Hi Chicosalt,

I also have idiopathic sfn of the full body type.

When my neuropathy first became constant, I had a 3-4 month flare where the symptoms began and slowly increased in intensity and location (feet, hands and mouth) for several months. They then were static for about 9 months.

After that I experienced a fairly rapid body-wide spread and increase in intensity over a period a couple weeks. This occurred over a year ago. That was a major flare. Since then, it's been difficult to identify a flare as it's tricky with a full body paresthesia/numbness to detect subtle changes in intensity. I do know it is slowly getting worse, and I have not recently experienced a break from increasing symptoms for more than a few weeks. So I could argue I've been in a slow flare for over a year.

When this began I tried changing my diet as my A1C was 5.7 or just barely borderline pre-diabetic. I'm already thin, and exercise regularly so a change of diet was my only real option to reduce it. I knocked out as many carbs as possible, even went gluten free for 6 weeks, with the only result of unwanted weight loss. I had no change in symptoms.

I wouldn't let my experience discourage you from tackling this head-on. With hundreds of different types and causes of PN, we all can expect to have different reactions and results to suggestions and recommendations of doctors as well as members in this forum.

I have two suggestions that I wish I had implemented when this first began.

Keep a food journal (as mentioned by mrsD)
Keep a symptom diary

The only negative to the symptom diary is it will keep your mind focused on your problems which is not necessarily a good thing. I've found my best periods of remission are when I'm very preoccupied and can forget about my issues. However, the value of the symptom diary has increased over time as I'm able to search for a keyword symptom, realize it has occurred before and subsequently subsided. So it's been reassuring to me many times.

I wish you the best of luck on your journey, and hope you find some measure of relief.