR website. The discussion has a lot of resources in the beginning pages. Here is our discussion. https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/myofascial-release-therapy-mfr-for-treating-compression-and-pain/

I hope there are some ideas here that might be useful. I also have gained a lot of knowledge and health being the patient of functional medicine doctors or environmental allergy doctors. The practice that began this field of medicine is the Environmental Health Center in Dallas and they sell volumes of their research for doctors. Here is the website. https://www.ehcd.com/ There is a provider search (Blue button at top right corner of website) for the American Academy of Environmental Medicine https://www.aaemonline.org/ I do like how functional and environmental medicine looks at the big picture.

If you find something that helps, could you please check back and share your experience? I wish you success in your health journey.

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What test for small fiber neuropathy?