Thanks to all. Your various comments are very encouraging, especially since I am not sharing my diagnosis with anyone that I know at this time.

I didn't push mrsD on the issue of degenerative, progressive and/or fatal because I figured she preferred not to get involved in all that. When my doctors have nothing but bad news, they always dissemble about the bad news and say, "We don't know what will happen to you." Anyone can appreciate why they would do that, but, frankly, it's not what I'm paying them for. In any case, I don't have any right to importune mrsD.

Today, I went out and bought some of the supplements recommended on this forum, i.e., B12, B6, CoQ10, Folic Acid, D3, calcium/magnesium (both in one pill), and Omega-3. I'm guessing on the doses and, in some cases, following the recommended dose on the label. I think it is probably a mistake to add so many substances at the same time because I will not know which one, if any, is working. On the other hand, I don't think I can spend six months at a time testing each individual substance.

For two out of three nights, I've been lucky with foot cramps, perhaps because I have been taking 400-800 mg of magnesium citrate. Last night wasn't so great. Mild dehydration might have been a factor.

My symptoms are pain, foot cramping, numbness, tingling, and burning. New sites on my body are occurring each day, but for the most part we are talking about hands, legs and feet. My rheumatologist said I have some muscle atrophy and some loss of reflex, but I'm not aware that it is significant or necessarily related to my sm. fib. neur. It goes without saying that I have fatigue and anxiety, but generally speaking the rest of my health is good for the moment.

If my small fiber neuropathy is going to come to affect my autonomic nervous system and/or my vital organs, that would change the game considerably. I need to know this, so if someone can tell me, please chime in.

Lying in bed awake at night and feeling my body's pain is one thing. Knowing that there is no effective treatment for the pain (except drugs with terrible side effects, like neurontin) and no cure for the pathology is another, more suffocating, more frightening matter.

By the way, I'm a little embarrassed to be so self-absorbed in this company. I'm sure there are others here who are suffering much more than I am. I'm sorry if I appear insensitive.