I appreciate your thoughts on this.

My neurologist seems to think that if alcohol were the underlying cause that by quitting drinking for close to a year the nerves would have showed some regeneration or not gotten worse. Had my first biopsy in early Nov. 2011; drank very lightly from that time until the end of that calendar year and then quit entirely. Had second biopsy at beginning of Nov. 2012; so alcohol had been removed entirely for a period of 10 months I guess if you do the math. Anyway, biopsy results showed definite worsening. I also have some "red flags", if you will, for an autoimmune disorder, postitve ANA, pleural & pericardial effusions, something about the way my capillaries look under my fingernails. They have not been able to pin down anything specific there.
And of course I have a blood sugar situation that is often pre-diabetic fasting, but the A1C has been consistently in the normal range.

Anyway, it's all very confusing and, of course, frustrating. If I ever were drink again, I KNOW WITHOUT A DOUBT, I would never go back to drinking heavily. Those days are over and had been for quite a while before I stopped entirely. But with the holidays coming up it would be nice to have a beer or two, or glass or two of wine, and not be eaten up wondering if I'm making things worse. Just something I guess I'll have to come to terms with one way or another. It's a catch 22 in a way -- drinking lightly on some weekends would enhance the quality of my life in terms of enjoyment, but would it be hurting the quality of my life from the standpoint of this wretched small fiber neuropathy?

Again, thanks for the input.