from "not knowing".... in fact when you do "know" there is still not a good chance for a rapid cure, if any. American medicine is not really up on nutritional support, which may help you.
It cannot cure osteoarthritis or Rheumatoid... it may give some symptomatic relief...but progression is inevitable.

I suspect you have some inflammatory autoimmune thing going on. Sometimes these are self limiting with time. That is they go away. And sometimes they do not go away. Sometimes we are lucky to arrest progression, and that is a victory, albiet a small one.

At 39..you are approaching middle age... everything starts to go
then. Sometimes slowly, sometimes more rapidly.

We keep our cars on average 10 yrs so I am quite familiar with the auto-decline! I sometimes liken it to driving an old car. First your taillights go out, then the rust starts on the running boards, your muffler falls off one day, a sideview mirror falls off, your autowindows stop working, A/c dies... etc.

I myself have atrophied ovaries, thyroid, joints, high blood pressure, etc, in addition to the PN...infact the PN is the least of my worries today. One can minimize damage, but there is NO GOING BACK to what you were, ever.

People react to illness in different ways. I learned early (at around 30) that my life was going to be different from other people. In fact my childhood was a horror, so my pain now is nothing compared to what I grew up with. So the horror was a gift of sorts, a gift to make me appreciate the nicer things I find as an adult.

If you feel overwhelmed with this medical issue, I suggest you see a counselor and learn some relaxation and hopefully some autohypnosis techniques to help you cope. I learned autohypnosis long ago for another reason and it has served me very well now.

If the internet is too much for you, then take a break. Really smart intelligent people, can work themselves into a tissy sometimes. I see my son do that...he emails me with intensity still when he runs into a problem...he is 27.

Take care.