Originally Posted by glenntaj

--you wouldn't have an isolated small-fiber neuropathy.

Small, unmyelinated fibers subsume the sensations of pain and temperature, and a number of autonomic functions, but no motor functions, and you certainly had motor symptoms (all motor nerve are myelinated).

This sound like it could have been an acute attack of myelitis (an inflammation of the spinal cord that has numerous possible etiolgies--especially infectious, and you were in Africa at the time), or even possibly a Guillan Barre or variant episode. (The window of opportunity to find definite evidence of these is rather narrow and may have been missed.) It seems like you've gotten some motor recovery, which is consistent with these possibilites (and also with an initial attack of relapsing-remitting MS), but it is certainly true that recovery may be incomplete, and often some symptoms persist and new ones appear--and it is difficult to distinguish a Guillan Barre episode from a subacute presentation of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP--often considered the "chronic" version of Guillain Barre).

You may need continued testing--nerve conduction studies, EMG, MRI's of brain /spinal cord--to see if any of the signs of these do reveal themselves in time.