Indeed, it’s stressful when you think about your days before your neuropathy diagnosis. Naturally, when your body is in constant agony, negative thoughts develop as you have a bad mood, leading to high emotional distress that ultimately degrades your way of living.
Nerve damage issues have become quite common, with more than 20 million American citizens suffering from neuropathy, leading to huge medical costs exceeding $4 billion each year.
Often, people suffer from mental health issues like depression, insomnia, anxiety, and mood disorders when they have severe nerve damage, leading to intense neuropathic pain. Thus, you don’t like to interact with your friends and family or move out of your home with constant chronic pain and a bad temper. So, instead of healing, your pain amplifies when emotional distress combines with immobility.
Let’s talk about neuropathy and a handful of neuropathy treatments.
What Are the Triggers of Neuropathy?
Neuropathy is termed as a medical condition that affects your nerve, causing intense pain and loss of sensation in one or several parts of your body.
In the US, one of the common reasons for neuropathy is diabetes, where high sugar levels damage your feet and legs, and the symptoms can be prolonged long enough to cause paralysis.
Numerous factors cause neuropathy, which includes the following:
- Old age
- Diabetes
- Kidney failure
- HIV infection
- Alcohol intake for a long time
- Chemotherapy
- Radiotherapy
- Medications
- Vitamin deficiencies
- Thyroid issues
- Brain tumor
What Happens to Your Body When You Suffer From Neuropathy?
Your body reacts differently to different types of neuropathy. While some may have genetically inherited nerve disorders, some may have damaged nerves due to an accident or other health conditions like hormonal imbalance or chronic kidney disease.
- Tingling sensation and numbness.
- Burning Sensations around the affected area.
- Sharp pain and cramps due to nerve damage.
- Difficulty waking due to lack of sensation and numb feet.
- Weak bones and muscles and increased risk of broken bones and muscle loss.
- Twitching muscles.
- Change in skin, hair, and nail color.
- Sleep disorder due to sharp pain at night.
- No bladder control due to numbness.
- Trouble swallowing food.
- You may also lose balance and may not be able to walk properly due to nerve damage.
- You feel that you are dependent on someone else as you may not be able to complete daily household chores yourself.
- You are unaware of injuries and cuts, which increases the risk of infection.
- Life-threatening symptoms like breathing issues and fluctuating heartbeat.
What to Expect During Neuropathy Diagnosis?
These symptoms do not necessarily mean that you are suffering from neuropathy, as it resembles well with other diseases. But if your doctor suspects that you are suffering from neuropathy, they will ask you other questions relevant to your daily schedule. Your doctor may check on the following parameters while diagnosing neuropathy.
- Are you able to close your eyes and talk about the positions of each of your body parts?
- Do you reflect when the doctors tap on your knees, ankles, and wrists?
- Next, your doctor will check whether you can walk in a straight line or not. Additionally, they may ask you to balance your body on one leg.
- Lastly, your blood pressure is measured when you lie down and stand up to know the difference.
Along with the above tests, your doctor may run special tests like nerve conduction studies to determine the number of working cells in the affected area.