Hi 👋 Ray: I have recently joined this discussion group. Kudos and thanks to Mayo Clinic for hosting these discussion formats.
My name is Gene, 78 years old from PA. Near Philly.
My opinion is that withdrawing is probably the worst thing you can do. Most if not all friends recognize that as we age, we are susceptible to a variety of debilitating issues, so let’s be up front about it. I also recognize that all of us are different life experiments. So it’s fairly unlikely any two Neuropathy cases will be identical. In fact, I m quite certain most of the folks in this forum deal with more than just Neuropathy unfortunately. I personally don’t experience balance issues, but lots of pain walking and going out. Sometimes if we’re out, I may need to rise up from the dinner table and take a walk to prevent from becoming so painful , I can no longer tolerate sitting. Personally, if a friend explained to me that they were in need of balance assistance , I would never hesitate to assist. My recommendation is let your friends know you need help. Get out and stay out as often as you can. Enjoy life as much as you can , in whatever ways are still possible. One day at a time, making sure to push through the challenge of pain.
I hope to see more people respond to posts by others, to make this discussion group as beneficial as possible. If you have any questions related to my response , please feel free to respond in kind.
May God Bless, and keep you moving.
Gene 😁🇺🇸