1. < Neuropathy

Small Fiber Neuropathy

Posted by trishh @trishh, Apr 13, 2022

I saw my neurologist yesterday and she said my SFN is not bilateral and therefore is coming forming from compressed nerve in back ( have stenosis in L4 AND L5).
My question is, so many of you have unilateral or one leg / foot SFN by biopsies? I was asked to start cymbalta and have other doctor wean off Zoloft. Does Cymbalta really helped. She said, we are at end of rope with treatments.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Neuropathy Support Group.

dcgoebel62 | @dcgoebel62 | Nov 27, 2023
In reply to @rnlorena "I want to throw some questions out there to anyone. I have Small Nerve Fiber with..." + (show)
@rnlorena

I want to throw some questions out there to anyone. I have Small Nerve Fiber with no known cause yet. It is non-length dependent. I will repeat what happened to me. I woke up two days after I retired from my job and I had pinpricks allover head to toe and in my eyes. After many tests I then had a skin biopsy and that was the diagnosis. I asked the neurologist how many of his patients started out like I did. He said none its rare. So I started getting this pressure in the lower back of my head or neck that comes and goes but I had it in the front of my neck once. That was the worst. I felt like I was being choked. With the pressure in my neck my blood pressure goes up. I saw a neurosurgeon and he looked at my MRI with and without contrast. He says that the severe stenosis that I have is on the sides of my neck and that is not causing the pressure. I also woke up with pain that went from my left hip all the way down my leg. I turned over to my right side and it didn't go away for awhile. I had one other weird thing happen. I noticed a sharp feeling near the beginning of my left under arm closer to my right breast. Well I went to get ready for bed and I put my pjs on and I dropped something on the floor. When I went down to pick it up I had very sharp pains going down the right side of my breast. I am thinking nerve pain. I just don't know. I will be checking with the Doctor on these two things and the pain down my leg. I don't know for sure that is sciatica. I am more concerned with the pressure in my neck and the pain on the right side of my breast. I would love to hear from anyone who has experienced any of those things. One thing I did ask about was to an ARNP in gastroenterology. I do have chronic silent reflux and chronic gastritis and I read that some people can experience pressure in the neck. She said that she does have patients with that but when I told her my blood pressure goes up with it she started talking about nerves in the neck. I know they are all over our bodies. The pressure is the thing that bothers me the most right now. I appreciate any comments.

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I have not had my small vessel peripheral neuropathy formally diagnosed yet, but it started after I had COVID in April 2023. It lasted around 4 months and would flare up (palms would itch) when I was stressed. I had my Covid vaccine 3 weeks ago and it’s back and actually worse than the first time. Maybe it’s from Covid?

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2 replies
gregd1956 | @gregd1956 | Nov 27, 2023
In reply to @melissa59 "What is EB-N6?" + (show)
@melissa59

What is EB-N6?

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Nerve pain? I wonder what is my “nerve pain”? Oh, that’s why… I went to another doctor that my TBI doctor ( accident 11 yrs ago ) checked the feeling of my right-foot - a little feeling than others in my body. He sent me 1.5 hours to another doctor that can see my nerve, at lest 1 or more. I went there and checked my nerve as she could see it. It’s a machine thru your legs/foots in me.

She found the problem of that nerve. A photo if it and this n]machine color is only black and white. It took her 2 hrs and checked everything from my butt down to my feet.

This mth, I’m going back to my TBI doctor and see what they can do. Cutting parts in me I hope another doctor can cut it pt move that nerve. ❤️

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rnlorena | @rnlorena | Nov 27, 2023
In reply to @dcgoebel62 "I have not had my small vessel peripheral neuropathy formally diagnosed yet, but it started after..." + (show)
@dcgoebel62

I have not had my small vessel peripheral neuropathy formally diagnosed yet, but it started after I had COVID in April 2023. It lasted around 4 months and would flare up (palms would itch) when I was stressed. I had my Covid vaccine 3 weeks ago and it’s back and actually worse than the first time. Maybe it’s from Covid?

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Well when the Covid first came out I got my first shots in January. It was March when I woke up with the full onset of pinpricks. I counted the days from the last shot and it was just under 5 weeks from the shots when I started the pinpricks. I don't know. I have had all the Covid shots up to date. I am not finding any answers yet to the neck pressure and it is frustrating. I go to my regular Dr. next month and I will be questioning him at length about the recent problems that I have had. For me to wake up with total onset of pinpricks is mind boggling. I do understand the word idiopathic meaning no known cause but that word makes me more frustrated. No one in my family has had anything like the Small Nerve Fiber.

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Mentor
John, Volunteer Mentor | @johnbishop | Nov 27, 2023
In reply to @dcgoebel62 "I have not had my small vessel peripheral neuropathy formally diagnosed yet, but it started after..." + (show)
@dcgoebel62

I have not had my small vessel peripheral neuropathy formally diagnosed yet, but it started after I had COVID in April 2023. It lasted around 4 months and would flare up (palms would itch) when I was stressed. I had my Covid vaccine 3 weeks ago and it’s back and actually worse than the first time. Maybe it’s from Covid?

Jump to this post

Hi @dcgoebel62, Welcome to Connect. Sorry to hear your neuropathy symptoms started after having COVID and then again flare after the vaccine. There is another discussion you might find helpful.
--- Long COVID neuropathy symptoms: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/long-covid-neuropathy-symptoms/

Is itchy palms the only symptom you have?

REPLY
exitframeleft | @exitframeleft | Nov 28, 2023
In reply to @rnlorena "I want to throw some questions out there to anyone. I have Small Nerve Fiber with..." + (show)
@rnlorena

I want to throw some questions out there to anyone. I have Small Nerve Fiber with no known cause yet. It is non-length dependent. I will repeat what happened to me. I woke up two days after I retired from my job and I had pinpricks allover head to toe and in my eyes. After many tests I then had a skin biopsy and that was the diagnosis. I asked the neurologist how many of his patients started out like I did. He said none its rare. So I started getting this pressure in the lower back of my head or neck that comes and goes but I had it in the front of my neck once. That was the worst. I felt like I was being choked. With the pressure in my neck my blood pressure goes up. I saw a neurosurgeon and he looked at my MRI with and without contrast. He says that the severe stenosis that I have is on the sides of my neck and that is not causing the pressure. I also woke up with pain that went from my left hip all the way down my leg. I turned over to my right side and it didn't go away for awhile. I had one other weird thing happen. I noticed a sharp feeling near the beginning of my left under arm closer to my right breast. Well I went to get ready for bed and I put my pjs on and I dropped something on the floor. When I went down to pick it up I had very sharp pains going down the right side of my breast. I am thinking nerve pain. I just don't know. I will be checking with the Doctor on these two things and the pain down my leg. I don't know for sure that is sciatica. I am more concerned with the pressure in my neck and the pain on the right side of my breast. I would love to hear from anyone who has experienced any of those things. One thing I did ask about was to an ARNP in gastroenterology. I do have chronic silent reflux and chronic gastritis and I read that some people can experience pressure in the neck. She said that she does have patients with that but when I told her my blood pressure goes up with it she started talking about nerves in the neck. I know they are all over our bodies. The pressure is the thing that bothers me the most right now. I appreciate any comments.

Jump to this post

@rnlorena I also have Idiopathic Non-Length Dependent Small Fiber Neuropathy. I was diagnosed about 2 years ago. My symptoms are burning pain, tingling, numbness in both feet (worse in my right). It is quite frustrating doing all of the testing only to find out that they don't know the cause. I also have Crohn's disease which is an autoimmune disease and I feel like it is the underlying culprit. I hope you find some answers. You definitely need a Neurologist you can trust and who listens to you. Same goes for your Gastroenterologist

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1 reply
rnlorena | @rnlorena | Nov 29, 2023
In reply to @exitframeleft "@rnlorena I also have Idiopathic Non-Length Dependent Small Fiber Neuropathy. I was diagnosed about 2 years..." + (show)
@exitframeleft

@rnlorena I also have Idiopathic Non-Length Dependent Small Fiber Neuropathy. I was diagnosed about 2 years ago. My symptoms are burning pain, tingling, numbness in both feet (worse in my right). It is quite frustrating doing all of the testing only to find out that they don't know the cause. I also have Crohn's disease which is an autoimmune disease and I feel like it is the underlying culprit. I hope you find some answers. You definitely need a Neurologist you can trust and who listens to you. Same goes for your Gastroenterologist

Jump to this post

I appreciate your reply. I find it somewhat difficult lately to trust certain Doctors who I have seen lately. I will be visiting my eye Dr. who is an Ophthalmologist and he used to be a Neurologist. When I saw him after I had pinpricks in my eyes he did not want to talk neuro. He asked me on my last visit if I would get my neurology records and bring them to him. I did. I will have questions for him in February on my visit. I had changes in my eyes. I visited my brother in Texas back a bit ago. I walked out on his porch at night and he asked me to look up at the sky. He said look at the quarter moon and Venus was above it. He is interested in things like that. When I looked up I saw a bunch of quarter moons and they were different colors. I was looking at the lights on houses and I noticed some things with that also. It happened just like that suddenly. I told my brother what I saw and asked him if he saw it too. I thought it was an anomaly. He said no. Things have been bizarre lately. I wonder what exactly the eye Dr. will say. Because I know that sometime in the future I will need cataract surgery. Yet he doesn't want to talk about neurology. I get it some but I wonder If he would touch my eyes if I have pinpricks. We will see. I will keep asking questions and keep researching and I will not ever give up. I can be a very determined woman when I want to be.

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adejuliannie | @adejuliannie | Nov 29, 2023

I use Pregabalin an Lyrica an Duralax which helps

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melissa59 | @melissa59 | Dec 2, 2023

They said my stenosis is causing bilateral impingement

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