Long COVID Atlas
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Plain-language first, with specialist detail below. For understanding, not medical advice.

Long COVID Atlas › Glossary › Small-fiber neuropathy

Neurology

Small-fiber neuropathy

https://longcovidatlas.org/glossary/small-fiber-neuropathy

In plain language

What it is

Damage to the tiniest nerves that carry pain signals and run automatic functions.

Why it matters

It is found in a sizable share of people with long COVID and can drive pain and autonomic symptoms.

Think of it like

Fraying in the body's thinnest wiring.

One system, many symptoms Autonomic nervous system heart rateblood pressurebreathingdigestiontemperaturebladder & sweat when this one control system misfires, many systems misfire at once
Your autonomic nervous system runs the things you never think about: heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, digestion, temperature, bladder. That is why dysautonomia looks like so many unrelated problems at once. They are not unrelated. They are one disrupted control system showing up in every organ it governs.

For specialists

Formal definition

Reduced intraepidermal nerve fiber density on skin biopsy; up to roughly half of long COVID patients with neuropathic and autonomic symptoms show it.

Mechanism

Immune-mediated injury to thinly myelinated and unmyelinated fibers affects sensation and autonomic control.

Sources

Related terms

Dysautonomia