Neuropathy

What is neuropathy?

Neuropathy is a broad term for pain and altered physical sensations that happen because of damage to your nerves. The peripheral nerves carry signals to your spinal cord and brain, which together form your central nervous system (CNS). As well as being responsible for sending pain signals, peripheral nerves also send information about other physical sensations, so when you have neuropathy, you might also experience:

• Burning feelings
• Prickling sensations
• Tingling or pins and needles
• Increased sensitivity to touch
• Muscle wasting
• Muscle weakness
• Numbness

Your peripheral nerves normally send valuable information to your CNS about tissue damage, temperature, and other signals that enable you to respond appropriately. For example, if you’re too close to a fire, you feel the heat burning your skin, or if you cut yourself, you feel pain and know you need to tend to the wound.

When you have neuropathy, these signals get sent when there is no fire or wound, so you may feel like your hand is burning or you’ve got a knife in your side, but in reality, the nerves are malfunctioning.

What causes neuropathy?

Neuropathy can develop for a number of reasons. There are many different diseases that can cause neuropathy, including:

• Celiac disease
• Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease
• Guillain-Barré syndrome
• HIV-associated peripheral sensory neuropathy
• Hormonal disorders
• Kidney failure
• Lupus
• Peripheral nerve injury pain
• Postherpetic neuralgia
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Trigeminal neuralgia

Neuropathy can also develop after a serious illness, or if you have cancer, you could get chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. Some infectious diseases, poisoning, nutrient deficiencies, alcoholism, repetitive stress, and physical trauma can all cause nerves to malfunction, leading to neuropathy.

One of the most common forms of neuropathy is diabetic neuropathy. This condition affects people who have diabetes, and mainly affects the feet. Diabetic neuropathy increases your chances of developing leg ulcers and infections, sometimes resulting in amputation.

Idiopathic neuropathy is the term for neuropathy that has no identifiable cause.

What treatments are available for neuropathy?

The team at Pain Specialty Group can help reduce the symptoms of neuropathy using innovative treatments such as laser therapy, regenerative medicine techniques like platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections, neuromodulation, and spinal cord stimulation.

To find out more about neuropathy treatment, call Pain Specialty Group today, or make an appointment online.