Possible small fibre neuropathy
 

Hi First time posting hoping to get some advice really. I have been having a number of odd symptoms following a hair transplant in June this year. Around 48 hours after the procedure which was done under local anaesthetic and is supposed to be minimally invasive I collapsed before boarding a flight and was told I had lowish BP and possible throat infection and was cleared to get on the flight.

On the flight home I had an extremely high heart rate throughout (anxiety I suppose) but for the following month I was extremely fatigued to the point where I couldn't stay up for more than an hour or so but was also struggling to actually sleep at night. I saw various GPs and even when to A&E as everytime I stood up I felt like my legs were going to go from underneath me I couldn't sleep at night and had extremely high heart rate especially at night I was told simply this was anxiety and I just needed to relax.

After a month or so the fatigue and brain fog started to lift but I found I would wake up at night and either my arm or foot would be completely numb. This happened for around a week and since have noticed a number of symptoms including pins and needles in hands and feet along with some burning in ankles and wrists this has developed into burning of the soles of feet and painful wrists to the point it's quite difficult to do every day normal things driving , opening bottles. I also no longer sweat except from armpits and occasionally from legs if it's very warm other things I have noticed are constant fullness in ears , loss
Of libido and loss of night time and morning erections , hair loss on toes , constantly cold, headaches which I did not have previously, around 2 stones of
Weight loss, heart palpitations in middle of night, anxiety in social situations, slight loss of balance. Despite my symptoms have still been advised by a number of
GPs , consultants and a neurologist that this is anxiety. Blood tests are all normal as far as I have been told and can tell except for testosterone which is 6.4 this however increased to 7.7 recently so have been told it's sorting itself out so no need for any intervention.

I have been offered anti depressants , pain killers and sleeping tablets but although the pain is quite bad at times have declined until I can hopefully get to the actual root cause hopefully.

Apologies for the long post but wanted to give full details to get some opinions on what if anything could have caused this as previous to the procedure I was perfectly fine . I also took prednisolone and anti biotics cefuroksim which was switched to Flucoxacillin as I suffered an allergic reaction to it. Could the procedure or any of the meds cause small fibre neuropathy ?

I don't know where else to go with this as my GP isn't really interested anymore and neither is any other doctor I have come across .

I have started some supplements recently b12 methyl cobalamin sublingual , Curcumin , omega 3s . I have also ordered benfotiamine and R ala which should arrive this week. Haven't noticed much difference as yet but not sure if these will help as haven't been able to determine a cause as such.

Many thanks for taking the time to read this

Although crazy things sometimes happen, it seems unlikely that the hair transplant procedure would cause the symptoms you are describing. But, both of the antibiotics you mentioned do have some history of causing peripheral neuropathies (based on a quick google search anyway).

If that is the cause, there's probably not much to do other than discontinue the medications (see if there are other alternatives available) and move toward a diet and supplements that support nerve health and regeneration.

Best of luck. I know the onset of PN symptoms is a scary time. I hope things resolve quickly for you.

Dont overhwhelm yourself with the supplements at first. Takeone or 2 for a week or two and see how you respond. Dont take like 10 of them at once or your wont know whats working. No need to take what isnt needed. R-ALA, Benfotiamine are the ones I would start with since you want some pain relief. Then add others. Also consider Acetyl L_carnitine. But you have to take it slow with the supplements. They also take time to do their work.

My experience was the Benfotiamine, Acetyl-L Carnitine and R-Lipoic Acid showed the most immediate effect in terms of helping with the pain. They are not gonna make everything magically go away but they should help. There are other supplements you can add later as you go on that supposedly help "repair" nerves.

Trauma trigger
 

As I read the post I was thinking that BP could cause this and that but eventually it sounded like Neuropathy. If the antibiotics you are taking are of the family that gives Neuropathy you could have been on the cusp of having symptoms for some time. Sorry I don't remember how long you had been taking them. Perhaps the hair transplant was enough trauma to start your symptoms. I say this because I was a poor diabetic patient(non-compliant) and was involved in a "get out and look at the damage car accident" and that started my symptoms. Good Luck, Ken in Texas.

Thanks for the responses guys.

I had only taken the cefuroxime for two days before I had an allergic reaction then switched to Flucoxacillin 4 times a day for for days 250mg but as far as I knew neither were known for causing Neuropathy. The cefuroxime is a cephalosporin and Flucoxacillin a penicillin I have read unless anyone can advise otherwise.

As the procedure does involve multiple incisions thought they are only a couple on MM deep into the scalp is that enough trauma to cause SFN as those nerves are in the skin itself as opposed to the deeper nerves.

My diet previous to this has always been pretty good but I have really cleaned it up now but am struggling to really get enough calories in to start putting weight back on plus the fact I am no longer hitting the gym. How important is diet and elimination or reduction of carbs. I am not diabetic my fasting glucose level was 4.6mmol/L. I did however have another random pin prick test and the doctor mentioned it was a little high and I mentioned I had a bowl of oats with honey about an hour earlier and he said that's probably what it is. He didn't tell me actual result but I think I saw an 11 on his machine. I am considering purchasing a blood glucose monitor so I can keep an eye on this myself as my doctor is very reluctant to do any of the tests I ask him to do.

Has anyone had autonomic functions affected but then resolved? Although my sweating has pretty much disappeared I did wake up one night and covered in sweat like I normally would be most nights and also another occasion when it was quite a hot day.

Glad to have found somewhere where people actually understand some of my symptoms as most people both medics and family and friends seem quite sceptical.

Short time on the antibiotics
 

so maybe thats not it. There are so many varieties of Neuropathy and so many symptoms, many never figure out anything as a cause. There are some that have diabetic involvement that are below the national standard for becoming even pre-diabetic. Maybe some will jump in later. Good Luck, Ken in Texas.