Working and walking with SFN
 

HI all,

I am wondering if you could give someone, who is new to this condition, some idea about what the future may hold?

I am 29 and what I would like to know is do you manage to still hold down a fulltime job and are you able to walk?

The answer would mean more than you could imagine,

Cheers

Sarah

The progression of small fiber neuropathy--
 

--is highly variable, in that some people get progressively worse, some plateau, some get better with good treatment, good blood sugar control if they are diabetic, immune modulating treatment if autoimmune mechanisms are involved, etc.

For small fiber neuropathy, it is to become muscularly debilitated, as the small fibers control sensory (pain/temperature) and autonomic (sweat, blood pressure) functions, and not motor ones. When one starts to get motor symptoms, one is not in the realm of pure small fiber neuropathy anymore, there must now be some large, myelinated fiber involvement. Still, if one is in constant pain, or has little autonomic control, that can be quite debilitating in itself. But small fiber neuropathy doesn't cause people to wind up in wheelchairs, generally.

The real key is to get an extensive enough workup (easier said than done in many areas, I know) to see if a cause can be determined, because many causes are treatable, at least to the extent that progression may be arrested.