Maxfacts

Neuropathies

For someone who has suffered from, or undergone treatment for, a neuropathy, however it has been caused, the process is frustrating.

There is no doubt that the unpleasant sensations, which are by definition subjective, are awful. Unfortunately, there are no signs of this, no visible markers of what that person is undergoing and no real objective measures of the experience, although pain scales do exist.

This adds an additional burden – no-one else can really see or share the experience.

In addition, the time taken for nerves to repair or at least heal to the closest they will return to normal, takes around 18 months. This may be sooner as it depends on axons (nerve connections) growing back along the tunnels the macroscopic nerve forms. But if function has not returned at 18 months after injury or treatment, then this is likely to be the final result.

In this instance, the most important factor is individual resilience and learning to live with an unpleasant condition and not allow it to control one’s existence.