Who Gets Peripheral Neuropathies?
Neuropathies occur by one of three methods: • Acquired neuropathies, for example, are caused by environmental forces like poisoning, diabetes, trauma, infection or an illness. • Hereditary neuropathy is not as common. It is caused by inherited genetic defects. • Idiopathic neuropathy is from an unknown cause. As many as a third of all neuropathies are classified this way, where the cause can’t be explained. What Causes Peripheral Neuropathy? Many things can cause peripheral neuropathies so it is often difficult to discern the cause. In fact, in up to one in three cases, the cause cannot be determined. Diabetes is responsible for another third. Other known causes include several rare inherited diseases, alcoholism, toxins and certain environmental agents, poor nutrition or vitamin deficiency, trauma due to compression, herniated discs in the back, certain kinds of cancer, conditions where nerves are mistakenly attacked by the body’s own immune system or damaged by an overaggressive resp
