--and he doesn't even play one on these boards , just a patient who had a very acute onset of something most doctors couldn't explain and who became a fierce autodidact (thank heaven for the Internet).

(I didn't know ANYTHING about ANY of this ten years ago. But dealing with something that medical professionals are baffled by and that you have to deal with every day is very focusing. Now, of course, I frighten the **** out of doctors who are insecure and/or not keeping up with their continuing education. I like to think I'm evolution's way of driving bad doctors to get better. )

Now, as to progression--it is, unfortunately, highly variable. Most neuropathies with chronic or insidious onset are slowly progressive, though with good nutrition and such many can be slowed or even arrested. If one can find the cause, and eliminate, healing can occur, and it may even be reversible to a certain extent (see toxins, gluten, thyroid, vitamin deficiency).

People who present with slow onset sensory syndromes do not often progress to motor problems--not many of these people wind up functionally disabled. They are more likely to experience autonomic dysfunction--and that can be severe.

People with acute onsets have highly variable prognoses, ranging from rapid deterioration to monophasic syndromes (such as Guillain Barre) that can be greatly recovered from, assuming the initial attack is survived. (This is easier with purely sensory syndromes, such as I experienced, than with "classic" demyelinating acute neuropathies that attack large motor nerves and may cause paralysis or loss of muscle control.)

People who have motor dysfunction right from the start, or who develop it early, such as in CIDP, generally have a rougher time down the road, unless they can get effective therapy that works for them (such as ongoing IvIg or plasmaphoresis).

Realize, sad to say, that we're only talking general population trends here; neuropathy is so variable that we're all sort of samples of one.