Hi

So I was wondering if it is possible to tell if I have fibro or peripheral neuropathy just from symptoms. Currently I am waiting to see a neurologist, but I am interested to know if I can tell the difference. I do not have the mental fibro symptoms like brain fog and fatigue, but I have the tingling hands and knees, shooting pains, and sensitivity. It is not that widespread, mainly arms and knees. I do not yet know if I have diabetes or b12 deficiency, but my GP says it is unlikely and wants me to start taking gabapentin!

From what I have read fibro suffers do not have visible damage to the nerves when you look under a microscope, but people with peripheral neuropathy do. Maybe the neurologist will get to the bottom of this. But what do you guys reckon, some of you must have either or both of these diseases?

Thanks,

Chris

There seems to be quite a large overlap between fibromyalgia and small fiber neuropathy. I recently read a study that claims about 50% of people diagnosed with fibromyalgia show damage to their small fiber nerves.

I have also noted that there is a large overlap between benign fasciculation syndrome and small fiber neuropathy. (Again, studies have shown a high percentage of people diagnosed with BFS show damage to their small fibers if a biopsy is done)

I believe you are correct that a defining feature of fibromyalgia is that there is no damage to the nerves. But then why do so many people diagnosed with fibro show small fiber nerve damage??

It's really hard to say exactly what all this means. Are people being diagnosed incorrectly? Do they have multiple disorders? Is there actually a continuum of disorders that cannot be easily separated? Unfortunately, I don't think anyone knows.............

I struggled for over 10 yrs with a sluggish thyroid and MD back then kept telling me I'm normal, labs are good, blah blah....not so, after 10 yrs on anti depressant drugs for the depression, found it was thyroid and the depression lifted 4 days after my D.O. called in for Armour thyroid back in 2002.

In the meantime with visits to endos, one endo dismissed thyroid and slapped me with Fibro and was pushing his guaifensen drug treatment, I passed on the drug and him.

I've learned a lot over many years now and the Fibro issue is a basket of issues needed to be addressed like thyroid, adrenals, hormones, minerals and more. Some docs don't believe in the Fibro issue, many just don't know what to do, so tell a patient, they have fibro, etc etc.

So I went along for years with the Fibro label and worked on addressing so much gone wrong in my body and today, I hardly talked about Fibro, but talk about thyroid a lot.

I've never had any fog issues and believe probably because of taking grape seed extract since 1995, keeping blood clean and thinned out. Studied grape seed ex for 20 yrs now.