There are many people who suffer the effects of peripheral neuropathy on a daily basis. However, not everyone is fully aware of what it is or how it comes about. If you care about someone recently diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy, or you heard you may have it, then it is important you learn what it is. The more you know about it, the better managed it can be. Here is an overview of what peripheral neuropathy is and how it can affect your life.

What Is Peripheral Neuropathy?

Being diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy is often unnerving. It is having your doctor tell you that you have damage in your peripheral nerves, and it has lead to pain. The extremities of your body typically struggle the most with this type of diagnosis. It affects your hands and feet first in nearly all cases. However, it can also affect other areas around your body. You may not only have pain, but also numbness. This can make going through the motions of a typical day difficult or even impossible.  There are times where peripheral neuropathy is so intense, it can make it to where you struggle to move. This is definitely not the quality of life you want or should have to live with.

How Does Peripheral Neuropathy Present?

Most of the time, peripheral neuropathy presents itself in the form of numbness and pain. Tingling, stabbing, and burning are the three most used adjectives to describe the pain of peripheral neuropathy. The longer this condition goes untreated, the more pain people often struggle with. The sooner you can come in and see someone about your pain, the sooner you can regain your quality of life. There are a few different treatment options to help control the pain of peripheral neuropathy. However, not all of them work for every case. You may need to go through and try a few different forms of treatment before you find the right one.

The damage that leads to peripheral neuropathy results in nerves that no longer function properly. The type of presentation you have will depend on which of your nerves struggle with the problem. Some nerves will lead to numbness and a loss of complete control over the affected area. Other nerves will leave you feeling as though the area is on fire or being pierced with a hot object. Occasionally, you may also experience freezing sensations as opposed to burning sensations. In the more severe cases, your nerves may begin malfunctioning altogether. This can lead to problems controlling your heartbeat, blood pressure, bladder, and your digestion.

Where Does Peripheral Neuropathy Come From?

In most cases, peripheral neuropathy comes from some type of damage to your body. The most common reason people develop peripheral neuropathy is diabetes. However, that is only one of the many causes. You could develop it following an injury or an infection that damaged your body. Metabolic issues can also lead to peripheral neuropathy. Some people develop this condition because they inherited it from a parent through genetics. Yet others end up struggling with peripheral neuropathy because they were exposed to something toxic.

How Can You Treat Peripheral Neuropathy?

When you have a formal diagnosis of peripheral neuropathy, it is time to find out what options you have for treatment. The type of treatment that will help you best depends on the problem you have in the first place. The more nerves struggling from the damage, the heavier the treatment required. There are many pain medications that can relieve peripheral neuropathy pain. However, not everyone will respond to the same type of narcotic treatment. Some people will notice very little relief from pain medications, but will notice relief from other types of prescription drugs, such as muscle relaxers.

There are also technological treatments for peripheral neuropathy. One of the newer, yet more effective treatment options is called the Scrambler Therapy ®. It provides relief to 9 out of 10 people who get it done. How the Scrambler Therapy ® works is by stimulating near the area of pain through vibration. Your medical professional will put electrodes near your area of pain, and provide your body with a gentle vibration to help realign the nerves to send the proper messages to the brain. Instead of having your body read the messages as painful messages, this therapy provides your body with messages that the area is not in pain. This often provides a significant amount of pain relief.

If you are tired of living with constant pain, come in and meet with one of the experienced professionals here at the Pain Care Clinic of Idaho. You can reach us at (208) 629-2492. Let us help you manage your peripheral neuropathy and start living a good quality of life again.