While peripheral neuropathy and various other forms of neuropathy usually come about due to some outside influence - accidents, chemotherapy, HIV, diabetes side-effects - there are neuropathies that are inherited and can manifest even in young children.
As early as 1886, Charcot and Marie in France and Tooth in England independently described peripheral neuropathies that were inherited and had heterogeneous natures despite differing forms of inheritance. Within a few years of these discoveries, Dejerine and Sottas were able to describe more-severe infancy-onset forms of neuropathy (1893), while Roussy and Levy went on to describe cases associated with tremors in 1926.
The Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease neuropathy is now understood to affect one in 2500 people and is thusly one of the most common diseases that very few people have heard of. This branch of neuropathy typically is able to be diagnosed clinically within the first two decades of a patient's life. Common "symptoms" of neuropathy become present as their lives continue, but fortunately, the disease is not fatal or life-shortening as it can be in other, more severe forms of neuropathy.
Before the traditional symptoms of neuropathy may or may not manifest, however, there are certain signs that can be indicators of inherited neuropathy. Afflicted youth tend to be slow runners in childhood, develop foot problems in teenage years, and often require orthotics for ankle supports when reaching adulthood. Degrees of hand weakness often accompany the foot weaknesses, though these manifestations tend to be about ten years behind the pronounced problems with feet. Variable sensory loss issues are also common, usually affecting vibratory, pain and temperature sensations to one degree or another. This combination of sensory loss and weak ankles often leads to issues of poor balance, although most patients are able to remain ambulatory for their entire lives.
As with any medical or health issue that manifests in an individual's life, evaluation and counsel from a physician should be the first course of action when addressing potential hereditary neuropathy.
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