My Feet Have Neuropathy - What is it and What Can I do About it?
Thirty percent of the population suffers from idiopathic neuropathy, which is
neuropathy from an unknown cause. What is neuropathy? Neuropathy is a
disorder of the nerves. Neuropathy presents as symptoms in the hands,
more often the feet, such as tingling, numbness, burning, the feeling of
bugs crawling on the skin, and in the worst cases, shooting pains.
Although 30% of neuropathy is from an unknown cause, another 30% is from
a known cause, Diabetes. A few other causes are chronic alcoholism,
shingles, medications, AIDS, deficiencies in vitamins, cancer drugs,
toxins, and certain diseases or disorders.
Why does my diabetes cause neuropathy?
Patients
with diabetes whose glucose or sugar level has been out of control for a long period of time can develop neuropathy. Simply put, the disease
affects your nerves when you do not take control of your sugar levels.
Usually the symptoms start in the fingers as numbness first. Eventually
the symptoms are felt in the toes and feet. Neuropathy is reversible up
to a certain point, but irreversible once the glucose has been
uncontrolled for too long. Many diabetic patients complain of no feeling
on the bottom of both of their feet! This is when trouble can occur, if
you can't feel it, you don't know it! So a diabetic with neuropathy or any patient with neuropathy may step on
something and never realize the skin is broken on the bottom of the
foot. Bacteria may contaminate this opening, leading to an ulceration
and infection. It's at this point that you may hear of diabetic patients
with ulcerations and infections.
How is neuropathy treated?
There
are many treatments for neuropathy and this depends on the cause. These include supplements for neuropathy, prescription
medications, diet and blood sugar control, and various non-invasive
therapies. The most important treatment is prevention, in the case of
diabetes. Although uncontrollable in some cases, neuropathy is
preventable and controllable in diabetes. Diet and sugar maintenance are
paramount in effectively minimizing the effect of neuropathy.
NeuRx is physician formulated and has been used in my practice for diabetic neuropathy as well as other polyneuropathies and post nerve surgery patients.
In addition to the thiamine derivative listed above, NeurRx has B12, DHEA and Alpha Lipoic Acid to strengthen the effects and the results have been Wonderful.
