Unhealthy Behaviours to Tolerate Neuropathy?

Today's post is based on the findings of a study of self-care for symptoms of HIV (see link below). It basically shows that a significant number of HIV-patients with neuropathy will turn to so-called 'unhealthy behaviours' to tolerate the worst aspects of neuropathic pain and discomfort. This is a very interesting premise you may not have thought too much about. Do you subconsciously or consciously smoke more, drink more, or use recreational drugs to mask the symptoms? Do you maybe self-overdose on the prescribed medications, in the hope that more means a better result...especially if they don't seem to be working? No one is judging here; sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures and nobody needs to tell you that what you do is not good for your health in one way or another - that's a given but if it helps...

With an illness that has no cure and symptoms which are extremely difficult to control, it's probably little wonder that people turn to any means possible to make life more bearable. It's a subject that probably needs much more extensive research, after all, neuropathy isn't the only side effect of HIV and we may be surprised to learn how widespread 'unhealthy behaviours' actually are.

Unhealthy behaviours for self-management of HIV-related peripheral neuropathy.
by Nicholas PK, Voss JG, Corless IB, Lindgren TG, Wantland DJ, Kemppainen JK, Canaval GE, Sefcik EF, Nokes KM, Bain CA, Kirksey KM, Eller LS, Dole PJ, Hamilton MJ, Coleman CL, Holzemer WL, Reynolds NR, Portillo CJ, Bunch EH, Tsai YF, Mendez MR, Davis SM, Gallagher DM.


The prevalence of peripheral neuropathy is frequent in HIV disease and is often associated with antiretroviral therapy. Unhealthy behaviours, particularly substance-use behaviours, are utilized by many HIV-positive individuals to manage neuropathic symptoms. As part of a larger study on self-care for symptoms in HIV disease, this study analyzed the prevalence and characteristics of unhealthy behaviours to self-manage peripheral neuropathy in HIV disease. Sociodemographic and disease-related correlates and unhealthy behaviours were examined in a convenience sample of 1,217 respondents who were recruited from data collection sites in several US cities, Puerto Rico, Colombia, and Taiwan. Results of the study indicated that respondents with peripheral neuropathy identified a variety of unhealthy self-care behaviours including injection drug use, oral drug use, smoking cigarettes and alcohol ingestion. Specific unhealthy behaviours that participants reported to alleviate peripheral neuropathy included use of marijuana, smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol and street drugs. A subset of those individuals, who identified high levels of neuropathy (greater than five on a scale of 1-10), indicated significantly higher use of amphetamines and injection drug use in addition to alcohol use and cigarette smoking. For participants from Norway, substance use (using alcohol: was one of the most frequent self-management strategies. Implications for clinical practice include assessment and education of persons with HIV for self-care management of the complex symptom of peripheral neuropathy.

http://www.mendeley.com/research/unhealthy-behaviours-selfmanagement-hivrelated-peripheral-neuropathy/