--that at times the "idiopathic" code is used to designate for insurance reimbusement when doctors feel they reach the level of their expertise and can't find a "smoking gun".

Of course, most of us have had experience with doctors who reach their level of expertise much too quickly.

There have been some studies cited--I remember the Poncelet protocols had some--that said that with really extensive testing, the proprotion of "idiopathic" neuropathies drops to around a fifth to a quarter of all cases. Still a major fraction, but not the HUGE number that some physicians sem to think. It's just a matter of being educated as to what medical science currently knows.

I don't doubt that there are some causes for our syndromes still undiscovered, still beyond the horizon of medical knowledge--I suspect that some toxic and autoimmune neuropathies fall into this category, as well as some hereditary conditions--but I think as time goes on that horizon will get closer.