Usually starting out with the 24 hour urine testing [rule out heavy metals, look for blood in urine etc.] Round one of blood work, nerve conduction studies; followed by more blood work, MRI's; followed by more NCS's, serious anti-body testing consisting of the last round of blood work and CSF testing. Most docs only do that last round of testing IF and only IF prior blood work 'hint's at possible immune malfunctions. Possibly a second round of NCS's to see if there are any changes in the results - if there's any Auto-I activity...the nerve studies will show deteriorations.
Along with all of this, depending on the person- diagnostics for diabetes, vascular issues and who knows what else could be going on concurrently.

This site explains about CSF testing:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov:80/medlineplu...cle/003428.htm - while it's under GBS, the diagnostic processes are the same.

This test is quite useful to include/exclude a whole lot of illnesses under the 'Abnormal results' section.

LizaJane, I believe you have the CSF testing on your lists....What IS up in the air tho are the Sural Biopsies...Many of the bigger insurance companies will no longer provide coverage for them, providing all other testing has been done. Punch biopsies do still seem to be considered 'experimental' tho...

Glenn's source at the Merck site is: http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec16/ch223/ch223d.html

However many publications citing it, I've got lots, just let me know - j