Can Small Fiber Neuropathy Be Diagnosed By EMG?

[JoshuaY46013]

I had an EMG and was diagnosed with Small Fiber Neuropathy, I had no response in the Medial Planter Nerves, does this indicate Small Fiber?

I was told an EMG isn't able to detect Small Fiber?

Thank You
Josh

[DKKCCG]

I had extreme burning just to the outside of my shins and then in my feet, sometimes on my right arm and sometimes a patch right about where your appendix would be.. It started 9/95, but it wasn't severe yet and I thought it was from being cold and too wearing leggings. It went away with warm weather.  It came on like a storm in 10/96 and I knew it wasn't from cold weather and legging.  I first went to some local doctors with no answers, then to St. Louis where I still go no answers, so then to Mayo Clinic in MN finally in 9/97.  I had a 20 minute EMG locally, then at Mayo I had a 3 hour EMG and they didn't show anything.  Then they did a thermoregulatory sweat test where they coated my body with this golden powder then put me in this plastic oven and heated me to a 'core' temperature of 109º.  If I sweat the powder turned a dark purple, areas where it was still gold showed the nerves were dead as I didn't sweat in those areas.  Therefore the diagnosis was idiopathic (which means there's no known cause) small fiber peripheral neuropathy.  There's several things that I, looking back, know could've caused it.. 3 years prior I contracted Lyme Disease, but caught it on the 13th day and was given very strong oral antibiotics and they were in the Quinilone family of antibiotics which I now know can cause neuropathy, it might have come from the Lyme itself, but I really don't think so, I was also exposed to a bonding primer which contained tolulene.. who knows, I'll never know.  Anyway, they prescribed amitriptyline which caused me to gain 20# and it just made me sleep, I was still miserable most of my awake time and after 9 months it quit working, so they prescribed Celexa and it helped for another 9 months, then it quit working.  They wanted to put me on neurontin and I refused and said I thought I'd try nothing.  I found I wasn't any worse without any medication, so I've not had any medicine for it since about 3/99 and I've continued to improve.  In warm weather I would say I really don't have any problem, but in winter I battle it, sometimes it's worse than other times, but never as bad as it used to be.  I take a ton of supplements and I think they help, especially malic acid, alpha lipoic acid and I take several anti oxidants.  Mayo Clinic and maybe Cleveland Clinic are the only places I know that do the thermoregulatory sweat test, but there are 3 Mayos across our country.  Best of luck to you.  Keep us posted.

[Blue52eyez]

Small fiber neuropathy cannot be diagnoised by doing an EMG a Plastic surgeon did a punch biopsy on me, they go in about 7 layers of skin & they then sent it out to Mass General where they put it under a microscope looking through your Nerve fibers in your layers of your skin. I hope this answers your question!!!

[aderial]

I too had to go to the Cleveland clinic they did a qsart and tilt table test to find mine, now i have to go back because I'm told no one in Cincinnati is skilled in helping with it

[billyo]

Hi, Josh, I was diagnosed by a test called a Q.S.A.R.T. test, in 2007. I live near cincinnati, the only hospitals that do the test in Ohio is O.S.U. in Columbus, and the Cleveland Clinic/ i was told.  I have bad pain in the balls of both feet, and the neuropathy continues up both legs(feels like the leg muscles have the FLU). Have had the pain since 1999. I am taking OPANA for the pain, it changed the feel in legs but not much if any in both feet.  I have tried very many drugs to help with the pain.  the only thing that helped much was the 3 day pain patch. Keep in touch, maybe we can help others with this overwhelming pain.  

[JoshuaY46013]

My EMG report said "Medial Plantar Sensory Nerves Absent Latencies Suggest A Small Fiber Neuropathy"  The bottom of my feet didn't have any response in the NCV test

I am in a lot of pain, some days I can't sleep, barely walk and drive. I also have neuropathy in both legs as well.  I'm have a horrible time coping with the pain and living a normal life...  How do you do?


I take Ultram 100 mg 4x Day
Neurontin 600 mg 3x Day

What medications do you take?

[luckysunshine]

Hi there,
I was also diagnosed with small fiber neuropathy and am really in a lot of pain.
My neurologist stated that an EMG can detect large fiber neuropathy, and small fiber neuropathy is kind of diagnosed by ruling everything else out. There's also a biopsy that can be done to diagnose small fiber neuropathy.

How are you feeling? Are u taking any medication?

[JoshuaY46013]

Any Idea