Autonomic Testing SFN
 

I was wondering what kind of testing can be done to check for autonomic neuropathy. I do not sweat and I also have have digestive problems (not acid relux) for years (more of a motility issue) and I suspect it has to do with my neuropathy. My Dr. has not suggested any of these types of tests yet. But my GI doctor told me a few years ago that he suspected my digestive issues are a nerve problem.

What autonomic tests did you have?

When I was diagnosed with Gastroparesis, they did a gastric emptying test, I had to eat a meal with a radioactive tracer in it and then they xrayed my Stomach at a series of intervals, it had not emptied after 4 hours, so they knew there was a problem with motility.

I think there are tests that can look at autonomic issues, but not sweating and motility are examples of autonomic neuropathy.

Generally--
 

--to look for autonomic involvement, most (savvy) docs will start with the tilt table, to measure blood pressure reactions in different positions, have them perform the Valsalva test (bascially a test of seeing cardiovascular reactions to increased pressure), and then will do some form of sweat test, such as the sudomotor axon reflex test, in which small electrical cahrges are sent to the tiny nerves that control the sweat glands, and the response is measured:

http://peripheralneuropathycenter.uc...ic/qsart.shtml

http://peripheralneuropathycenter.uc...ic/index.shtml

I had all of the above, and a thermoregulatory sweat test....the purple powder test. I stayed orange-all over.:( I have in recent years, begun to sweat more...more than I care to....but one of my docs says it is compensatory for areas of my body where I don't sweat....funny thing is....I did not turn purple anywhere, so I don't know where this particular doc felt I was compensating for....hmmphf) (I think he is full of baloney, or bolgona, depends where your from.

Could this be the very slooooowww action of IVIG?

Rose,
The tests that I had was the tilt table test and the Q-sweat test (hopefully I have the name of that test correct). I failed both so they didn't need to do any further testing on me to make a diagnosis.

At Mayo, I had the Qsart,,, (normal),, sweat test,, only place showed abnormal was bottom of feet and lower legs,, in my opinion, it has progressed from then to now, but once you get that normal result,, its pretty hard to convince them otherwise,, plus my ANA was neg, parenteoplastic normal,, everything normal, only low was cortisol,, but stim test showed it to be ok,, so I dont know

Here its baloney Cy,, same with chipped ham,, or when we clean up the house its called redding up,, were just a bunch of stupid Pittsburghers that dont know how to talk right,,