Typical Treatment For Peripheral Neuropathy Can Be Dangerous

Peripheral neuropathy (PN) is disorder that causes dysfunction of nerves that lie outside your brain and spinal cord. There are many causes of this malady, some of which are irreversible. For causes which are amenable to treatment there seems to be a disproportionate use pharmaceuticals.

The main problem with pharmaceutical treatment for PN is the focus on the symptoms and not the underlying causative factors. The most common symptoms targeted for treatment in PN are; numbness, tingling, burning and/or a feeling of weakness. These symptoms can trouble the legs, feet, hands or arms and can occur on one side of the body or both (as PN advances).

When the effects of prescribed medication wears off, you’ll often find the annoying pain, numbness and burning is only handled for a short time. That’s because nothing was done to fix what is causing your neuropathy in the first place. Unfortunately, research and clinical experience reveals symptom only treatment leaves the underlying cause to worsen, leading to potentially serious complications including:

Cellulitis

Falls

Leg injury

Skin ulcers on the legs

Leg numbness (bilateral)

The most common drugs prescribed for PN were developed for epilepsy, not neuropathy. These medications work by using a chemical that tells your brain to SLOW DOWN. While this may be okay once in a while, using these medications over the long haul can make your condition worse in two ways:

1. These pills can cause dangerous side effects. The greater the number of medications you are one, the more likely it is to have side effects. Often the side effects of medications are worse than the numbness, burning and/or tingling you’re taking these pills for in the first place. You see, the chemical they disable does more than just slow down your brain. Depending on what pill you’re taking, you can leave yourself open to liver failure, kidney damage, and gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Just read the package inserts for the medications and you will discover this for yourself.

2. Numbness, burning and tingling, as we all know, is your body’s way of telling you there is something wrong. Feeling an increase in numbness, burning and/or tingling will stop you from doing things that can make your problem worse. For instance, if you sprained your ankle and couldn’t feel it, then you’d keep walking on it until it an irreversible amount of damage happened.

Wrist or foot splints are another common treatment sometimes prescribed for muscle weakness accompanying peripheral neuropathy. Frequently the user may wear the splints for more hours than necessary, thinking more is better. Wearing wrist or foot splints may seem harmless enough, but you’re only supposed to wear them for the specified time. Using them as a crutch will lead scar tissue formation in your wrist or foot, which can complicate treatment.

So, if you are receiving the typical treatment for PN (medications and splints), you are covering up your numbness, burning and/or tingling…in all likelihood your peripheral neuropathy will worsen. Investigating further into the cause of your malady and subsequently correcting the underlying issues can bring about natural healing and blessed relief.

Some doctors specialize in non-drug and non-surgical methods of treating patient with peripheral neuropathy. One key to successfully defeating PN is staying on the cutting edge of non-surgical procedures and specialized treatment technologies dedicated to helping sufferers of numbness, tingling, burning and sharp pain caused by nerve related conditions.

Furthermore, having a non-drug solution is needed to help offset the injuries and medication load of the typical peripheral neuropathy patient.

Many patients have become discouraged and frustrated by conventional medical care for peripheral neuropathy and left taking medications that do nothing but cover up the symptoms by forsaking the underlying cause of the condition.

The key to successfully treating the patient with peripheral neuropathy is for the doctor to perform in-depth and sometimes “out of the box” testing to uncover underlying causes, such as gluten intolerance, vitamin deficiencies, and drug-reactions or side effects. Once the underlying cause (or causes) is determined, the solution will be apparent.

Often the solution will require:

Diet changes

Lifestyle changes

Specific nutrition supplementation for nutrient repletion

Highly specialized therapy to deal with the neurological issues caused from the peripheral neuropathy

Treating the symptoms of peripheral neuropathy and treating the patient who has peripheral neuropathy are two very different scenarios. The difference is paramount to successful outcomes and requires the full cooperation of the peripheral neuropathy patient. Are you ready for change? If so, consider looking into the wonderful world of drug-free, surgery-free care for peripheral neuropathy.

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