not like the north is any better. especially welfare system, is backwards compared to insurance. in some insurances or HMO, GROUPS, they have docs that consult each other, if they see yours is a complex case, though there are problems with this as well. i felt like it was slap in the face when she told me ," if everything comes back normal, ill recommend a therapist", i was thinking where is this coming from, how did we get from talking about my neuropathy to this.

The South has some of the top hospitals in the nation. I live in the Nashville area and Vanderbilt Medical Center is an excellent research hospital. Sure there are other facilities that don't have the resources and same levels of expertise as larger metro areas but that applies to anywhere in the US.

I dint like how the doctors, 1st assumption and diagnosis was to give me a therapist, and relate all my neuropathies as mental problems, attention seeking, druggie.
My experience was just awful with her, she is nice, but she deadest on implying i have some kind of mental problem. Multiple times on the visits she was not interested in the neuropathy i was complaining about, she was more interesting in finding a way to put me on the spot, saying i have mental conditions, asking about family problems, life problems, I got nowhere in the neuropathy issue. She called last week to quickly dismissed the LYME diagnosis, did not mention any other tests that could be done. The final insult was that she did not believe my loss of sensations and neuropathy existed so she gave me an eye specialist, which i did initially complain about eye issues, but my main concern were the neurological conditions. Its like she believe that my nerve disorders, are result of my "its all in your head" problems. i find it odd that she touches my skin rashes without gloves, isnt that unsanitary.
Large cities tend to have better physicians specialist, or specialist centers, because of the larger patient and profit base for insurance, and profit.
Kaiser, an HMO in bay area, california, have all specialist within a few buildings scattered across the city. Depending on the insurance, or HMO group the service is the best near thier headquarters or the state your in, if you try to find the same service, like kaiser in other states, the service and insurance administration is much worst i heard. same goes for aetna.
none of my loss of sensations and loss of smell have even go away yet. My neuropathy pins and needles keeps cycling, every week.
I suspect it is an autoimmune, or damage to the brain that controls sensations, temporal and parietal lobe, maybe from the aNTI-CHOLINGENIC I TOOK. BENADRYL is too powerful of a drug to be used as OTC, and other similar in effect to it. it affects the brain like some other more potent drugs treating depression, or anxiety. i was on the generic benadryl for quite some time before i noticed the smell loss. or it has something to do with my skin rashes (contact dermatitis, unknown cause) that developed last year.

the diagnosis they use when they believe something is all in your head and it is causing the symptoms you have is called conversion disorder in the category of somatoform disorders. it is diagnosed much more often in the south than anywhere else in the united states. i suspect that the diagnosis is often used in cases of people with peripheral neuropathy by doctors who are less than adequately knowldegable about the disease or who are too lazy to do the required testing to actually find the cause. much as alcoholism is quickly used by some doctors as a cause for PN without proper testing if that is in the medical history.

That's a pretty substantial claim. Got anything to back it up?

When I talked with the lab that completed my skin biopsy, I asked where there were they received the least biopsy requisitions and they said the south.

So I thought maybe it was population based, and they said that even Atlanta (Emory) and Nashville (Vanderbilt) had very few requests for the medium.

So based off this the South is quick to give a psychosomatic diagnosis for PN? Sorry but I have a tough time believing this *admin edit* As a Southerner I receive excellent medical care and I believe we have great physicians.

The unfortunate reason I know about geography and skin biopsies is because my lovely insurance company did not want to pay in-network for the biopsy. I was trying to find a lab that was in network. The funny part is that there is not one that has a contract with my insurance company. That resulted in being told about geographic areas and skin biopsies by the lab. So, I have been schooled more on this topic than I would like. Would rather be out hiking or swimming like I used to before this happened to me.

The suffering alone is enough for me. From the posts, I am probably not even near to most folks who suffer on this board. Noteworthy is that I have received care in the North, East Coast, and the South.

I was born in the deep south and I love it here. Unfortunately I have told by one Northern Neurologist and three Southern ones that I did not have neuropathy.

Direct quotes from my permanent written medical record. "We can find no objective reason for M....symptoms....I am skeptical that any of M.... symptoms are neurological in nature."

Last week, I was able to remotely touch base with a southern Neuropathy support group. Most were women and all the women had been told initially that their neuropathy was in their head. My early diagnosis was shocking to them.

Only the kind, supportive folks on this board were able to help me fight for a skin biopsy.

Otherwise, I would be another pain ridden patient with no reason for pain.

I am certain from reading many introductions on this board, regardless of geography, often it is easier to tell someone that their symptoms are stress related than actually take the time and effort to find a root cause.

It is ignorance on the provider's part. Heaven knows that anyone with these symptoms would do anything to get rid of the suffering and go back to being normal. I had no idea how charmed my life before was. Still am working on the stages of grief and appreciating what I still can do.

Neuroproblem, I hope that this is helpful to you.

baba222 in the medical literature on conversion disorder its clearly stated that the diagnosis of conversion disorder can only be made after the presence of possible neurological conditions have been examined and tested for and subsequently ruled out. in your case as well as many others ive read about on here, it seems that psychological causes for peripheral neuropathy are being advanced with little to no testing or examination. this is a great disservice to the patient.

Basically lazy way to diagnose people, i think some private groups make more money by having you constantly on psych meds, because this is a chronic issue, they get a stead stream of income.
psychosomatic disease, involves having both physical and mental disoders.
My pcp is only interested in the mental part, and even went as far as to reccommend a therapist, because she believes my symptoms dont exist, except in my head. She dint even believe i went to the ENT for my nosebleeds , is for the right reason, lol(she look at my kaiser records from 2013,), she could be basing the diagnosis, off the ent i was so ****** about.
i suffered from seasonal nosebleeds from 2009-2013, never knew the cause of the nosebleeds, i suspected something, until a new ent took the time to look at my nose.
@baba222, neuropathy doesnt need to be caused by neurological issues, it can be caused by autoimmune diseases, vitamin deficiencies, or genetic disorders, which are not directly neurolgical.so neuropathy is usually a secondary constellation of symptoms, of something underlying. I posted many times on many sites. when i first noticed my loss of sensation, i was actually have myclonic and hypnic jerks, that were similar to the side effects of diphenhydramine, but somehow they dont even believe that is part of my symptom list. as well as unusual and frequent twitching which i have some weeks. No one seems to have loss of smell or reduced taste on this board as well.