I need some Maalox after viewing that list!

Do people actually EAT that stuff or was it for "fun"? I am one of those people who don't eat dessert typically... I think some ice cream in hot summer now and then is totally decadent!

Hahaha mrsD...I think it's for fun. It's not just dessets, and they update it almost daily. I can't help myself--I have to look.

My all-time favorite was the one in which someone built a Rubic's cube about 1 ft. x 1 ft. out of cubes of deli meats and cheeses. Oh, and "The Porkinator", which was a scultpture of a pig made out of various porcine products.

HOw many of the 'stickies' have you read? Try this one on for size, then the next....
1 -http://www.aafp.org/afp/980215ap/poncelet.html
READ the whole thing.....
2 - http://www.neuroexam.com/content.php?p=2
Read the whole thing....
3- http://neuromuscular.wustl.edu/alfindex.htm
TRY and read the whole thing! Then sort out what your test results say to what you mite have? Or, even IF you've had enough tests to truly diagnose you?
Nothing is cheaper [tho time consuming?] than second opinions! I have had many for many different issues, and they HAVE SAVED MY LIFE! I've one of the less 'common' immune-related neuropathies, tho..it mite have been related to a cancer 'hatching' and diagnosed 18 months after I'd gotten diagnosed with the immune PN... Not one doc has connected the two? Because tests weren't done at a key time during the PN diagnosis. No matter. Treatment for me is still the same either way. But for you? I don't think you have been fully tested out yet! Even so? You still have to live with it all and the consequences! GO forth! Get tested, Be brave, Make the time for these appointments! Get to know WHAT you mite or mite not be dealing with! Go fight it all and face it all with a vengeance. You must do this now, when you can and while you can. I can't say this more emphatically.
I wasn't working [could not?] during my diagnosis, my exhaustion after each effort allowed me to 'pace' two doc appointments/tests a week. It'd take me three days to recover from one to get to the next. Soo, I'm essentially saying? Go and get revenge and prove to those docs YOU have a PROBLEM!
It IS exhausting, but worth it! 's and HOPE for sure! - j

Thank you so much for posting and being so open and inquisitive. I have been "lurking" here for a few weeks now and reading like a maniac trying to figure out how to "fix" my feet! I too have been a drinker since my college days and wonder if that is what has caused my severe PN...I have more than a sneaking suspicion that it IS. The symptoms started last year during my very long, drawn out and painful divorce from an abusive husband. My drinking did get out of hand. I was definitely self medicating and drinking very heavily. Now that I am out and on my own, my drinking has slowed down alot and I rarely drink during the week... only weekends. BUT, I just wonder if the damage is already done and I'm doomed to a life of chronic pain.
I know I'm rambling about things that most of you don't really want to hear about, but it sure feels good to vent! I just wanted to come out of hiding and say THANK YOU ALL for posting and sharing your stories, advice and options. For the first time in a long time I feel hope and that feels so refreshing. It's great not to feel so alone.

Of course we want to hear! Venting is sometimes a necessity, and it is so much better to vent with people who understand.

I'm glad you found NT, and would certainly like to hear more about your PN history. We are all here for each other.

Thank YOU, Mindy, for letting me know there are others out there in the same or similar situation ... and it means a lot to me for someone to say that they were somehow inspired or helped, by my posting my own "ramblings" here ,,,

... yep ... I know how you feel, and you know how I feel ... and there are lots and lots of others here,w ho know how we BOTH feel ... kinda comforting, huh?


You shouldnt feel alone, and you shouldnt worry about posting or "rambling" ... everybody here I'm sure, has been thru the same or is going thru the same or similar stuff ... including the doubts, confusion and anxiety that we are feeling now. I have had the thought before I knew this was "happening" to me, that people so often feel completely alone in whatever they are going thru, and we jsut cant realize how many other people are going thru the same things, and feeling the same way ... the abilty to connect and share those experiences, and talk instantly to other people almost anywhere in the world, really do make the internet a kind of miraculous thing. I'm glad you decided to talk about what you are going through, and the reactions Ive gotten here are proof I think, that people here are very compassionate, empathetic (for obvious resons), and want to help and support each other as much as they possibly can. We ARE members of the "club" now, so DONT FEEL ALONE!

It's threads like these that are bringing more and more people 'out of the closet'........it's not a crime that we've done our share of 'partying' and other experimenting in our youth......
It's an individual choice of who wants to share how much.......

AND i'd bet my bottom dollar if we'd start a new thread entitled. "Who has NEVER done or tried anything constituting a 'bad' choice in life...".....
well, i bet that thread would be ...... blank.

A person could be a heavy drinker, with pre-disposed diabetic issues lurking in their genes, worked around toxic chemicals all their lives, and ate carbs like there were no tomorrow........ Where would the PN blame be ?
........ what is the point i'm trying to make...... ? I have no idea. PN is PN period. Lifestyle changes are good for all of us, and pinning any ONE certain 'fault' is not what this is all about.
Sticking together as family and reaching out for the best medical/supplemental up-to-date aides there are IS what this is all about.
And supporting each other the entire journey.
Yep. That's the ticket.


That's why this forum is so wonderful.
When it all boils down to the bottom of the pot, we're really all in the same......pot......

Hugs to all
Rae

I don't like the "blame the patient" attitude that today's medicine has. Producing guilt, and shame, only isolates people from solutions, and increases STRESS and HELPLESSNESS and that feeds the inflammation causing some of the grief.

Doctors will blame patients for cancer, sometimes!

I really like forums like we have here that allow people to LEARN how to take control of their bodies, to improve their life and reduce pain and suffering. There is much we CAN do, and learning a new thing takes some getting used to and time. Patience also, and keeping an open mind are helpful. To make changes, in one's life is one step at a time, each day. Trying to do it all too fast may just be discouraging, since it took a while to get to the painful place you are at. It will take some time to LEAVE that place as well.

of it as a "moral" issue - I agree with Rae that it really doesnt matter what the cause is, I mean it may matter from a MEDICAL perspective, but not a moral one, in my opinion ... I will admit that I WAS, a little hesitant to talk about what seems to be the cause in my case, bcos of feeling like their will be more of a "stigma" about it, than somone who got it in other ways, but Im not hearing any of that here so far.

My alcohol use started as self-medication for emotional problems and traumas from my teenage years, and it continued as a combination of that and a just a "drink to unwind and have a good time" attitude ... I dont think there is anything "wrong" with drinking alcohol, from a moral perspective, it's jsut that many of us who do, dont have a good perspective on the physical dangers and harms of "too much of a good thing" ... we dont realize or beleive that it will eventually hurt us, and we jsut carry on ... didnt Abe Lincoln say somehting like "Show me a person with no vices, and I will show you someone who most likely has very few virtues"?

Anyway, I dont think anybody should feel in any way discouraged from telling their stories here, or from looking for answers for their symptoms, bcos of the cause of the condition ... so keep talking, Mindy, MizzMg, etc ... you can see that this is a very supportive community, regardless of what road brought each of us here.

Mindy ... my alcohol use hit its peak in my late teens and early twenties (I'm 45 now), and has slowly and gradualy declined since then ... I do not understand enough about the process, to really know why it has taken this long to kick in, so to speak, and why it "decided" to do so only recently, but Im guessing it was jsut a slow and gradual process of the alcohol toxicity building up over time, combined with poor nutrition ... as someone pointed out right here on thsi thread (Glenntaj, I think), it does not seem to be established for sure weather the PN is caused by alcohol poisoning directly atacking and damaging the nerves, or from the fact that "heavy" drinkers tend to have poor nutrition to start with, and the alcohol tends to leech away what nutrients we do get in us, over a long period of time ... then you combine that with possible genetic predispositions, environmental (external) factors, and so on ... so the cause or causes can be much more complicated, Im sure, as Ive seen discussed here already, in the relatively small amount Ive read ... anyway, dont feel alone,and dont give up ...

Deal with what IS not what it mite be! Go from there and forwards.
Take a look at some very early posts by Nide 44? His docs at first said drinking? You are at fault...or the like. Mine did as well, as if a glass of wine or beer now and then made you an akly? Some docs think like that. I don't know where they live or what planet they are from. All that is needed is an clear understanding of the chemical changes that can hurt nerves or decrease nerve regeneration. That's striclty chemistry.... Alkymyst? Where are you now? To help us all? It's complicated stuffs, but once explained, IF spririts are the culprit? It can be tested for and told. However? Damages to your system[s] can be more complex and thus harder to diagnose.
Any doc who says: THIS IS IT! YOU ARE OUT! Go get a second opinon ASAP! And then a third fourth whatever necessary! In my case, Yes I'd had a glass of wine now and then? BUT, it was the 10-12 week bout of pneumonia that had got me worn down! To an immune PN! This 'happens'! Don't want it to? But, it does happen. As Nide44 suggested? YOU have now the charge of being in CHARGE of diagnosing yourself?
Please, read the stickies, learn, and then ask questions? INFORMED questions, please. I know and understand the panic one gets when coming down with PN crud? It is NOT FUN? At ALL! IF you keep on and learn on and ask key questions? YOU mite find some answers.... Getting this is terrifying, finding solutions requires resolution AND perseverance... Plus using your brain full time during the whole process... I truly do not know HOW or what Docs thinkl about us? I'd love to know tho..... If I were to choose a word? It'd be WILEY. No more no less, we've been running on instinct! No? 's - j