Originally Posted by en bloc

I have to ask: What is the doctors plan now that you have a positive skin biopsy? Are they just going to continue adding more and more meds to deal with your discomfort, or will they take a more proactive approach and try to once again find the cause of this and address that?

I completely understand the need for comfort and don't want you to think I disagree with increasing your Gabapentin until you have better relief. But NOW you have something to show for your pain and discomfort and the doctors (I feel) have an obligation to pursue the root cause of this in order to give you the BEST chance at healing.

Even if they still feel it's idiopathic, they may be able to get you a trial of steroids (to rule out inflammatory), or even IVIG. Now that you have had the skin biopsy, the test can be repeated after treatment trials...to see if the treatment is working. And since they have documented the positive biopsy, they SHOULD be paying for subsequent biopsies. This is one of the best parts of the skin biopsy...you can repeat it and SEE if the nerve density is increasing (even slightly), which would tell you if a treatment is working and 'healing' is even possible. I would suggest though that you use a pathologist that checks morphology (condition of the fibers) so you can also see if these improve also.

But like others have said, everyone is different and whether your nerves will heal is completely unknown at this point. You would have to know what the root cause is and whether or not there is an appropriate treatment for such cause.

There is NO reason to not go ahead and follow a good diet, avoid triggers and use supplements to help in this process. Anything and everything that may help should be considered...even if it's just to give you a small edge in beating this.