Most of us have the experience of the terrifying quick onset and worsening symptoms, that settle down after a month or two and either start getting better, stay the same, or progress much more slowly. You have a right to be scared. I was almost in a panic when my PN started, especially since the doctors were not helpful. Please consider this:

- Strong negative emotion makes PN symptoms much worse for days. Fear, anger, frustration, etc. start the flight/fight syndrome where our body prepares for quick action and possible injury. Our adrenal glands dump cortisone, the pituitary tells the body to increase production of adrenalin to prime the muscles and reduce bleeding in injury, the liver dumps glucose into the blood to prepare for action, and the pancreas secrete more insulin to use the glucose. All of which is hard on your blood circulation, nerves and your psyche.

- When no action such as running or fighting take place, the glands become exhausted and stop producing these needed hormones for a time. That is also hard on your blood circulation, nerves and your psyche.

- In my personal experience, the extreme increase in pain, tingling, and numbness lasts about three days if I calm down, indefinitely if I don't.

- You have a right to be scared, but since running or fighting won't solve the problem, fear will only make things worse. Relax if you can. Accept that you are ill. Nobody knows what the future holds. You might feel better next week and start healing, or you might be killed by a falling meteorite tomorrow. It helps to not think about the future, and just live here and now, enjoying life as much as you can.

- Empower yourself. What you can do for yourself is to get the help and the knowledge you need to take other action in a cool calculating way without emotion.

Read or skim the entire "Sticky" section, learning what you need, and following links until you feel that you have a handle on possible causes for your symptoms, possible therapies, who to turn to for help, and what a good diagnostic procedure for PN looks like. It's all in the "Stickies" and sites the postings link to. The more you learn and the more you educate yourself and take action based on what you learn, the less fear you'll feel, giving your body its best chance to start healing.

- Rapid onset like you're talking about is typical, especially in cases of toxic exposure such as to drugs (a list is in the Stickies), onset of diabetes, or infections such as Lyme disease.

- We can't know all about you that you know, even the doctors among us. You can fail to tell us something of critical importance to understanding your problem because you don't know it's important or because you are concerned with looking good. For example, would you volunteer the information that you have AIDS or are alcoholic if that were the case? BUT, if you educate yourself, you'll know what's important, and then the discussion in this forum would be much more valuable and empowering to you.


I wouldn't wish what you are going through, or what I went through the first three years of PN on anybody. Just know that things will settle down, you can get control over your life and health if you're determined to, and you have people here who care about you even though we've never met you. Take care.

P.S. It's helpful to list the area you live in. Besides creating an emotional bond, people in your area might PM you (Personal Message) with names of doctors, offers of help, etc. If it's a small town and you're concerned about anonymity, just something like "North East Kansas" would serve the purpose.