What causes idiopathic neurapathy?

Answer 1

"Idiopathic" means "we don't know why this is happening."

"Neuropathy" (I assume this is what you meant) means "any disease of the nervous system--especially the parts that are away from the brain and spinal column itself."

So "idiopathic neuropathy" means "you have some disease of your nervous system but we don't know what is causing it."

I hope this helps you, even though the result ends up being so ambiguous that it probably isn't particularly helpful.

At least you are among a huge company of people--there are many diseases or disorders which have "idiopathic" as part of their name. Having a big word that means "we don't know" might strike some as being a bit of smoke and mirrors.

Another way of looking at it, however, shows some benefit of identifying a disease as "origin unknown."

One of the obvious things that guides the treatment of any disease is figuring out why the disease began. For example, someone with dangerously low blood flow throughout their legs should be treated differently if their problems started because of Diabetes than if the problem started because of blood clots in key arteries. That is, two people with the same outcome (low blood supply in the legs) should be treated differently if the primary causes are different.

So why is there any benefit in saying "we don't know why this happened?"

By labeling a disease "idiopathic" it will keep reminding physicians they should move ahead carefully in treating you, and that what worked for some other person may not be what will work for you. When all the research and experience of physicians is not clear about why a particular disease or disorder occurs, I would rather have the people who are treating me remember that they (collectively) should be careful about making assumptions about my situation rather than steamrolling ahead as if my situation is the same to that of someone else.

I do