Where were the warnings from history?

@stjohnsriverrat you must be an oldie but goodie like me to remember all of those things we prepped for back in the 50s. I must have missed that day in school myself as my neuropathy numbness aggravates my sleep at night although it's not as bad as the pain you must feel when trying to sleep. I do remember my dear mother rubbing her hands together in agony some evenings due to her rheumatoid arthritis in her hands so I took that as a warning if you live long enough you are going to have pain of some sorts.

You might want to check out the following discussion to see if there are any suggestions that might be helpful:
-- Neuropathy Pain at Night: What helps? - https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/night-pain-2/

I find that my adjustable bed helps some of the nights by raising the legs up some.

Oops! I was in school before the era of Stop, Drop, and Roll. So here's another oldie. I graduated high school in '58. I did hear about it, but it was never taught or practiced in a school I attended.

I think what amazes me is that there is no literature about this from the past.

No historical figures afflicted. No magazine articles. No news about it. Nothing about it in my science, health or nutrition classes.

Is it really a new phenomenon? If so, why?

@stjohnsriverrat I sort of have a theory ...or so. People are living longer than back in the 40's and 50's. Back then, they likely called this something else. Who knows. I am a baby boomer, and I remember my grandpop passing away at 72 and nobody thought he was young, today, that is young. And, with many cases of PN popping up in folks in their 60's and 70's it makes sense we are seeing a lot more cases. More people have diabetes than years ago, again, age. The percentage of people having PN increases over 70 years of age. Medications, toxins, 100 other causes and sooner or later, live long enough, any of these causes will having you calling a neurologist wondering what is going on. Warnings from the past? Perhaps the numbers were so small people just said your shoes are too tight, that causes the little numbness. Best to all and keep moving. Ed

@stjohnsriverrat - Do you remember this TV ad from the Civil Defense Film?

There are thousands of diseases that are still a mystery, but the majority of research goes to figuring out the number one and two killers of the population, cancer and heart disease. Hopefully, AI will speed up the mystery solving with the sharing of information at lightning speed. There is hope.

@njed
My heritage is from long-lived females. My maternal grandma was born in 1855, died in 1942 at age 83. My mother (her 8th child) born 1902, died 1995 at age 93; I was born 1940, now age 85 still living by myself in my own home. And yes I have PN. Whether any of my predecesors did is unknown. Many things were simply assumed to be "old age" during the wars and after and were not diagnosed.

@life You're 100% right and hit the nail right on the head! Every one of us knows someone who passed away from cancer or heart disease.

So, the neuropathy I have - radiation induced braxial plexus - was discovered 60 years ago, when we started treating breast cancer with radiation, but the doses were so high that they often caused this neuropathy which was incurable and often led to amputation and then still no relief of the pain. I imagine similar cases for early radiation for liver or bones caused neuropathy, too.

I wonder if, once doctors started accidentally giving people neuropathy, and then studying it,.if they started seeing it as it also occurs in other ways...

I am with you, though. Doses are so low as to only create a handful of people who get this side effect in the world each year now days.

No one told me it could happen, though luckily it happened fast so the radiologist could mitigate some damage.

I am very happy to be alive, but it is weird to have another 40 or 50 years with this condition.

There are rampant cases of autism, dementia, crohn’s, arthritis, diabetes… We have been poisoned, whether it was/is the sugars in highly processed foods, saturated fats, 1000’s of chemical additives to our foods including dyes, preservatives, emulsifiers, pesticides…or radical treatments like radiation and chemotherapy, we are being poisoned. Throw in a dose of asbestos, paint thinner, and myriad toxins and pollutants, and we are left to wonder how all of this presents in our bodies.

Let’s not be fooled, this is not the normal consequence of an aging population. Our systems are being inflamed by poison. And our medical profession is proving grossly incompetent at keeping up with the requirements of caring for a population under siege.

Whatever, folks then didn’t encounter the health issues we are dealing with today. It’s sad.