--I would doubt that a dumbell exercise or massage would "cause" a small fiber neuropathy--the small unmyelinated fibers are embedded in the skin and it would be very hard to damage them that way.

It would be much more likely to damage larger, myelinated nerves through bad exercise technique or bad massage technique by causing these to be misplaced in their tracts and or to swell. Of course, this might still be painful.

Also, can you distinguish between "regular" nociceptive pain and neuropathic pain? Neuropathic pain is generally not like regular pain; it has a burning, dysethetic quality to it--like a bad sunburn someone rubbed with sandpaper--that is quite different from the general "bruising" pain, as neuropathic pain is caused by malfunctioning nerves, rather than inflammatory excitiation of nerves from other causes.

filipe you're lucky that someone ordered a skin biopsy for you. i have been trying to get one ordered for me for a while but no doctor wants to order the test. as far as it being small fiber neuropathy i hope your biopsy comes back normal and it turns out to be something simple. if it does turn out to be small fiber be as aggressive as you can to find out whats causing it to prevent further damage. hope its not tho. you're absolutely right your son needs you to be healthy to take care of him.

filipe, I am sorry to hear about your condition and I can sympathized because I felt that way too when I first developed similar problems. Please put your mind to rest about your child not having the benefit of two fully active parents. Kids can and do grow up and thrive in many situations. IMHO, an involved, concerned and loving parent, which you obviously are, trumps any disability.

As has already been said, in the short term, get your symptoms under control and better managed to improve your quality of life, lessen your stress level and allow you to focus on the long term.

With regards to the biopsy, please wait for the results, but I must caution you and others about the results. I am seeing a doctor at Mass General who specializes in SFN and explained the difficulties of biopsy. He said at one time he did them frequently but discovered in too many cases the nerve counts were normal or near normal when there was clearly a problem. He also saw cases where the nerve counts were abnormally low and there was no associated problems. He definitely uses them when the neuropathy appears to be advancing rapidly. But in general, when the neuropathy is not advancing, it does not take him in any new diagnostic direction.

I will repeat and reinforce what others have said. Do not let anyone tell you this is a psychosomatic problem that is all in your head!