I thought peripheral neuropathy was somewhat similar to the "common" cold. If you're old enough you'll get it and no one will really know a) from whence it arose and 2) what to do about it.
Translation: It goes with the territory.
Although PN is fairly
common, only 3% - 4% of people over 55 have it. It DOES NOT occur as a natural aging process. There is always a cause (although not always easy to identify). Here is a short summary:
Neuropathies occur by one of three methods:
1.Acquired neuropathies, for example, are caused by environmental forces like poisoning, diabetes, trauma, infection or an illness.
2.Hereditary neuropathy is not as common. It is caused by inherited genetic defects.
3.Idiopathic neuropathy is from an unknown cause. As many as a third of all neuropathies are classified this way, where the cause can't be explained.
What Causes Peripheral Neuropathy?
Many things can cause peripheral neuropathies so it is often difficult to discern the cause. In fact, in up to one in three cases, the cause cannot be determined. Diabetes is responsible for another third. Other known causes include several rare inherited diseases, alcoholism, toxins and certain environmental agents, poor nutrition or vitamin deficiency, trauma due to compression, herniated discs in the back, certain kinds of cancer, conditions where nerves are mistakenly attacked by the body's own immune system or damaged by an overaggressive response to injury, particular medications, kidney disease, thyroid disease, and infections such as Lyme disease, shingles or AIDS.
gunug, "working around a lot of chemicals" is a big risk factor. I have to assume the docs at KU have asked for as complete a list as possible. You may check on the toxicity of the chemicals you have been exposed to yourself, to see if there are any clues.
