Hi LouLou,

Welcome, and greetings from Maryland.

Your symptoms are very familiar to me, including the sensation of water dripping on your body. It sounds as if your doctors are doing all the right tests to try to find the cause.

The sodium channel issue is at the forefront of research right now. They've identified several gene mutations they believe to be involved with SFN. Do you know your results yet?

Anxiety and worry can definitely make your symptoms 10x worse. I know getting your emotions under control is easier said than done, but it's something that will help. I found that once all the really bad things had been ruled as a cause, I was able to cope a little better. And by remaining active on these forums and continuing to look for causes on my own and trying different things, I don't feel totally alone and helpless.

My symptoms are actually better today than they were a year ago. The odd sensations in my legs are there non-stop 24x7, but I no longer have the searing the nerve pain or severe burning I once had in my legs and feet.. I still get the burning, but it's not as bad. I also still "buzz" all over my body at times when I'm stationary. I will often wake up in the morning and feel like I'm plugged into an electrical socket.

At this point, I think one of two things, or a combination of both, has contributed to my improvement: 1) Taking R-Lipoic Acid supplements which are widely believed to help SFN 2) Going on a strict low carb diet.

Regarding the latter, my diabetic screening values are perfectly normal, but more in depth testing has shown that I'm what I call "pre-pre-diabetic." Given that genetics may play a role in this, maybe someone with just mildly elevated blood sugar can develop problems if they were "blessed" with bad genes. Regardless, sugar is not a good thing for your body any way you look at it, so cutting back on carbs would be a good thing.

Until and unless a doc tells me my SFN is genetic, I look at it as a symptom of another problem they just can't find. I'll keep trying to find it on my own by trial and error and by getting ideas from this forum.

Janie