Neuropathy - an overview

With a blog like this, it's inevitable that many people will stumble across it at the start of their neuropathy symptoms or problems. Detailed and specific posts about particular forms of neuropathy and/or its treatment aren't much use to those people because they just want to know what it's all about. For that reason, every now and then, it's important to post an article that gives a general description of the disease Neuropathy. This article from Grandtimes.com (see link below)referring to the book 'Numb Toes and Aching Soles' (reviewed elsewhere on the blog), does exactly that and gives a clear introduction to neuropathy as a whole.
Tomorrow, the post will be the second part of the same useful article which talks in detail about the value of various forms of exercise for neuropathy patients.

Numb Toes & Aching Soles

PERIPHERAL NEUROPATHY
by John A. Senneff

Introduction to Peripheral Neuropathy
Millions in this country and elsewhere have peripheral neuropathy in different forms and to various degrees. The number usually cited in the U.S. is two million. Yet a study of its incidence just among specific population groups, for example among people with diabetes or with HIV infections, would suggest a much larger number.
It can strike any age group in any social or cultural strata. Many, perhaps most, victims do not realize what ails their aching soles and numb toes, as well as their tingling fingers, throbbing hands or weakening muscles. The shame of this is that without early action based on knowledge of their afflictions, the pain and other symptoms experienced by these sufferers almost invariably gets worse. Moreover their neuropathies often tend to advance in their bodies, causing more and more areas to be affected. Another problem is that if attention is delayed certain neuropathies can become more difficult to treat.

Symptoms and Effects
Symptoms of sensory neuropathies, which may gradually occur over many months, often include numbness of the affected members, burning, tingling sensations, "electric" shocks, aching pain and extreme sensitivity to touch.
Motor neuropathies frequently result in weakness in the feet, ankles, hands and wrists. Diarrhea, light-headedness or sexual dysfunction are some of the possible consequences of autonomic neuropathies. In severe cases involving these neuropathies, activities such as walking normally and sleeping may be nearly impossible.
In rare situations even respiratory failure or paralysis may occur with certain neuropathies such as Guillain-Barre syndrome.

Causes
There are said to be more than 100 causes of peripheral neuropathy. Diabetes is considered the most common, at least in the United States. It is variously estimated that 30 to 65% of people with diabetes have PN to some degree. In this group it is especially prevalent among those having particular difficulty in controlling their blood glucose levels and/or those having high lipid levels (cholesterol and triglycerides), those over 40 and among smokers.
PN also is said to cause pain for up to one third of people with AIDS or HIV. In fact it is thought to be the most frequent neurologic disorder associated with HIV infection, typically occurring in the later stages of the disease.
Various toxins and metallic poisons (such as arsenic, lead and mercury), certain chemicals (especially solvents and some insecticides), excessive alcohol intake, vitamin deficiencies (particularly B12) or vitamin excesses (B6), nutritional imbalances, and a number of drugs used to treat HIV infections and AIDS can all cause peripheral neuropathy. It can also result from kidney failure, liver disease, rheumatoid arthritis, abnormal blood proteins, cancer (and even cancer chemotherapy), leukemia and shingles.
Certain repetitive activities such as typing can also be the cause of some neuropathies. Carpal tunnel syndrome is one example. This is a so-called entrapment neuropathy— a condition resulting from a nerve lesion at a point where the nerve is confined to a narrow passageway. Another instance of entrapment neuropathy is where restrictive clothing compresses a nerve called the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve which runs from the groin to the upper thigh.
A tendency toward peripheral neuropathy can also be inherited. A family history of the disorder increases the likelihood. In a different twist on inherited susceptibility, a study done in France in 1995, reported in the November 1995 issue of Alcohol and Alcoholism, suggested a relationship between a history of alcoholism in a father and peripheral neuropathy in his alcoholic offspring. Ninety alcoholics, some with neuropathies and some without, were included in the study. The investigators found neuropathies occurred in alcoholics five times as often when the father was an alcoholic himself than when he was not. (Unfortunately, the study did not consider the incidence of PN in the alcoholic fathers, raising the obvious question whether perhaps it was the PN itself which was inherited rather than a greater disposition to neuropathy simply because of The publication Bio Medical Frontiers reports that the cause of one third of all neuropathies is unknown— mine included. These cryptogenic disorders are called "idiopathic." Some clinicians believe many of these unexplained cases are really genetic in origin.
Incidentally, I discovered that not only does my neuropathy have a name— idiopathic— it has a number. Under the International Classification of Diseases- a world-wide system which groups related diseases and procedures for reporting statistical information— idiopathic neuropathy is code 356.8. A word of advice: if you happen to be idiopathic and are ever doing a slow shuffle down the street, having a particularly bad day with your PN, and somebody annoyingly asks what's wrong with you, you can be sure they won't stay around too long if you say "I've got the 356.8 disease."

http://www.grandtimes.com/numbtoes.html