It did. Well, sort of. What I describe there, the intense shaking and leg symptoms that spread to my entire body within a few months, maybe 2-4, did come on quickly. But I may have also noted there that in hindsight during the last year I've come to realize it went back at least a couple of years before then, that there were symptoms then, just not obviously connected to neuropathy. Just a few months earlier my hands would go all dry and sometimes even numb, which I thought was weird. A few months before that I had numbness around my nose, so my upper cheeks. I didn't make much of it. Both these symptoms would be more intense during a night of drinking beer and the morning after. I didn't make the connection, or I didn't want to. Idiocy either way. Even before all this, perhaps several months before it and at least a year before the neuropathy became apparent, I had heart issues, palpitations, which at first presentation lasted almost 2 days. It happened while I was drinking beer and eating very carb dense meals, lots of corn, rice and bread. I didn't make the connection really. I simply thought I was eating poorly, so I stopped eating out as much and drinking so much beer. It improved, but then my old habits returned. The palpitations never returned to that extent, but they became a normal part of life, now and then a skip here and there. I did see a cardiologist who ran tests, including a stress echo, but nothing showed up. Of course not, because now I know it was autonomic dysfunction related to SFN. Even further back, perhaps a year or two before the heart issues, I had soars on my toes that were unexplained, which now I know can be a symptom of SFN, and I'm willing to bet it was.

I suspected alcohol from the start and still do, but more so because of what it did to my gut, all the grain, the gluten and the high carb diet. I'm sure of it.

When I went on the diet I saw some immediate relief I think, but I can't remember as I have no notes form them. But I can recall for certain that a month or two in I had a great deal of relief and it was obvious. Now, if I have carbs, even fruit, I can feel it, and if I have grains, especially glutenous ones, the affect is obvious, both immediate and long lasting.

It's interesting you mention fungal infection: candida is possible for many who drink lots of alcohol, especially beer, so ones with lots of grain and sugars. This was what I suspected and all I knew about when I started my diet. Now I know quite a bit more from research over the last year.

Hope all that helps.



@DavidHC - i just read through your history, sounds like it came on quite quickly. Did you suspect alcohol was the cause from the beginning? i see you have found a clear connection to foods which is something i havent seen personally so far. Was it immediately obvious that your diet was so indicative of worsening symptoms, could you always see you had a reaction to particular foods the same day/ day after?

Doing a search of "aldehydes and nerve pain" i found this article, which links nerve pain an out of control fungal infection, which i thought was quite interesting...