Peripheral Neuropathy Treatment In Pittsburgh PA
What Is Peripheral Neuropathy?
Peripheral Neuropathy is damage or disease that affects the peripheral nervous system. It is a progressive, degenerative disease that gets worse over time. Symptoms may include:
- Numbness
- Tingling
- Burning pain
- Cramping
- Balance problems
- Weakness
- Restless leg syndrome
- Feelings that your feet (or hands) are too hot or too cold
What Is The Peripheral Nervous System?
The peripheral nervous system is a complex web of nerves that connect the spinal cord to your arms, legs, and trunk. The function of these nerves are
- Motor
- Sensory
- Balance Control
What Causes Peripheral Neuropathy?
There are many things that can cause peripheral neuropathy. Some of the more common causes are diabetes, chemotherapy, poor circulation, and problems in the spine (like stenosis, arthritis, and a herniated disc). Many doctors will inquire whether you are a diabetic. But while 75% of all diabetics develop neuropathy, you don’t have to have diabetes to develop peripheral neuropathy.
One of the causes of neuropathy is medications. Many common drugs like statins (to lower cholesterol), chemotherapy (to help with cancer), and Metformin (to treat diabetes) may cause neuropathy. An autoimmune disease (like lupus or Guillian-Barre syndrome), may be linked to the development of peripheral neuropathy.
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What Do Doctors Use To Treat Neuropathy?
Doctors treat neuropathy symptoms with prescription drugs that may temporarily reduce some symptoms. The drugs have names such as Gabapentin, Neurontin, and Lyrica. They are medications classified as anti-seizure drugs (originally formulated to treat epilepsy). The way they work is to slow down the brain so you can’t feel your feet.
If you have diabetic neuropathy, and you had intense pain in your feet, the drugs may reduce the symptoms. However, they aren’t going to do anything for numbness, tingling, balance problems, weakness, cramping, restless leg syndrome, etc. They also do not slow down or stop the progress of the disease whatsoever.
What Is Our Method of Correcting Peripheral Neuropathy?
There are therapies we utilize for reversing peripheral neuropathy damage. Some of the therapies include spinal decompression, laser and/or infrared LED health lights, electronic stimulation, vibration, chiropractic care, and functional medicine to find and correct metabolic imbalances that could be driving the problem.
Recovery is possible. Many have even spoken with their doctors and either reduced or completely eliminated their medications. The amount of treatment needed to allow the nerves to fully recover varies from person to person and can only be determined after a detailed neurological and vascular evaluation. As long as there is less than 85% nerve damage, there is hope!
Before we can treat your problem three questions have to be answered:
- What is the underlying cause?
- How much nerve damage has been sustained?
- How much treatment will be required?
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Success Stories
Frequently Asked Questions
What is peripheral neuropathy?
Peripheral neuropathy is a disease or damage to the peripheral nerves (the nerves that go down your arms, your legs, or wrap around your trunk).
What are the warning signs of peripheral neuropathy?
Symptoms of neuropathy may include numbness, tingling, cramping, weakness, poor balance, feelings of cold or heat in the feet or hands, loss of dexterity in your fingers, restless leg syndrome, and burning pain. You don’t necessarily need to have all of these symptoms. You could only have one, or you can have more than one.
What are the four stages of peripheral neuropathy?
- Stage one: You feel intermittent numbness or tingling.
- Stage two: the numbness & tingling get more and more frequent and gain in intensity
- Stage three: additional symptoms appear (such as burning pain, weakness, cramping, and the feet start feeling cold)
- Stage four: this is when the symptoms continue to get more intense and frequent. It interrupts basic functions (like sleeping, walking, or climbing stairs).
What is the best thing to do for peripheral neuropathy?
The best thing is to do something to improve nerve function, control diabetes, stop smoking, and in general get healthier. The worst thing you could do is endlessly procrastinate taking care of a chronic health problem or just mask symptoms with common medications (gabapentin, Neurontin, Lyrica, or Cymbalta). If left uncorrected, it will get worse.
What triggers peripheral neuropathy?
There are over 100 reasons why people suffer from peripheral neuropathy. The most common one is diabetes. 75% of all diabetics have some form of neuropathy. But you don’t necessarily have to be a diabetic to have neuropathy. Some of the other causes are spinal cord problems (like spinal stenosis, a herniated disc, or a bulging disc), trauma, infectious disease, certain medications, exposure to toxins, autoimmune diseases, thyroid problems, and more.
Does peripheral neuropathy go away?
No, peripheral neuropathy does not go away. It gets worse over time.
Can you recover from peripheral neuropathy?
As long as the nerves are still salvageable, recovery is possible. Once the nerves are so badly damaged that nothing can be done, it’s too late.
How do you test for peripheral neuropathy?
We check the function of:
- Circulation
- Balance pathways
- Sensory pathways
- Motor pathways
FREE Nerve Damage Screening
Voucher to Receive A FREE Nerve Damage Screen
(Available to the first 10 people each month)