Symptoms of Peripheral Neuropathy

What is Peripheral Neuropathy?

Peripheral neuropathy occurs when the sensory and motor nerves are damaged, therefore causing an interruption in the messaging from the brain to vital parts of your body.

Foot Examination is Important

Symptoms of Peripheral Neuropathy

Some of the symptoms of peripheral neuropathy include burning and tingling situations in the feet, especially in the toes. Sometimes the pain can become sharp and jabbing and the sufferer won't be able to walk or perform other normal daily activities. In the event that you have already lost feeling sensations in your feet, a daily check for cuts and injuries would be another great way to thwart the pain that could become a lot worse in your feet.

Other symptoms of peripheral neuropathy include difficulty in sleeping due to severe pain in legs and feet, extreme sensitivity to touch, loss of coordination and balance, weakness in the muscles, trouble walking or moving the arms, and sweating that is unusual. Some of the symptoms may only occur once. Or you may only experience one symptom. In other cases you can experience multiple symptoms either all at once, or on separate occasions. Either way, having to contend with the symptoms of peripheral neuropathy is going to be hard, but it can be done.

Your peripheral neuropathy symptoms will depend on what type of neuropathy you are experiencing. Your brain and spinal cord sends messages to all the muscles in your body through a set of nerves called the motor nerves. If these nerves are damaged, you will begin to experience a variety of neuropathy symptoms such as numbness, tingling, pain, and muscle weakness.

If you are having symptoms like being very sensitive to touch, the loss of feeling hot or cold, or numbness and tingling in your fingers and toes, you are probably experiencing the symptoms of sensory nerve damage. These kinds of feeling losses can lead to problems with getting burned easily or damaging your feet from exposure to cold temperatures for too long.

Damage to your autonomic nervous system can create problems for you with balance. You may experience periods of dizziness. You may have problems with blood pressure and irregular heartbeat. You may no longer receive the sensation of when you need to go to the bathroom. Your breathing may also be affected.