Hi Marie,

I've not had the blood sugar discussion with my neuro yet, but two other docs I've seen were completely non-committal on whether my mild sugar problems could be responsible for my SFN.

I did not have typical diabetic-SFN onset. I've had paresthesia in my left leg for 30 years since I was in my mid-20s. Docs could never figure out what caused it, and I was left with a diagnosis of "nerve root irritation." Whether or not that has anything at all to do with what I'm dealing with now, I doubt, but it could.

Without going into all the gory details leading up to it, on Nov. 10, 2013 I woke up feeling like I had electric current running through my body. My left leg symptoms were now in my right leg, and I felt odd things all over. They included mild paresthesia in my arms and hands, and really bizarre sensations in my temple areas. At its worst, I would feel electric current running up through my temple and down under my right eye. It was hitting whatever nerve that was. I have a really bad neck, and I somewhat suspect this SFN is "opportunistic" and wherever you have some kind of nerve insult, it magnifies it.

Also at its worst, I'd wake up feeling like my bed was vibrating, or like I was plugged into an electrical socket. My lower legs also twitched like crazy. I'd had that twitching in my left leg all along, but it was now worse, and also my right leg joined the party. (I definitely think the Mag64 I'm taking helped with the twitching.)

Other symptoms are extreme sensitivity to cold and "referred sensation." The latter seems like a unique symptom to me. No one else here has reported it. If I touch my body anywhere from my armpits on down, the constant sensation in my feet gets stronger. So if I touch my left torso anywhere, I "feel it" in my left foot. Very weird.

I don't know how old you are, but you might want to check the "Progesterone Therapy" thread here which is kind of mis-labeled at this point. I strongly suspect that there's a hormonal component to my SFN. (I'm perimenopausal.) That thread will also lead you to another thread MrsD started about neuropathy research. I think the findings out of UC Davis are very interesting. It's that research that has lead me to increase my omega 3s and ALA intake, and I'm also going to go on estradiol to see what that does. As it is right now, I'm feeling better than I have in 20 months. My symptoms are definitely dialed back, and I have no pain. The weird sensations are all still there, but no pain.

My neuro prescribed gabapentin early on, but I no longer take it (by choice). I'm not sure the dosage I was taking, 300 mg at night, was enough to help, so when facing the choice of increasing the dosage, I opted not to. I just didn't want to go down that path if I didn't have to. My discomfort wasn't horrible everyday, but my flares were pretty unpleasant. I would use lidocaine patches and epsom salt lotion to help. And just last month, I got some kratom for the really bad days, but I haven't had to use it (or anything else) in the past couple of weeks.

I'm not supplementing B12 in any form, and my B12 just came back at 835 (normal).

Have to run now. I decided to reply publicly in case it would help anyone else, but feel free to message me anytime.

Janie



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