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He Could Barely Walk and Had to Give Up Golf. What Was Wrong?

There are hundreds of possible causes of peripheral neuropathy. Diabetes is probably the most common. Alcohol abuse can do it. So can too little vitamin B12 or too muchitamin B6. Several drugs can cause this kind of neuropathy, as well as some toxins. Autoimmune diseases and inherited diseases can too.

Most peripheral neuropathies affect sensation first. He had what was called a stocking-and-glove neuropathy: one that starts in the feet and moves upward to the hands and keeps going. Most of the time, the feet and hands burn and sting as if they were being stuck with pins and needles, and then slowly, usually over years, sensation dies. But this kind of rapidly progressive and profound…

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Featured

  Know Peripheral Neuropathy

There are many types of peripheral neuropathy, including, but not limited to, multifocal motor neuropathy (MMN) and chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) .

 Peripheral Neuropathy: Asking the Right Questions

Careful evaluations can reveal the cause of peripheral neuropathy in more than half of all cases.

 The Many Ills of Peripheral Nerve Damage

If you have ever slept on an arm and awakened with a “dead” hand, or sat too long with your legs crossed and had your foot fall asleep, you have some inkling of what many people with peripheral neuropathy experience day in and day out, often with no relief in sight.

 What Is Peripheral Neuropathy?

While peripheral neuropathies can be initiated by diverse events (diabetes, HIV, chemotherapy, etc.), it is believed that most display some degree of mitochondrial dysfunction. Disruption to normal mitochondrial activity results in a chronic axonal energy deficit that is the proximate cause of the damage to peripheral nerves, one of the highest users of cellular energy, and subsequently to the symptoms of neuropathy.

Articles of Interest

'I was losing feeling in my fingers'

Best of all, I have met a doctor and musician who specialises in polyneuritis. If, in another month, I still have symptoms, he will be able to offer the first medicine ever available for this illness. It works by blocking the cells that damage the myelin sheath. What is it? Why, it is serum of goat! Oh Lover Boy, bananas all round.

Diagnosis of peripheral neuropathy

Peripheral neuropathy represents a spectrum of diseases with different etiologies. The most common causes are diabetes, exposure to toxic substances including alcohol and chemotherapeutics, immune-mediated conditions, and gene mutations.

How The Rebuilder Can Treat Chronic Peripheral Neuropathy Pain

People just like you, all over the globe, have discovered that their nerves can be rebuilt and full function restored. It does not matter what the cause of your painful peripheral neuropathy is: idiopathic, diabetic, alcoholic, toxic, or chemotherapy induced.

Living with Peripheral Neuropathy

Living with peripheral neuropathy can be difficult and frustrating. This condition can cause various symptoms, including pain, numbness, tingling, and muscle weakness. About 20 million Americans have been diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy, and many more are believed to have the condition but have not yet been diagnosed.

New thinking on peripheral neuropathy

Nerve damage might be causing everything from low blood pressure to gastrointestinal distress without your knowing it.

Stopping neuropathy – one of chemotherapy’s most challenging side effects

Chemotherapies are especially good at killing cancer cells, but they can also harm healthy ones. These include the peripheral nerve cells that carry messages back and forth between the brain and spinal cord (the central nervous system) and the rest of the body. When peripheral nerve cells are damaged, it becomes harder for the messages to get through.

Study: Friends Make Pain Less Painful

Peripheral neuropathy, a side effect of diabetes and one of the most common chronic diseases in the U.S., manifests itself as persistent pain and numbness in the hands and feet. Medications provide some relief, but no cure is currently known to exist.

The macrophage: a key player in the pathophysiology of peripheral neuropathies

Macrophages are present in all mammalian tissues and coexist with various cell types in order to respond to different environmental cues. However, the role of these cells has been underestimated in the context of peripheral nerve damage.

Treating Neuropathy With Some Vitamin B

Vitamin B supplements for neuropathy have yielded mixed results. In a July review by the Cochrane Collaboration, a nonprofit scientific group, researchers reviewed 13 studies and found "insufficient" evidence for vitamin B use to treat neuropathy.

Treating neuropathy: Which medication is best?

Unfortunately, it can take many months or even longer to find a treatment that works. Doctors have little guidance to know which ones to start with. That’s why research comparing treatment options is so important — and yet, precious little comparative research on treatments for idiopathic sensory polyneuropathy has been published.

Vitamin B12 deficiency is a common health problem that can have serious consequences – but doctors often overlook it

One primary symptom of B12 deficiency is fatigue – a level of tiredness or exhaustion so deep that it affects daily life activities. Other symptoms are neurological and may include tingling in the extremities, confusion, memory loss, depression and difficulty maintaining balance. Some of these can be permanent if the vitamin deficiency is not addressed.

Weekly dose: Lyrica, the epilepsy drug that treats chronic nerve pain

Lyrica is the brand name for a prescription medicine called pregabalin. Although it is an anticonvulsant, or an anti-epileptic drug, pregabalin is commonly prescribed to alleviate nerve or neuropathic pain – a type of pain caused by damage to, or a disease affecting, nerves. Neuropathic pain doesn’t normally respond to common painkillers such as ibuprofen or paracetemol. This is because the mechanisms that cause neuropathic pain are different to the underlying causes of other pain.

What Nerve!

As this disease (if disease it is or just a crumbling of an aging human body!) progresses, I am amazed at the disablement of first my feet, and then increasingly over the years pain moving through my legs, then hands, arms and back, as if it were on a journey to invade me totally. That is the nature of the beast. And it is a slow but relentless progression.

Resources

6 Things You Should Know about Peripheral Neuropathy

Living with peripheral neuropathy is like riding a roller-coaster — especially for those recently diagnosed. Managing this painful condition is frustrating at best, and can feel overwhelming at times.

PolyNeuro Exchange

Your source for expert information on symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment options for Peripheral Neuropathies

Foundation for Peripheral Neuropathy

The Foundation for Peripheral Neuropathy is a Public Charity committed to fostering collaboration among today’s most gifted and dedicated neuroscientists and physicians. These specialists from around the country will help us maintain a comprehensive view of the field and determine the research areas that hold the most promise in neuropathy research and treatment to develop new and effective therapies that can reverse, reduce and one day eliminate Peripheral Neuropathy.

Lyrica

LYRICA has been prescribed for more than a decade to treat the shooting, burning, pins and needles pain of diabetic peripheral neuropathy, also known as diabetic nerve pain.

Peripheral Neuropathy Support Group

Hello! If you our someone you know is suffering from Peripheral Neuropathy this is a great group for support and knowledge.

ReBuilder Medical

The ReBuilder stimulates both nerves and muscles. By stimulating the dysfunctional nerves, the ReBuilder provides pain relief. By stimulating the muscles in the calf, the venous muscle pump is activated which increases blood flow and circulation that results in de-oxygenated blood cells and toxins being carried away, while bringing in new, healthy blood back into the feet.

WinSanTor Peripheral Neuropathy Blog

Our mission is simple—develop a drug that works. We recognize that there are no treatments for peripheral neuropathy today. We strive to impact the lives of today’s patients heavily burdened by this disease.

NINDS

More than 100 types of peripheral neuropathy have been identified, each with its own symptoms and prognosis. Symptoms vary depending on the type of nerves—motor, sensory, or autonomic—that are damaged.