Hello,

So glad that a fellow member * tipped me off to this one.

Diagnosed with small fiber sensory neuropathySjogren's this past winter after sudden onset of what felt like a bad sunburn. Skin punch biopsy was the diagnostic method used to detect this. All other initial and subsequent testing negative, except for thyroid which is slightly hypo.

However, my new neuro at University Hospitals Case Medical Center went so far as to order an MRI, hypothesizing that I might have had a stroke that affected either the periaqueductal gray matter or thallamus. Fortunately, the MRI (with contrast) was completely normal except for a few very small cysts, and that the white matter was in very good shape for my age (a senior).

He'd also ordered bloodwork of his own, and an abnormality of the carnitine/acetylcarnitine showed up that could be an indicator of a mitochondrial defect. He e-mailed an endocrinologist colleague about this who said the fish oil supplements I take for the Sjogren's should be stopped and that particular bloodwork done again. If normal, then the first result was caused by the fish oil. If still abnormal, then it would mean an hereditary abnormality that can cause neuropathy.