Hi Lupin, There is one thing that really annoys me that its specialist trying to rush you out the door, i had a rheumo once that tried to do a full history , physical examination in about 5 minutes and then held the door open and said " ok, i will send my report to your GP " , i sat back down and said " mate, you haven't even asked me if i have any questions ", he looked at me really annoyed, and asked " what was is your question ? " I said, well can you tell me what you think is going on ? he said " NOTHING, i can't find anything wrong with you except of some arthritis in one foot, thats what it probably is, I said " your bloody joking mate aren't you, when does arthritis burn like this in both feet not just one foot ?, he said, " i really don't know whats wrong with you, i have never come across anything like this before ", i said ok, then what tests are you recommending for me ? he said " none ",[ by this time he was going red with frustration and getting real sharp with his answers], i said then, aren't you going to refer me to someone else, seeing you can't work it
out " he " NO i am not ", and then gets up and opens the door again and says i will send my findings to your GP " i said " what findings you haven't found anything to inform him with " [ by this time his face was nearly purple and his eyes were sticking out his head like a mad man ] so i continued to pressure him with more questions
I said " why don't you send me to a neuro for a complete evaluation for perhaps PN, ? [ I had a Nerve conduction test done previously] and i asked him about that, he said " LOOK MAN , a neuro has already done a Nerve Conuction test and found that there is nothing wrong with you, his findings said you show no signs of PN " and he got up again and opened the door, i said " hang on mate not so fast, can a nerve conduction test for small nerve damage ?, and seeing my problem is burning feet, isn't that small nerve related "
Well you should have seen his face, i will never forget it he buried his head and he said very softly " yes i can be ", so i said ok, looks like were getting some were now, [ by this time, he was nearly having a heart attack ]
Then i said what about possibilities like, Vasculitis or Systemic Lupus Erythematosus seeing i have got some numbness in my feet ? he looked at me like this , then he changed his tune all together, and said " ok then, i will mention all of this to your GP, he is a very good doctor and i will leave it up to him to do all the appropriate reffering, etc, ok my friend ?
I knew this was the end, he wasn't prepared to do a dame thing to try to help me, so i got up off the chair and said well hasn't this been a waste of my time ? and walked out the door, i looked at my watch and it was only 20 minutes all up.
The next appointment i had with my GP, he read his report and said he couldn't find anything wrong with me and no other referals were recommended by him.
Unfortunately there are some really useless specialists all around the globe that don't really care about their patients at all, they are to concerned about how much money they can make in an hour.

I am sure there are plenty of others here that have similar experiences with specialists, but i will never leave any doctors room unless i feel satisfied myself, no matter how much they try to push you out the door, if the shoe was on the other foot you could imaging what they would be doing.

I am not saying anything bad about your neuro, all testing does takes time, but the more you help yourself by learning ,searching for answers, either from the " stickies " here or goggling up PN symptoms on the net, or look at Liza's charts and checkout if your symptoms match on the net, having questions prepared & ready for your next neuro visit, the better it is for you in the long run, if it wasn't for some of the vets here on this board pointing me in the right direction i wouldn't be anywhere near as repaired as i am now.

good luck
Brian