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Old 08-19-2020, 07:15 AM
glenntaj glenntaj is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Queens, NY
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glenntaj glenntaj is offline
Magnate
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Queens, NY
Posts: 2,855
15 yr Member
Default This may well be--

--a post infectious acute axonal neuropathy.

It's an entity that is fairly rare and not well-described, as most neurologists are more familiar with Guillain Barre syndrome, which is similar in onset but tends to attack the myelin sheathing of the nerves preferentially, meaning those sensory nerves that involve mechanical touch, vibration, and position sense, and all motor nerves. As such, it can cause paralysis and a lot of other nasty things.

If the smaller fiber nerves without myelin sheathing are the target--these nerves subsume autonomic functions, pain, and temperature sensation--symptoms are sensory and autonomic, without the motor functions generally being affected.

The good news with these acute onset syndromes is that they peak and then often recede; the bad news is that they often do not lead to complete recovery, which is often patchy and up and down. But given how slow axons regenerate, you may continue to get slow recovery for months/years, so long as there are no other insults to your nerves.

Autoimmune molecular mimicry mechanisms are often suspected in these cases, which is why it is a good idea for a peripheral neuropathy specialist to do autoantibody tests and perhaps a skin biopsy, to check out the density and condition of these smaller fiber nerves.
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