Causes of Neuropathy To simplify the understanding of the
different causes of neuropathy we could divide the different
causes into two classes. One category causes damage to all of
the nerves of the body, this is called a polyneuropathy. The
second class affects one or more nerves at a time which is
called a mononeuropathy. Generally this type of neuropathy is
caused by a systemic illness. Some of the diseases include liver
and kidney disease, diabetes, certain medicines or toxic
substances, nutritional and vitamin deficiencies, infections
like AIDS, and syphilis. There is also another class which is
part of autoimmune diseases where the body attacks its own
nerves. If this occurs acutely then the illness is called
Guillain-Barré and if it becomes chronic then it is called CIDP.
In polyneuropathy the symptoms of numbness, tingling, burning
and weakness generally occur in the feet first and they
gradually ascend to involve other parts of the body. The
severity varies. Some patients are severely affected and th