Thank you Colleen and John, I'm hoping I can learn as much as possible about Neuropathy and how others are living with and managing their symptoms effectively.
From my point of view the care and treatment provided by my medical team is likely to have more positive outcomes if have a positive approach and try to help myself as much as I can -I guess it's a team approach and I'm a vital player. It's not easy, in fact it's damn hard a lot of the time and some days I wonder how I'm going to get through it but I don't have any other option.
I have a numbee of medical conditions which leave me with a fair amount of neuropathy. I have altered sensations in most parts of my body affecting my sensitivity to temperature, pain, touch, taste, smell. My legs, arms and extremities have significant weakness and a degree of paralysis which may or may not be permanent. I'm in the process of undergoing treatment with neurosurgery planned in the not to distant future. It's hopeful surgery will reduce the risk of further permanent damage and then the focus will be on retraining/repairing the brain. There's no guarantees and it's still a long road to travel but I'm crossing my fingers I can reverse some of the damage.
Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to talk about my situation. Although I haven't delved into it too much due to the complexity, it's helpful to chat about the neuropathy part of it.
I live in Australia and knowledge/experience amongst the medical profession about my conditions is limited. It has made it very tough and I've been confronted with a fair amount of ignorance. It is soul destroying when you know there is something wrong but you're made to feel it's in your head. But I'm not giving up, I can't give up and through perseverance I've found some amazing specialists who are familiar and experienced and are hopeful they can help me. And I want to raise as much awareness as I can. Awareness is power and power makes change. If less people experience the degree of emotional trauma like myself and others have faced simply by increasing education and knowledge, it can only be a win for all involved