Hi, O.K., here's the quick list of what hit me over the last five years...
and my Idiopathic PN started two and a half years ago:
Aug 01 Dad diagnosed with Lung Cancer
Oct 01 Got Married
Oct 01 Graduated College w/Masters Degree
Nov 01 Bought House
Dec 01 Dad passes with Lung cancer
Apr 02 Laid off from Job
Aug 02 Daughter who is 15 announces she is pregnant
Aug 02 Turned 40 years old
Sep 02 Daughter moves back in after living with her dad for the summer
Oct 02 Daughter can't keep food down, losing weight from pregnancy, hospitalized. Husband stressing because daughter is sick and I'm not working yet. New house mortgage is expensive.
Nov 02 Husband works from home in his office. I interrupt him and find him looking at pictures of naked pregnant women. EEEEuuuuuwwwww! Big Fight!
Dec 02 First Christmas without my Dad, other daughter and her BF come to spend it with us in new house. All is well. Girls go to visit their dad and I call my mom who lives in St. Louis. (My mom and dad divorced when I was 3)
Feb 03 Start making plans for mom to come visit when the baby is born. Daughter is hospitalized again due to her inability to keep food down. Homeschooling her and she is dehydrated and very sick. Husband is very impatient with my attention to her and the baby.
Mar 03 Painting the guest room and getting it ready for mom to stay in when she comes to visit in April. Calling her to confirm plans and she does not return calls. Not like her.
End of Mar 03, Mom committs suicide. (we think, it might be murder) I am on a plane to St. Louis to deal with the legalities and estate. I'm oldest and only girl.
Apr 03 Daughter is scheduled to have C-Section and deliver baby 1 month early due to complications and breach presentation. Baby is delivered 4/15/03 and is hospitalized for 5 days then released.
July 03 Husband and daughter have horrible fight and husband makes daughter and baby leave and go live at her fathers house.
August 03 I take the opportunity (still not working) to go back to my mothers house to further investigate her death and deal with pack the family heirlooms for my brothers and myself as her husband didn't know what to do with them.
Nov 03Upon return, find out that my new husband had decided to file for divorce from me on the grounds that I am not giving him enough sex and not enough "attention" at this point I say, good riddens because I can't be bothered with someone who is so needy!
Dec 03Move into a friends house who's mother has also passed away recently (family friends) who we have been friends with for over 20 years. I go back to work at a retail store just to make enough money to pay the rent while I find an appropriate job. I need to be near my kids.
Jan 04My son, whom I gave up for adoption at the age of 16 has found me and we are now back in touch. We have established communication via email and phone. We agree to meet at Disneyland in April.
Apr 04 My daughters, Granddaughter and I rent a Minivan and go to Disneyland for four days and meet my son and new daughter in law. We all have a great weekend. It's the baby's birthday and everyone gets along great.
May 04Mom's 60th Birthday, It's a hard week. I really sink into a depression. It's all starting to hit me. I am working at a $10.00 an hour job, renting a room, my children are no longer living with me, I am divorced, my parents are both passed away, and I have nothing to look forward to.
June 04 My brother offers me a job at his business running the office while he runs the field. We form a partnership and we are off and running.
July 04I find my 18 year old daughter smoking methamphetamines in the house and selling stolen property out of the garage. I tell her she has to leave the home, and I move out also. I can't have her friends coming around a home that I am renting a room from and causing problems. I starting renting a cottage from my brother and tell my daughter she can't come around as long as she is involved in drugs.
October04 My ex-husband wants me to come back and try and work things out. I move back in. (Now that I am working at a full time "regular" job again, he thinks I'm worth keeping).
January 06I sink into a deep deep depression and find myself hospitalized for three days. I am now on serious anti-depressants and home from work for one week. Again, my husband realizes he can't handle the "emotions" of a woman who has lost her mother and children, so he asks me to leave again.
April 06My brother and I decide it's time for us to part ways, we have very different "business styles" and to preserve our relationship as brother and sister, I decide to move back into the corporate world.
I am now working back in the High tech industry, HOWEVER,,, because I came back in through a "temp" agency, I wasn't hired on permanent until August. Soooo that means my Family Medical Leave won't be activated until February, so I'll have to hang in there for that.

But, on the other hand... I have heard through other boards that PN is aggravated by stress. Do you think it can be CAUSED by stress? How about by an EX husband?

Wow......You sure have had the world thrown at you!! So sorry!!

I read your post and then I read it again.

I'll never complain about anything again.

You most certainly have been through it all, haven't you!!!!

I hope your daughter is off drugs, I hope the baby is fine, I hope YOU KICKED YOUR HUSBAND TO THE CURB FINALLY!!!!! and I hope your pain from neuropathy is not too much.


All the best.

Melody

P.S. If I were you, I'd write a book, they might make a mini series out of it

Holey, Macaroni, ((((((Seams))))))

I'm amazed you still have any sanity left.



Don't know about "your" type of neuropathy. Mine is caused by a blood condition that may or may not go over to bone marrow cancer if I live long enough.

I first came down with this crap about 16 years ago. I actually had a boss that wanted to reprimand me for being "insubordinate" -- apparently HE though he was head of the military. He was standing in front of my desk talking VERY LOUDLY with someone while I was on the phone trying to get the server back up. I told him to be quiet. He heard shut up. I didn't think he was head of the military; I though he was an @$$. I quit. And filed for unemployment and GOT IT. 'Cause there was SERIOUS environmental problems in the area where we worked and no one addressed them.

I did have the feeling when I quit that if I didn't start taking care of myself, I would DIE. I felt that sick.

I was out for two years -- BIG recession going on around here. I some temp work -- enough to boost my unemployment rate

My question to you would be -- do you feel like you're taking GOOD CARE of yourself??

I think we're exposed to unbelievable amounts of dangerous chemicals every day. And, if we're not taking CARE of ourselves. And not being taken CARE OF. That it's really possibility that we can become sick because of that mix of environment and lack of CARE.

I would have a real problem with a "husband" who put me so far down the list. Actually, it sounds like a lot of your family does that too. Not good.

I've had some of the same problems as you. Not in such a concentrated space. It does do a job on you. It's very hard to continue with the "life that other people want" when the "life that you have" keeps getting in the way.

Seams, I don't know you from a hole in the wall. And you don't know me. You don't need to take any advice that I give you. I'm only looking at your sitch colored by my own experiences. I think your initial instincts to get the toxic people out of your life were probably right on. Now, you're second-guessing yourself. Hindsight is never right.

Don't doubt yourself and don't doubt what you've accomplished so far. Take the BEST CARE of yourself that you can and only let people in who are FOR YOU.

Hugs.

Barb

Are you kidding? That's just the last five years! We aren't counting the first 40! Yes, the husband has been kicked to the curb (lost his job too! ) daughter is off drugs, she is quite the leader of the NA and AA group in our area now, granddaughter is the most adorable little dimple faced three year old in the world, and I LOVE my job. The daughter who is the mother of the granddaughter is still with her boyfriend (baby's daddy) and we all now have a four bedroom house together. Two daughters, granddaughter, son in law (not legally) and granddaughter). We're all back together. The way it should be. However, realistically, my question was, can stress cause PN?
(I am the daughter of "obviously" a mom who was bi-polar" a step dad who was a drunk, lived in a rather "seedy" neighborhood with quite a few bad characters. Lets just say, getting out of there was a really HIGH priority for me as a kid. Now I'm 3000 miles away and really happy with my children!

As far as the book is concerned, I'm seriously working on it! As long as my hands hold out!

Hi Seams--Are you still visiting this forum? I'm wondering how you are doing?

Seams - you asked: "However, realistically, my question was, can stress cause PN?" In my 20 years of PN and numerous years on forums like this I've never heard anyone say their physician listed stress as a cause of their PN. In all my reading about PN I have not seen stress listed as a cause of PN. So, IMHO, I would say the answer to your question is NO.

BUT, who knows?

I think that high levels of stress puts a big strain on your vitamin B supplies in our bodies, low levels of B12 certainly wouldn't help, so maybe all that stress has put a big drain on the B's & b12 supplies, so maybe indirectly it has been a contributor.

Do you think stress causes onset of Idio PN?

Any kind of PN, not just 'idio'.

Definitely !
Absolutely !
You Bet !

Seams.... that is a lot to deal with! I'm sorry you have been dealt such a heavy load.

I have just a few mild neurologic symptoms that remain from when I was B12 deficient. I have definitely noticed they flare when I am under stress. I think stress can make anything worse. I'm not sure about it being a direct cause of PN, but maybe a contributing factor. But...that is just my thought... I don't really know the answer~

Cara