Shirl LeVesconte on mon 10 feb 97
Anne wrote with a question about possible connections between ceramic
matierials and her customer's neuropathy. Today I sent the following
reply to her.
*******
Hi Anne, Your post about your customer caught my attention. I am also a
potter who has been diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy of unknown
origin. I spent two years having (I think) every test known to
medical science, and all I got was a name for the condition: Chronic
Inflamatory Demylenating Polyneuropathy. The neurologist has no
clue re the cause or possible treatment. As the condition is
progressive and could proceed to loss of function in the hands, feet
etc., this is not good news for a potter.
There have been two other posts that I know of from potters with a
similar diagnosis and I've only been reading Clayart for 3-4 months. I
think it may be time to get serious about collecting more info. For
starters perhaps you could put your customer in touch with me.
You or he should also contact Monona Rossol, Industrial Hygienist with
Arts, Crafts and Theater Safety. She has a lot of info on
toxicity of clay and glaze materials. Her E-mail is
75054.2542@compuserve.com
Good luck to your friend.
Shirl
Shirl LeVesconte
602 Robinwood, Yellow Springs, OH 45387 937-767-3549
e-mail shirll@erinet.com
******
If there are others of you out there on Clayart who have or know of
potters who have a similar problem, I'd like to start gathering info
about who we are and what any of us may have learned re possible causes
and/or treatment. This is scary stuff and we need to know whether it is
related to our work in clay.
TIA
Shirl
Richard Gralnik on tue 11 feb 97
What is neuropathy and what are the symptoms?
Richard
feeling somewhat hypchondriacal on a rainy Monday afternoon
At 09:17 AM 2/10/97 EST, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Anne wrote with a question about possible connections between ceramic
>matierials and her customer's neuropathy. Today I sent the following
>reply to her.
Bill Aycock on wed 12 feb 97
At 08:32 AM 2/11/97 EST, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>What is neuropathy and what are the symptoms?
>
>Richard
>feeling somewhat hypchondriacal on a rainy Monday afternoon
>
Richard- In my case, it started in my feet, with a combination of sensations
I can only describe as puzzling. First, there was a loss of surface
feeling, accompanied by an internal feeling described as tingling. The
analog I have used, that most peole recognize, is -- as if you had gotten
your feet too cold, but short of frostbite, and you are warming them up. The
pain component is accompanied by numbness, with the pain being internal. In
my case, the pain is less than that--- but---constant.
The first tests my regular doctor had done were of circulation in the lower
extremes (legs, etc). The results were "classic Normal". I am not sure he
really believed me, but he did send me to a Neurologist.
Doctors distinguish between symptoms and signs- symptoms being what the
patient tells you, which may or may not be as described; an example is a
headache. Signs are things he can detect or measure, as, a temperature. My
feelings in my feet are just symptoms, but, the neurologist can measure
things that convert my complaints into signs, which are much more real to
him. In My case, he had tests done that measured reflexes and nerve
transmission, by area, on my legs and feet. He found both reduced quantity
of nerve signal, and reduced signal velocity. Because the signals were
localized, this made it "peripheral", ie, not in the spine or brain, the
areas where the problems were indicated that the leg nerves involved were on
the "outside" of the leg, therefore, "lateral". However, this has nothing to
do with the cause--- which we still (about 18 months) dont have a clue about.
Thats enough for now- if you want more- tell me, and I will go more intojust
what we have done, and what the results have been.
Bill- still hanging in there, on Persimmon Hill
Bill Aycock --- Persimmon Hill --- Woodville, Alabama, USA
--- (in the N.E. corner of the State)
also-- W4BSG -- Grid EM64vr
Shirl LeVesconte on thu 13 feb 97
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
What is neuropathy and what are the symptoms?
Richard
To Richard G. et al.
Neuropathy means any disease of the nervous system. My
concern is a peripheral neuropathy which means that it manifests in the
extremeties - begins in the feet and hands. I gather that symptoms can
vary. For me it started with tingling (burning) sensations in my feet
that eventually got bad enough to interfere with sleep. Two years of
tests (inclusing a biopsy of one large nerve) confirmed that there is a
progressive demylenation (loss of the insulating covering )on the nerves
going to both feet and hands with accompanying loss of feeling. I
noticed a decreasing ability to judge (feel) the thickness of the clay.
The official diagnosis is "chronic inflamatory demylenating
polyneuropathy.)
Peripheral neuropathy is a common complication of diabetes, but in the
absence of diabetes, the neurologists look for a toxic material cause.
So far no one has been able to identify a cause (no history of exposure
to industrial chemicals). There may be no connection with having taken
up pottery after I retired, but the symptoms appeared about 3-4 years
later. The other thing that makes me wonder is a number of other posts
to Clayart that mentioned perpheral neuropathy.
I've corresponded with Monona Rossol, and she is on the lookout for
additional information that may come her way.
Just in case there is a connection, I would like to offer to be a
collection point for names of clayworkers who are experiencing anything
similar and a clearing house for any information anyone may have re the
causes or treatments being tried. I will endeavor to pass on all
information received to anyone else who is concerned. Perhaps a pool of
information will help our physicians to better help us. Right now mine
is frankly stumped. The only hope he offers is to say that sometimes
neuropathies go into remission.
For a clayworker who is losing feeling in the hands, that's just not good
enough. If you have info to forward, please do. If you need info, I
will pass on whatever I learn.
TIA
Shirl
Shirl LeVesconte Shirll@erinet.com
602 Robinwood
Yellow Springs, OH 45387 937-767-3549
| |
|
