Hi, Jan... I've seen your posts lately and have been meaning to respond. I think another post of yours mentioned the new onset of burning mouth? Today's post is curious to me. I developed a subacute body wide neuropathy (axonal swelling) about two years ago and the burning mouth started about three months after the initial presentation of problems. As I said in another post, it's extreme pain... my entire mouth, gums, palate and even down my throat. It almost feels that it's in my throat glands or lymph nodes or something, but all my blood work (including ANA's) are normal.

But, I also had two chest x-rays, one done six months into my illness and another a year later checking for the possibility of a paraneoplastic syndrome. The first x-ray was perfect; the second showed pleural thickening not seen on the previous x-ray. I am also getting heart flutters and vibrations/buzzing throughout my whole body. All this began about three months after being very ill with a virus called parvo virus b19... the adult presentation of what is typically called Fifths Disease in children. It's supposed to be a MILD viral illness, but in some adults (ME!) it can be very severe and present with unusual viral or post-viral conditions. I've thought it should be added to the Liza Spread sheets because I've done extensive research on it since my life turned upsidedown, and it definitely can cause neuropathy. I traveled to a specialist and he confirmed this, so it's from a reliable medical source. Three neurologists later, mind you. It's listed in the Quest/Latov peripheral neuropathy diagnostic paper, too. It has been linked to auto-immune conditions and can cause persistent joint pain for many years.

So sorry you suffer Jan. I don't think I'll ever get over this, emotionally or otherwise. Everyone looks at you and doesn't know your body is SCREAMING in pain from head to toe. The Gabapentin at a minimum takes the edge off, and the idea of starting on Cymbalta or switching to Lyrica is scary. Dealing with the side effect profile for them I think would just add to an already really difficult situation. I'm a Christian, too, and I like the phrase "In His Grip."
Rom 12:12: Be joyful in hope; patient in affliction; faithful in prayer.
Blessings for the day, Jan


Sorry that you are also having to live with this diagnosis. I take Gabapentin to manage my pain, it helps some but not really to much. I also have palpitations but they won't give me a beta blocker because I have low blood pressure. You do seem to have many symptoms that match mine. It's hard to know sometimes if some of the symptoms are related to the SFN or not. This lung thing that I'm experiencing right now is the problem I'm dealing with, I just don't have a clue to whether it's related to my SFN or not, it's so frustrating. I think every time a new symptom appears that's it's related to this whole mess but I don't know if that's necessarily true or not...but the people on this forum are very helpful in trying to help others figure things out which I am really grateful for. If you ever want to talk let me know, I'll give you my phone number, just let me know. Thanks, Jan