Have you been dropping more things lately and feel like your hands are gradually losing their grip? What about an unusual, unexplained tingling sensation in your feet?
You may be suffering from neuropathy (commonly referred as nerve damage), a disorder of nerves that transmit messages from your body to your brain.
How do You Define Neuropathy?
The Cleveland Clinic describes the disease, also called peripheral neuropathy, as “any condition that affects the normal activity of the nerves of the peripheral nervous system…. The peripheral nervous system is the network of nerves that connects the central nervous system – the brain and spinal cord – to the rest of the body,” their website explains.
Three kinds of nerves make up the peripheral nervous system:
- Sensory nerves transmit messages from your senses to the brain through the spinal cord.
- Motor nerves are responsible for carrying instructions of your brain to your muscles.
- Autonomic nerves control involuntary body functions such as breathing, digestion, and heart rate.
Neuropathy occurs when you suffer from damage to any of these nerves.
What are the Symptoms of Neuropathy?
If the neuropathy affects your sensory nerves, this leads to a loss of reflexes, loss of balance and coordination, as well as difficulty in walking and overall muscle weakness.
The damage to your nervous system can show up in other ways, like:
- Numbness or pamamanhid in the hands and feet
- Tingling or pricking sensation or tusok-tusok in the hands and feet
- Weak, heavy feeling in the arms and legs or pangangalay
- A feeling like you’re wearing a tight glove or sock
- Cramping (pamumulikat)
- Sharp, jabbing, throbbing or burning pain
- Muscle weakness
- Extreme sensitivity to touch
- Pain during activities that shouldn't cause pain, such as pain in your feet when putting weight on them or when they're under a blanket
What are the Main Causes & Risk Factors of Neuropathy?
When neurons, or nerve cells, are damaged or lose function, instructions to and from the brain do not go to their intended recipients. A person suffering from nerve damage in the hands, for instance, may not be able to tell immediately that a steaming cup of water is hot.
While neuropathy knows no age and size, this ailment is more common in people with certain medical conditions. In some cases, it’s hereditary; in others, the culprit is vitamin deficiency. The items that follow are the most common causes and risk factors for neuropathy:
- Untreated diabetes is one of the major causes of nerve damage—high glucose levels in the blood interferes with nerve function and degrades them over time, while weakening the capillary walls that nourish the nerves.
- Kidney disease: This is related to diabetes, as the disease ruins your kidneys’ ability to function; this damage allows more toxins to filter into the blood, leading to nerve damage
- Genetic factors: some people inherit a predisposition to nerve damage from their parents
- Smoking and alcohol abuse: nerves and blood vessels can be damaged irreparably by chronic cigarettes and drinking
- Infections. These include certain viral or bacterial infections, including Lyme disease, shingles, Epstein-Barr virus, hepatitis B and C, leprosy, diphtheria, and HIV.
- Poor diet and vitamin deficiencies: Certain diets can lead to Vitamin B deficiencies—for instance, vegan diets are low in Vitamin B12, deficiencies of which can cause anemia and nervous system damage
- Trauma, repetitive motion, or pressure on the nerve Traumas, such as from motor vehicle accidents, falls or sports injuries, can sever or damage peripheral nerves. Nerve pressure can result from having a cast or using crutches or repeating a motion such as typing many times.
- Medications. Certain medications, especially those used to treat cancer (chemotherapy), anticonvulsants, blood pressure medications, and drugs to fight bacterial infections, can cause peripheral neuropathy.
- Autoimmune response: your body overreacts to infection, mistaking nerves as foreign attackers and causing inflammation
- Overweight: People with a body mass index (BMI) over 24 suffer from an increased risk of neuropathy
How is Neuropathy Diagnosed and Treated?
Some cases of neuropathy, especially those that are nutrition-related, can be easily treated or cured. But management is key in dealing with this disorder. You can do any of the following to help prevent neuropathy from damaging your life:
- Consult with a doctor. If you regularly feel a tingling sensation in your hands or feet, seek medical attention promptly. Proper and early diagnosis will allow you to immediately treat the cause of the symptoms, halting further nerve damage.
- Take a battery of tests. A specialist on the nervous system, a neurologist, may order a number of tests to confirm a neuropathy diagnosis. First, they’ll check you for signs of numbness, muscle weakness and weak reflexes. Tests include blood and urine tests, electromyogram (EMG) and nerve conduction velocity (NCV) tests, all to assess your nerve and muscle functions. The neurologist can use the results to find the abnormal nerves and determine a treatment.
- Quit smoking. The nicotine in tobacco affects blood circulation, narrowing blood vessels and reducing the amount of oxygen in your blood. By quitting smoking, neuropathy victims can improve their prognosis in a short time.
- Reduce alcohol intake. Neuropathy can be caused or aggravated by excessive alcohol intake; symptoms can be improved simply by reducing the amount of alcohol one drinks.
- Get more exercise. A more active lifestyle can reduce your blood sugar, lessening a major risk factor in nerve damage. Neuropathy sufferers will also find the increased blood flow to their limbs can reduce symptoms.
- Live a healthy lifestyle. Get more active, spend more time outdoors, and adjust your diet. “In many cases, symptoms improve, especially if caused by a treatable condition,” explained the Mayo Clinic in its website.
- Medications. Prescription and Over-the-counter (OTC) pain medications like acetaminophen and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as aspirin and ibuprofen, and can be very helpful in controlling moderate nerve pain.
- Medical Treatments. The doctor can use several medical treatments to control the symptoms of this condition. Transcutaneous electronic nerve stimulation (TENS) disrupt nerves from transmitting pain signals to the brain by placing electrodes on the skin and sends small amounts of electricity into the skin.
- Supplement with Vitamin B. Your doctor may prescribe an appropriate Vitamin B complex supplement to complement treatment. Studies have established that supplementing with B vitamins can aid and promote nerve repair because they speed up tissue regeneration and improve nerve function. B vitamins also help relieve pain and inflammation. Vitamins B1, B6 and B12 specifically help restore damaged nerves, making them vital to nerve health.
Vitamin B-Complex + Vitamin E (Neurogen-E) provides you with 300mg Vitamin B1,100mg Vitamin B6, 1000mcg Vitamin B12, and 100IU Vitamin E per caplet—giving you the right amount of B-vitamins to help relieve symptoms of nerve damage and help keep the nervous system healthy. Each caplet contains 5X more Vitamin B12 and 3X more Vitamin B1, plus added Vitamin E versus major players among OTC brands! It is recommended to be taken once daily.
If symptoms persist, consult your doctor.
ASC Reference No. ASC Reference No. U173P031120N
