Seems to me that peripheral neuropathy, meaning malfunction of the peripheral nerves, has a number of underlying causes. In some cases the cause is fairly easily identifiable eg diabetes, in other cases it is very difficult to find, so the medics call it idiopathic or cryptogenic. In some cases it progresses, in others it is stable or slowly regresses depending on the cause.

It doesn't seem surprising that treating the condition is difficult and that the success of different medications varies a lot from individual to individual. But this doesn't condone the lack of research, quite the opposite.

--on this board and others, a number of times; peripheral neuropathy is the most common condition nobody knows about, and the like.

Part of this may be that neuropathy is considered to be secondary to other conditions that get more publicity and research. There is neuropathy secondary to diabetes, resulting from toxic exposures (especially chemotherapeutic), caused by autoimmune issues, and so on. The doctors who specialize in these conditions, such as endocrincologists, oncologists, and rheumatologists, are sometimes aware of neuropathy, but are not well-enough versed in the area, or feel uncomfortable enough with the "additional" complications. So often the condition, even if recognized in the back of a doctor's mind, goes unremarked upon, and untreated.

Then, too, as dahlek implies, your average neurologist feels much more grounded in conditions for which there are more specific findings than there are for neuropathy, such as stroke, myasthenia gravis, MS . . .there are not that many neuropathy specialists out there, and such docs may be next to impossible to find if you don't live in an urban area with teaching/research hospitals.

Plus, many of the people with the condition have the "no-see-um" kind--primarily sensory, involving numbness, balance issues, pain, tingling, and the like--but they LOOK more or less OK, and so there are credibility issues. (I've found the people with motor involvement, who have obvious troubles moving, or use canes or wheelchairs, have less of a credibility problem.

Neverthless, I've argued in the past that the Neuropathy Association, and others, could do a lot better job hitting the media about the condition. Ironically, people began to find out about the condition a little more recently, but only because the new drug Lyrica was the result of a heavy marketing campaign for a number of conditions, including neuropathy (remember the ads with little needles shown in a foot, asking if your feet feel like this?). It's sad when drug marketing, with all the sleaziness that can entail, is what people with a condition have to point to "prove" they actually have something going on.

I've also spoken about how a famous spokeperson with the disease could do wonders, as Michael J. Fox has done for Parkinson's, and Montel Williams/Annette Funicello/Teri Garr have done for MS. We've had our famous sufferers--Johnny Cash (autonomic), Mary Tyler Moore (diabetic), Andy Griffith (Guillain Barre), but most have been reluctant to talk about it, or talk more about the "originiating" condition (such as Ms. Moore for diabetes). We do have Sister Dolores Hart, but she's hardly a household name. And, despite the regard we hold them in, neither are Rose or Mrs. D or Wings. A number of us have been the subject of articles or interviews, including myself, but these tend to appear in specialty journals such as Neurology--it's not like being on the cover of Time.

Then again, though, we have to keep fighting. Sometinmes, for whatever reasons, these things reach a critical mass, and suddenly get a lot more attention. It happened for celiac, it may be happening for Lyme disease. So we have to keep speaking, writing, and demanding recognition.

If you go to the links provided by MrsD, Glenn, Wings, Rose (if/when she visits) and a few others here- you will learn more about PN than your doc knows.
Your doc can't keep up. ......... You can.
If you have a good relationship with your doc, s/he will be open to new things you find out about (mine was listening to me & we were talking about Lyrica a year before it became available).
If you don't have that kind of a relationship, you'd better start looking around. ....This is going to be a long, bumpy ride.
I was ignerent (sp intentional!) of my condition when I was first Dx'd.
I found the old site (and a few others) and moved here with the rest.
I learned..... a lot !
When I see some post that rings a bell in my head, I chime in. I'm still ignerent, but my doc & I talk, and I learn more all the time.
We come here to share experiences, not to diagnose. Sometimes we warn , because of our own past experience, we don't offer medical advice, we offer our collective knowledge ..... as a friend.
We aren't neurologists, but we do seek out medical knowledge about our own condition(s).
We're here to help, because others have helped us and we want to take part in helping others. Kinda like a pay-back, if you will. (But I'm still learning more from this site, every day)
That's why I'm here, and why I think I'll stick around a while longer.

There is alot of homework involved with good internet use
to find medical solutions.

The problems that bring people here, the confusion, are substantial.

There is not an easy quick fix. To heal takes time. And the amount of information is huge.

The people who benefit here are those who accept the homework and do it.

Our culture has in the past just accepted the routine of going to the doctor, assuming the doctor knows what is wrong, and then taking the pill the doctor gives.
In reality some lifestyle changes must be done and other things need to be looked at. The very therapies sometimes used for other medical issues, CREATE new problems. (this is where I tend to focus).

So we are back to homework!

The key word in that first sentence is..... 'good'.
There are a lot of "nay-sayers" and a lot of mis-information and outright bad information, if you want to find it. Many times it just pops-up while you are looking.
Be wary of 'quick fix' braggarts, and remember.......if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

I've learnt a lot of useful information and located other useful sites from here.

I'm really very grateful to those knowledgeable and caring people who post on here and I only wish I'd found this site before.

My health experiences over the years have taught me not to take any one piece of information on its own as being correct. Always try and cross check it as much as possible, even (and perhaps especially) when it comes from a doctor or consultant.

I haven't yet got all the answers I need to help me understand my condition and symptoms and how to address them. But I will keep asking questions and doing research here and elsewhere rather than putting all my faith in the medics.