The Depressingly Limited State Of Standard Neuropathy Treatment In 2018

Today's post from journal-advocate.com (see link below) is a gentle but none the less, damning indictment of the state of neuropathy treatment today in 2018. The author describes how neuropathy creeps up on you and then moves on to telling how it is generally treated. The fact that the drug treatments are generally unsuccessful and how ever many alternatives you try, you can't get rid of the symptoms, leads to the inevitable conclusion that you have to go home and learn to live with it. That conclusion is a summing up of the drugs' failures but it's incumbent on doctors not to give up after delivering such a negative diagnosis. The negative psychological effects of hearing that there's little more to be done can make the disease and its symptoms significantly worse. It's becoming clear that neuropathy treatment needs to be much more holistic and involve combinations of drugs and therapies intended to improve the patient's general condition - giving up is not an option and 'learning to live with it' presupposes failure in doing just that! There is so much more that can be done in nerve damage symptom management - just because a standard drug doesn't work does not mean the end of the doctor's input. 'Learning to live with it' is just creating another medical condition to add to the list and not helping manage the effects of neuropathy on your lifestyle. Do your research and explore the possibilities of alternate treatments and therapies. Neuropathy is so individual to each patient that who knows what they may find to relieve the symptoms, if both they and their doctors are prepared to put in a bit more effort.

Which neuropathy symptoms do you suffer from?
By Dr. Teresa C. Hill For the Journal-Advocate Posted: 11/18/2018

Neuropathy can affect every part of your life... walking, sitting and even sleeping.

Peripheral neuropathy is a sneaky, potentially disabling epidemic. Many of your friends, family, and co-workers will experience the same numbness/tingling you do because of a number of factors. What is so dangerous about the numbness is that it is not like an injury or broken bone or even a cut. Peripheral neuropathy comes on gradually. You don't even notice it at first, or maybe you brush off the sensation thinking it really is "nothing." Slowly the numbness and tingling increases with time. You start feeling the numbness, tingling, burning, and then some other "weird" sensations. You are trying your best to cope with everything, but it is making you more and more irritable. Now you start taking pills to help cover up the "symptoms."


Dr. Teresa C. Hill For the Journal-Advocate

After complaining to your doctor about the ongoing numbness and tingling you may get diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy. You will most likely be given meds and if that does not work, you will be told there nothing else that can be done about it and just learn to live with it!!

The main problem with treatments for peripheral neuropathy they never get to the "root cause" of the condition. Most treatments are focused only on symptom management and not correcting the underlying cause. Some doctors give anti-seizure medication like Neurotin, Klonopin, Lyrica, and Topamax. These anti-seizure medications were not meant to cure peripheral neuropathy. These drugs were developed to treat epilepsy, not peripheral neuropathy. These drugs work by signaling your brain to slow down. Sometimes this works for a short period of time. Don't ever forget that your symptoms are signaling you that something is wrong. These drugs also have powerful side effects. Depending on the drug you are taking can lead to liver failure, kidney damage and gastrointestinal bleeding.

Wearing foot or wrist spints may seem harmless at first. Splints are used only when you have numbness. Continuous wearing of the splint leads to the formation of scar tissue and weakness.

OK, so you've tried the splints and the pills... what next? You probably be prescribed a series of physical therapy. If this doesn't help you will most likely be told to "learn to live with it."

Fortunately, if you have suffered from all the "failed treatments," it means that the majority of your treatment was focused in the wrong place! Most doctors tend to focus only on the area involved and they overlook something that is incredibly obvious. It's in the nervous system. In order for any sensation to travel from your brain, it has to find a pathway. Basically. it needs a road to get there, just like you need a road to get to your job. In your body, this road is called the nervous system. If there is any interference along the "road" or pathway, it can result in numbness/ tingling in other places such as your wrist, hands, arms, legs and feet. You may have numbness right now and NOT have any problem with those body parts.

http://www.journal-advocate.com/columnist_teresahill/ci_32279536/which-neuropathy-symptoms-do-you-suffer-from