Understanding Peripheral Neuropathy: Symptoms, Treatment, Causes & Types

Introduction

Imagine if you are having constant tingling sensation or a continuous numbness in your hands or feet. You may be dealing with a common yet complex medical disease known as peripheral neuropathy. Understanding this disease is crucial for the treatment of your symptoms and the management of a healthier life. This article aims to clarify peripheral neuropathy, symptoms, types and treatment options.

What is Peripheral Neuropathy?

Peripheral neuropathy is a condition where the peripheral nerves outside the brain and spinal cord undergo damaged. These nerves are responsible for transmitting information between the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) and the rest of the body. Damage to these nerves causes symptoms such as pain, weakness and numbness, usually in the hands and feet, but can also affect other bodily functions such as digestion and urination.

Who does Peripheral Neuropathy affect?

Peripheral neuropathy can affect anyone, regardless of age, gender, race or ethnicity. However, certain risk factors can increase susceptibility to this condition. The most important among them is diabetes; It is one of the most common causes of neuropathy. In addition, age-related diseases often accompany peripheral neuropathy as an unwanted guest: the risk increases with advancing age.

According to global estimates, around 2.4% of the world's population suffers from the disease. However, this percentage increases with age. Around 5-7% of people over the age of 45 suffer from peripheral neuropathy. In the UK, almost one in 10 people aged over 55 suffer from the condition.

How common is this condition?

With increase in aging populations and the prevalence of diabetes, Peripheral Neuropathy has become widespread concern. Considering its impact on quality of life, understanding its types, symptoms, and treatment options is crucial for anyone affected by it or caring for someone who is.

With an aging population and the rise of diabetes, peripheral neuropathy has become a widespread concern. Considering its impact on the quality of life, understanding its types, symptoms and treatment options is crucial for anyone who is affected or caregivers for someone who is affected.

What are the types of Peripheral Neuropathy?

There are about 100 types of peripheral neuropathy, each one has its own causes and symptoms and are resulting from different problems.

To simplify classification, they are often grouped into the following categories:

1. Motor Neuropathy: Damage to large nerve fibers that can cause muscle weakness and atrophy
2. Sensory Neuropathy: A disorder that occurs due to peripheral nerve dysfunction causes abnormal sensation or loss of sensation.
3. Autonomic Nerve Neuropathy: A polyneuropathy that occurs when the nerves that control involuntary body functions are damaged.
4. Combination Neuropathies: A condition that occurs when the pain associated with different types of neuropathy is mixed.

What are the symptoms of Peripheral Neuropathy?

The symptoms of Peripheral Neuropathy depends upon which type of nerve is affected:

• The sensory nerves receive and control the sensations such as temperature and pain. Symptoms can include numbness or tingling in your hands and feet, which can spread upwards on the arms and legs.
• Motor nerves controls the muscle movements. Its symptoms includes muscle weakness or lack of coordination leading to frequent falls.
• Autonomic nerves control functions such as blood pressure and digestion. If these nerves are affected, you might experience excessive sweating, digestive issues, heat intolerance, or drops in blood pressure causing dizziness.

In many cases, patients describe the pain as stabbing, burning, or tingling. Activities that shouldn't cause pain, like putting weight on your feet or covering them with a blanket, might become painful.

What are the causes of Peripheral Neuropathy?

Peripheral Neuropathy is typically a result of damaged peripheral nerves, which can often cause discomfort and pain in your extremities. There are various factors which can cause this nerve injury.

Some Peripheral Neuropathy causes include:

1. Autoimmune Diseases such as Lupus and Rheumatoid Arthritis
2. Diabetes and other Metabolic Diseases
3. Infections such as Lyme Disease or Shingles
4. Congenital Disease
5. Tumours
6. bone marrow disorders
7. Liver disease
8. alcohol use disorders, exposure to toxins, certain medications, injury or pressure on the nerves, and low vitamin levels are some of the other causes.

The unhealthy food choices made by people with alcohol use disorder leading to vitamin deficiencies also contributes to peripheral neuropathy. Similarly, toxic substances such as industrial chemicals and heavy metals such as lead and mercury can also cause nerves damage. Let's now delve deeper into how this condition gets diagnosed.

How is Peripheral Neuropathy diagnosed?

Diagnosis of peripheral neuropathy usually involves a combination of methods.

These include:

Symptoms and Medical History: Your healthcare provider is likely to ask questions related to your medical history or any recent symptoms or changes that you have noticed. They can also ask for other medical conditions and factors, such as type 2 diabetes, and your diet, habits and lifestyle.

Physical and neurological exams: Your health care provider will look for physical signs of peripheral neuropathy, including changes in your abilities to feel sensation, muscle weakness, changes in reflexes, or difficulty walking and balancing.

Lab, diagnostic and imaging tests: A wide variety of tests can help in diagnosing peripheral neuropathy.

What are the treatment options for Peripheral Neuropathy?

Treatment of peripheral neuropathy is aimed at controlling the underlying condition and improving symptoms. If laboratory tests do not reveal an underlying condition, a watchful wait may be advised to detect any changes in the neuropathy.

In general, the following treatment methods are most common for peripheral neuropathy:

Medicines

Several medicines can help manage Peripheral Neuropathy symptoms. Over-the-counter pain relievers can benefit mild symptoms. Anti-seizure medicines such as gabapentin and pregabalin can often help to improve nerve pain. Topical treatments like lidocaine cream or patches applied on the skin can also alleviate pain. Certain antidepressants also aid in improving pain by interfering with chemical processes in the brain that cause you to feel pain.

Therapies

In addition to medications, several therapies can also help relieve the symptoms of peripheral neuropathy. Scrambler therapy uses electrical impulses to replace pain messages sent by nerves to your brain. Spinal cord stimulation devices emit low-level electrical impulses that prevent pain signals from reaching the brain. Physical therapy can improve mobility if there is muscle weakness. In some cases, surgery may be necessary if neuropathies are caused by pressure on the nerves due to tumours.

Complementary Treatments

Some people have reported relief from peripheral neuropathy symptoms with additional treatments such as acupuncture and amino acid therapy. However, it is important to discuss them with your doctor before trying them.

How Can I Prevent Peripheral Neuropathy?

Prevention of peripheral neuropathy follows the old adage: prevention is better than cure.

Regular exercise, quitting smoking, eating healthy meals, avoiding excessive alcohol, and monitoring blood sugar levels can help prevent Peripheral Neuropathy. It's crucial to seek medical advice promptly if you experience any signs of this condition.

Conclusion

Speaking of diagnostic services, Metropolis Labs offers accurate pathology testing and health check-up services that can help in detecting conditions like Peripheral Neuropathy at an early stage. Their trained technicians ensure safe at-home sample collection, and their advanced labs guarantee reliable results. You can conveniently access your test reports online via email or the user-friendly Metropolis TruHealth app. So why wait? Make health your priority with Metropolis today!

Remember, taking care of your health by staying informed and getting regular check-ups are key steps towards preventing nerve-related ailments like Peripheral Neuropathy.