Savannah, we can help you in many ways here, and one is guiding you through the diagnosis phase. Please go to the charts at www.lizajane.org and download and print them out for yourself. Ask your doctors for COPIES of every test you've had. Then see if you've been fully worked up.

Is your insurance an HMO? Can you go out of network at all? My insurance let me go out of network, but the copay was very high. When Mayo billed me, I told them I could either send them a small sum each month over a few years, or negotiate down. They negotiated down. Also, not knowing your financial situation, I have no idea, but could you afford a copay? It might be worth dipping into your nest egg, if you have one. Mayo will do all the right tests, but I agree with Glenntaj that so will Hopkins. I dont know if they are as organized as Mayo.

Please tell us more about yourself--your age, other illnesses, when the symptoms began and how they moved, if your EMG shows axonal sensory neuropathy, demyelination, inflammation, etc. You need to get your hands on the report to tell us. I agree with your internist friends that one year is fast for this. It could be many things, including toxins.

So, maybe you could give us a summary of who you are, how old, your general health, exposures to drugs/implants/toxins, if anyone in your family has anything similar. Give us a little summary.

And no, don't quit your job and think this is the end. Some of us get better.

I got sick in 1999 with a rapid onset, and also had autonomic findings on cardiac testing. I was in pain, had shocking, burning, awful sensations, vibrations, everything.
But I think I had an exposure to something, and I've embarked on the healing plan in the stickies, devoting a lot of time and effort to doing everything possible to stay away from toxins and provide the supplements that the nerves need to rebuild. I'm much much better. Sometimes I have pain in my toes and balls of my feet. That's not unlike a lot of other people my age, without neuropathy.

Others of us have gotten better. Check out the sticky on that.

You even might have CIDP, which is directly treatable.

Take heart, you're at the beginning of a journey, not the end.