Thank you Wide-O.

That is a good way of putting it. Also I'd like to add that as we age, our metabolisms do change. We become more sensitive to LOW blood sugars (and this can be a cause of paresthesias for people who eat too many carbs and swing, or who don't eat at all
or properly due to bad habits, or other issues).

Our nerves are designed as a warning system to alert us to something in the environment that is bad for us. Unfortunately, we don't get education about this, and may continue with something that is damaging and not realize it. Eventually, something does give, and it might take time to manifest. By then the person has no clue as to the real trigger. (toxins, drugs, poor eating habits, vitamin deficiencies, vaccines, viruses and infections, excessive or strenuous exercise etc). The real culprit is hidden. And until the nerves are damaged enough, they remain silent. Damage could have been creeping up slowly and only become obvious once a certain threshold has been reached.

It is also to be expected that with "age" things are going to slow down, or no longer be as responsive as when we were younger.
The body repairs at a slower rate with age, and the immune system changes, Metabolism changes, oxygen saturation may decline with reduced cardiac and lung functions, kidneys may not filter as efficiently, etc. Circulation typically changes, with feet and hands getting less and less. PN USED to be a medical problem only with the elderly. But as we see here from posters who come to NeuroTalk, the age of incidence is going down.

So I think of PN as a doorbell or fire alarm type thing. It alerts us to do something and change something. The hereditary types, are slow genetic errors, that we don't have the means to change yet. But even those have triggers, that we are slowly discovering.
Hence their "drugs to avoid" lists for CMT patients.

I personally find that sudden dips in barometric pressure (weather) create many painful flares for me. It is something I have always had to endure and live with!