Hi drwk,

I recognize your handle, but don't recall any specifics, so please forgive if I state the obvious here....

I have PN (which I suspect includes some small fiber damage), and I have nearly identical symptoms along my spine, but AFAIK, my spinal symptoms are from severe/advanced osteoarthritis, which in turn has caused degenerative disc disease & subsequent spinal stenosis, which causes a lot of pain and other symptoms. My PN seems to be limited to my feet and lower legs. All I'm saying here is that your spinal symptoms could be related to PN, and/or they could be something else entirely.

I understand the fear, and I understand the frustration with the medical system (and with what we would all like/wish the medical system to be like).

Doctors have reasons for what they test for, and in what order they test - usually to rule things out in the order of most probable to least probable. Unfortunately, they can't test for everything all at once, and these things take time. Also, testing is not perfect and/but that's a whole 'nother ball-o-worms.

As far as vitamin D goes, (and m/any other supplements as well) is there any harm in going ahead and taking some? I'm not talking about megadosing, but healthy dosing. Here's an example (but you may want to go into this further):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin..._intake_levels

I assume you have some reasoning for the specific tests you want, in the order you want them (just as the doctors have their criteria). I've found it helpful, when requesting tests from doctors, to do my homework and have documentation & evidence for my requests, and also to discuss their reasons for disagreeing, and ask questions if/when they are not forthcoming. Just as we have to help them help us, we have to ask their help in our helping ourselves (beyond the traditional doctor-patient relationship). If you don't have confidence/trust in, and good communication with, your doctors, you don't have the right doctors.

In the meantime, I would (if you haven't already) ask the local university to get on their cancellations list, download & become familiar with the Liza Jane Spreadsheets
http://www.lizajane.org/
and read up on any supplements you can take and things you can do in the interim. (The maxim being: If it can't hurt to try it, then it can't hurt to try it.)

Doc