Peripheral Neuropathy

Effects of Peripheral Neuropathy

Peripheral neuropathy simply means that there has been damage to nerves somewhere in your peripheral nervous system. The peripheral nervous system is a communicator, it takes messages back and forth between your body and your brain and spinal column(the central nervous system). Persons affected with peripheral neuropathy can have a wide variety of symptoms depending on which nerves are affected and how they are damaged. There can be sensations of burning, tingling, numbness just to name a few of the potential systems. And these sensations are incorrect. You may feel pain in your toe when there is nothing wrong with it. Likewise, there may be something horribly wrong with your toe and you not know it because the signals aren't getting through.

Nerve pathway

The pain from peripheral neuropathy can be muted or severe. You may experience muscle cramps or twitching in the muscles. You may also lose dexterity in your fingers and have trouble buttoning your shirt.

You can also experience problesm with your autonomic nervous system (part of your peripheral nervous system). The autonomic system is what controls your involuntary actions (your heart beat, breathing, balance, the digestive process). If you develop neuropathy of the autonomic system, you can end up with blurred vision, irregular heart beats, dizziness, and problems with digestion.

Getting Treatment

If you begin to feel any of these kinds of symptoms, you should seek medical treatment. It is best to get to the root cause of peripheral neuropathy because it could be due to a disease like diabetes or it could be due to you having been poisoned by toxins. The sooner you get to the root cause of the neuropathy, the quicker your symptoms can be treated and the less damage will occur. If you wait too long, irreperable damage can occur.

There are a variety of treatments for peripheral neuropathy and which one is right for you will depend on what the cause of your neuropathy is and what you and your physician decide. Some types of neuropathy are treated by restoring your body's normal oxygen level. Other treatments include vitamins, better nutrition, light therapy, massage, medication and pain killers. While most neuropathies cannot be cured, they can be treated and the symptoms and effects made minimal.