Neuropathy Treatment
Lithia Springs, GA
At Vital Life Chiropractic we provide the latest treatment methods to help reduce your peripheral neuropathy pain once and for all.
Learn more about peripheral neuropathy and our process below!
What is Peripheral Neuropathy?
Peripheral neuropathy is often one of those conditions that you may have heard about, without really knowing fully what it is. Peripheral neuropathy is a medical condition that refers to damage or dysfunction of the peripheral nerves, which are the nerves that are outside of the brain and spinal cord. These nerves control your sensations, movements, and bodily functions, such as your ability to feel touch, temperature, and pain.
What Causes Peripheral Neuropathy?
Peripheral neuropathy can have various causes, including diabetes, alcoholism, infections, autoimmune diseases, and certain medications.
The Symptoms
Now that we have a general overview of what peripheral neuropathy is, we can start to dig down and look into some of the symptoms of the condition.
Symptoms of peripheral neuropathy may include tingling, numbness, weakness, and pain in the affected areas of the body. In severe cases, it can also lead to muscle atrophy, difficulty moving, and a reduced ability to feel sensations.
At times, peripheral neuropathy can go on to affect other functions and parts of the body: digestion, urination, circulation, and more.
Causes Of Peripheral Neuropathy
So what are some of the major and common causes of peripheral neuropathy? Nerve damage can be the result of many different conditions and situations, which is partly why this condition is so surprisingly common amongst people of all kinds and ages. However, there are some conditions in particular which will often lead to peripheral neuropathy. Let’s look at some of those right now.
-
Autoimmune diseases. Sjogren’s syndrome, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, Guillain-Barre syndrome, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy and vasculitis are all autoimmune diseases which can lead to peripheral neuropathy.
-
Diabetes can also lead to nerve damage, and in fact this is the number one cause of peripheral neuropathy in the world. More than half of the people with diabetes will develop some form of peripheral neuropathy in their life.
-
Infections of many kinds can also lead to this condition. That can include infections of the virus or bacteria, such as Lyme’s disease, shingles, hepatitis B and C, leprosy and HIV.
-
Inherited disorders like Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease are inherited forms of neuropathy which can occur in rare cases.
-
Tumors can lead to all sorts of issues, as we all know, and one of the most common of these is peripheral neuropathy. Tumors developing or pressing on nerves can easily lead to nerve damage in this way.
-
Bone marrow disorders are also a common cause of peripheral neuropathy, along with bone cancer.
-
A range of other diseases can lead to this condition too, such as kidney disease and liver disease.
You are more likely to develop peripheral neuropathy if you are an alcoholic, or you are exposed to certain poisons such as lead or mercury. Chemotherapy medication can also increase your chances of peripheral neuropathy, as can injury from motor accidents and other such unfortunate events. Also, vitamin deficiencies can make this more likely too.