NeuroTalk Support Groups - View Single Post

Patrick Winter · 09-11-2015, 08:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glenntaj

--I suspect that, given the cornucopia of chemicals we are all now exposed to regularly, and how little is known about some of them and their interactions, there are more neuropathies that have a toxic origin than is generally believed.

Some toxic neuropathies are well-documented, and a number of these come from studies of workplace exposure, such as to mercury (think of the phrase "mad as a hatter"--mercury poisoning was observed earliest among haberdashery workers). But there are probably a lot of toxic neuropathies we don't suspect and which would be very difficult to test for.

One small hope of expanding this knowledge, ironically, lies in the studies of toxic exposures that happened during the incidents of 9/11--the follow-up over time has revealed a lot people with neurotoxic symptoms, both peripheral and central. Echoes Long Ago on these boards is very knowledgeable about this, as he suspects, as a first responder, this is how his neuropathy developed, and he has been a very strong advocate in the suits and court processes to get neuropathy recognized as an effect of the exposures there.

Try going to your doctor and explain the situation with having an idiopathic disease and say you want a full allergy screen (RAST, Allergen-specific IgE Antibody Test) as well as blood test that check for toxins or deficiencies, (lead, mercury, copper, zinc, etc...). There are also blood tests for mold and fungus, they are more specialized though. And not always covered, but why not ask? A good general practitioner will dig for you. Yeah, these tests often can come up negative (they did for me) and you could still have an allergy but it should be done regardless. Skin allergy testing isn't a bad idea either. There will always be something that comes up and they'll try to get you to go on immunotherapy which usually is an absolute waste of time. regardless, its good to know what things could set you off.

I say, with an "idiopathic" disease you need to tell the doctor to dig and search every corner, not gonna sit around waiting for something to progress. I tell my doctors, KEEP LOOKING! Idiopathic means they haven't found the cause is all. It's a BS name to say they can't figure it out.