--to have an acute onset of peripheral neuropathy that is body-wide and spreads rapidly. My story as regards that is pretty well known.

Guillain Barre syndrome is the most well-known clinical entity in which this happens, but there are others--some autoimmune variants of Guillain Barre, some related to toxic causes, some metabolic, some infectous.

Take a look at:

http://neuromuscular.wustl.edu/time/...htm#neuropathy