small fiber neuropathy
 

my new neurologist thinks i may have small fiber neuropathy. i have stiffness, numbness, pins and needles in my arms and legs that interfere with daily activities. my face feels like i had novacaine to my cheeks to ears, forehead and top of scalp now. i get dizzy while sitting and standing, feeling like hot water pouring down my legs, creepy crawling feelings in various parts of my body. i can't work or help much around my house which is very frustrating. i used to be very active and had to go go go. i can't stand sitting all the time now. i try to do things and end up having to sit down to let muscles rest so they don't hurt so much. i'm looking for information on small fiber neuropathy and any hope that i can have my old life back.

Well, you're certainly in the right place.
 

Seems like this one was a rather quick onset--not typical with small-fiber syndromes, but possible . . .

Take a look at:

http://www.thecni.org/reviews/13-2-p07-treihaft.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_f...ral_neuropathy

http://www.ccjm.org/content/76/5/297.full

http://neuromuscular.wustl.edu/sensory-small.html

thank you for the links, they were very informative. i know this has progressed very rapidly. i have had pain in tops of my feet before in past year. i also had surgery on my left elbow just this past december. don't know if it makes a difference but i had a baby by cessarian two years ago as well. i do get a lot of bad respiratory illnesses that require steroids and antibiotics. i'm on antibitotics for that kind of thing at least twice every winter. i did get alot of blood work drawn this week. most of it was looking for autoimmune problems, some for vitamin deficiencies. i'll have to wait and see. i have diabetes(9 yrs now), asthma, reflux( too many yrs to count). those are my biggest problems. the diabetes is controlled by diet until three months ago when they started to rise and now i need metformin to help. my BP was under control again without medication until about three months ago and now i'm on blood pressure medication as well. i just feel my body has gone haywire and i have no control over it. very frustrating. i am getting emg's on my legs by my neurologist on wed. and i'm going to ask for a referral to a pain specialist.

Well--
 

--if you have diabetes, and if you were taking powerful antibiotics, you certainly have two major risk factors for small-fiber neuropathy; diabetes is the most common cause of small-fiber syndromes and a number of antibiotics do have neurotoxicites in some people . . .

i do keep my sugar levels under tight control. occassionally i do run in mid 200's but only when i'm sick. i usually take z-pack or levaquin when i'm sick because other types don't work. october of 2009 i ended up on three diff. abx. because the first two didn't work. i was really ill and i still don't really know what kind of respiratory illness it was. took two and a half months to recover. do you think that could have triggered this?

Levaquin is a notorious causer of neuropathy. Some say it cannot be reversed, but some information is out there at Dr. J. Cohen's MD website.

more here:
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/post661103-2.html

I'd stick with the Zithromax. However, you may need an alternate dosage for chronic or frequent events. 500mg daily for 3 days instead of the other regimen. Don't accept Levaquin unless all else fails.

Do you know your Vit D level? Optimising it can prevent infections. It has succeeded for my husband and I.

how long after one takes these drugs does the symptoms appear? i had alot of bloodwork drawn last week and i'm hoping to get results this week. 25 OH vitamin d is one of the tests he ordered as well as alot that tests for autoimmune issues and other vitamin deficiencies.

There are people damaged after one tablet! The book Bitter Pills goes into detail about that. It was written about Floxin. (which could cause permanent seizures after one tablet---the author's wife precipitated that book)

The tendon ruptures can occur up to a year or more after one course.

People vary in the toxicities...and it must have biological factors involved that have not been discovered yet. But this subject is all over the net. We've had several people come here who were damaged by fluoroquinolones.

Please read the links I have in that post... you'll understand better.

more here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levofloxacin
Make sure your doctor INTERPRETS your vitamin results properly.
This is commonly not done correctly.
Don't accept "normal"...get the numbers for both the B12 and Vit D.
Then...Don't accept the RX 50,000 IU D2 that might be given. It does not work. Use D3 OTC instead. (doctors still don't know how to treat low levels properly).

This is a long thread on Vit D:
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread92116.html
It has information you will find helpful.

The general rule of thumb is 1000IU of D3 orally daily per 10ng needed raise in level. So if you test at say, 20... you would need 3000IU daily to reach the lower normal figure of 50.
My doctor wants me at 70, based on the new research so I had to raise my dose to 10,000 IU daily every other day with 5,000 on the alternate day. I tested at 43 using 5,000 IU daily.

Vit D3 is not expensive... luckily and easy to take. According to Grassrootshealth.net, the 1,000 IU rule is more dependable at the lower ranges, than when you get close to your goal. So testing every year is a good idea.

But they are tiny globules, easy to drop- and if you have any problems holding on to pills, these will definitely find the most inaccessible corner of the floor.:eek::confused::(