Understanding Peripheral Neuropathy

Peripheral Neuropathy (PN) is the term used to describe disorders of the peripheral nerves. Even though over 20 million people in the US suffer with PN, information is hard to come by. Approximately 50% of diabetics will develop the condition. Many people using statin pills: ‘cholesterol drugs’ will be affected by this under-recognized and mysterious malady.

Neuropathy

Neuropathy means “disease or abnormality of the nervous system” which is not a very helpful definition. We need to think of neuropathy as any DAMAGE to the nervous system. Carpal Tunnel syndrome, Herniated Discs and Strokes are all insults to different areas of the nervous system, all with different symptoms. Diabetes is a systemic disease that affects all nerves of the body from the brain, eyes and small nerves of the heart and digestive system, to the nerves in the feet, hands, and legs.

Peripheral Nerve Cells

The peripheral nervous system is made up of the nerves that branch out of the spinal cord to all parts of the body.

Peripheral nerve cells have three main parts: Cell body, axons, and dendrites (nerve/muscle junction). And part of the nerve can be affected, but damage to axons is most common. The axon transmits signals from nerve cell or nerve cell to muscle. Most axons are surrounded by a substance call myelin, which facilitates signal transmission.

Symptoms

There are two types of symptoms with PN: positive and negative. Negative signs, which come first, are when damage to the nervous system, obviously, brings about a LOSS of a particular function. ; loss of reflexes, loss of strength, loss of sensation like numbness. But these are rarely detectable to the patient, because the brain makes up the difference in the losses. Only after some time do the sick and damaged nerves develop the positive signs of neuropathy; tingling, burning, biting, stabbing, shooting pains. This, too is a reaction of the brain and the nervous system, unfortunately this over reaction tears apart the fiber of the patients’ lives.

Each patient will describe their pain in their own individual language of ‘pain’. This can easily confuse a doctor not trained in the recognition and treatment of these patients. The patient usually continues at suffer, going from doctor to doctor, to stronger and stronger doses of pills until they are either completely drugged up and ‘out of it’, or lost in their own world of suffering.

Some neuropathies come on suddenly, others over many years. Some people are affected only by a weakness in the arms and legs which legs which leads to difficulty standing, walking, or getting out of a chair. The loss of sensation from the ankles, toes and feet contributes to patients not having a ‘good sense’ of where there feet are in space, touching the ground, and this causes them to fall very easily. These under-recognized sensory losses CAN ONLY be detected with proper clinical exam. This office has the necessary tools to uncover the underlying cause of this ‘silent’ nerve damage.

Some patients will eventually become unable to walk at all. The extremely powerful drugs dispensed to patients do NOT TREAT the NERVE DAMAGE! Most patients can not tolerate a drugged existence but feel the have NO OTHER OPTION against this horrifying pain.

Tired Of Playing Games With Doctors?

• Are you tired of running from doctor to doctor only to play “Russian Roulette” with different medications for your condition? “Here try this drug, that didn’t work? Try this one!”
• Are you tired of taking drugs that don’t solve the problem?
• Do you keep struggling with burning, tingling, numbness, coldness and pain in your arms and/or feet?

I can to tell you there is HOPE!

If you would like to have more information or to set up a consultation and see how we can help you (or someone you know), give NEUROMed Neuropathy Treatment Centers a call at (833) MY-NERVE to schedule an appointment to see if you are a candidate for these breakthrough procedures.