I had a fine doctor at OHSU (I liked interacting with him, he ordered lots of tests, answered my questions, and paid attention to the research articles I brought in), but he's no longer practicing in this country, let alone the PNW. I'm not real happy with the doctor there that they set me up with (mostly because he doesn't appear to give a hoot) but haven't found an alternative.

However, a year ago I saw Dr Jose Ochoa, who has spent his entire career studying the peripheral nervous system, part of the time as head of the R.S. Dow Neurological Sciences Institute (a research center that's now part of Good Sam). His clinic is called the Oregon Nerve Center. All of the other neurologists I've see list peripheral nerve disease as almost an afterthought to the central nervous system. Looking at Ochoa's CV, that's reversed.

He is entirely focused on diagnosis and doesn't take patients on for long-term treatment. Great for getting a second or third opinion, but not if you're wanting to try out different drug regimens to see what helps the best over time. Even though he's past a regular retirement age, he's in touch with the research that's going on in the field. As follow-on to our discussion, he had some correspondence with a noted Harvard researcher on some of my particulars, and to a former research colleague of his in Barcelona who has a study I could participate in (if I get myself to Europe).

As I researched him, I saw he's not without controversy since he testifies as a hired expert witness in medical cases. But I discussed this with another doctor who told me that once I'm his patient, he can't be hired to argue against me. Having seen him, I'm convinced that he's really interested in finding a diagnosis.

And although he didn't, in fact, find a cause for my PN, I did learn more info through the testing he did and, for me, getting another opinion was valuable.

I don't rule out pain clinics as a source of diagnosis. Reading through some pain clinic web sites, sometimes those clinicians will find problems that other doctors overlook. I've been only to the one at OHSU, though, and I wouldn't recommend them.