I'm so glad you've already been getting these responses! Sometimes weekends can slow up a bit here and I was afraid you'd think no one cares......
I have such a 'sneaking suspicion' that if you measure these early posts of yours to say..... a few months from now.....you're gonna be absolutely amazed.
Not sure what I mean by that.......just positive 'vibes' I guess

The knee thing. That's probably neither here nor there...the reason I asked is because my PN battle started out 5 yrs ago with piercing knee pain......so instinctively all my attention and medical testing centered around thinking there was something 'wrong' with my knees. My knees are fine. It's the nerves stemming from my lumbar plexus that were referring the pain there and ultimately consuming both the entire legs.
And being hyPOthyroid played a factor in several things which contributed to my battle. I'm female, and at our age.....well..... varying doctors are naturally gonna 'assume' our 'ouches' are 'in our heads' or relating to menopausal cr@p......
......I'm not even sure if you are male or female (how embarrassing) ,
some of what I'm sharing may or may not interest you in the least.

At first I was labeled Fibromyalgia..... ? ...... and to be honest (this is just ME talking tho) the "Neurologist" experience ended up being my most expensive and regretted move....! Point being, maybe don't pin all your hope on thinking a Neuro is gonna be your saving grace.
As far as I'm concerned several folks here have been MUCH more helpful than some of the 'specialty Drs'........ Glenntaj & MrsD (and others) IMO have a better understanding than all the Drs put together that I went to!
Of course, no one here tries to 'play doctor'...... but what I'm saying is that I went in circles and got nowhere.
Before you DO seek out a certain doctor make sure UP FRONT they are willing to commit to knowing/understanding PN and if not, hopefully they will be honest in saying they aren't that well-versed in PN and refer you elsewhere.

And as far as the 'lifestyle choices/habits'........
you'd be surprised to know that there are many here who are/were in the same boat to one extent or another.......Some are more open about it than others..... I saw your comment on the "karmic fate" thing and certainly dont' want you brow-beating yourself.....if that were the case I'm sure most of us would have black and blue brows
There's a real good discussion down a ways on the threads regarding alcohol-related neuropathy......people open up about other habits as well.
And that is just a more recent discussion. Using the 'search' feature at the top of the page is a very useful tool.....type in key words and you'll get a bunch of posts from discussions in the past.....

Oh yeah, you mentioned something regarding obtaining your medical records....YES!!! GET THEM! They are YOURS and you should have copies of what has or has not been done/tested.

Later, my friend
Rae