Quote:
Originally Posted by glenntaj
--can also damage the axons--the actual nerve shafts--in addition to causing problems with the myelin sheathings.
What exactly were your nerve conductin study results? (Totally normal?) Was any testing for problems with small-fiber nerves (which cannot be appercepted by nerve conduction studies) done (such as skin biopsies for intraepidermal nerve fiber density, autonomic teatins, quantitative sensory testing)?
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Hi Glen:
I began having serial skin biopsies down by "Therapath" beginning in the spring of 2008, which is when the formal diognosis of Small Fiber neuropathy was made. Between my first biopsy in March, 2008, and my return to Atlanta in November, 2009, I had a total of three biopsies.
As you know, they check the distal count by taking a skin sample from the calf, and the proximal using a skin sample from the top of the thigh. Abnormal values for the distal (calf) are counts below 5.4, and abnormal values for the proximal (top of thigh) are below 6.8.
My biopsies were as follows:
2/28/2008 ...... Calf: 4.13 ..... Thigh: 10.94
12/4/2008 ...... Calf: 4.04 ..... Thigh: 8.20
11/16/2009 ...... Calf: 4.50 ..... Thigh: 6.83
I went into a sudden and unexpected remission of my small-fiber symptoms on August 1, 2009, which may correlate with the reversal and improvement of my distal calf fiber count that you see several months later in November, 2009.
My remission then lasted for about six months, until another flair-up in February, 2010 when I was under a lot of stress.
Regarding my nerve conduction tests, they started out essentially normal in February, 2008. Suprisingly, it was noted that during a repeat conduction study nine months later in October, 2008, my sural sensory nerve action potential amplitudes had actually increased by 20% over my initial normal baseline reading of February, 2008.
Thoughts?
Thank you!
David