Instituut voor Neuropathische Pijn
English articles Burning, tingling, pain and numbness in hands and feet: neuropathy!
| Burning, tingling, pain and numbness in hands and feet: neuropathy! |
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From: Healthy Times Newspaper Archives: Why Do I Feel Burning, Tingling, Pain and Numbness in My Hands and Feet? By Dr. Hashimoto.
You may have peripheral neuropathy. Most people with this condition have it in their hands, feet or both. Peripheral neuropathy affects 10 to 20 million Americans every year, and about half of diabetics will develop this condition. Many people who use cholesterol drugs (statins) will be affected by this condition as well. What are the symptoms? They usually begin with tingling, numbness or prickling in your toes or fingers. This numbness may spread up to your hands or feet and feel like burning, freezing, throbbing and/or shooting pain that is often worse at night. Your pain may come and go or it may be constant. We’ve found that some types of peripheral neuropathy begin suddenly and others can take years to develop.Some major symptoms of peripheral neuropathy include: - Loss of balance and coordination - Burning sensation or freezing pain - Muscle weakness - Extreme sensitivity to touch - Sharp, jabbing pain - A feeling like you are wearing a glove or sock - Difficulty sleeping due to pain in the feet and legs Acting swiftly is important to prevent further damage to ones nerves. What are the causes of neuropathy?Research has shown that about 40 percent of peripheral neuropathy cases have multiple causes, including heredity, autoimmune disorders, nutritional imbalances, tumors, infections or toxins. About 30 percent of cases are caused by diabetes. The remaining 30 percent of peripheral neuropathy cases have no known cause. Diabetes is the most common cause of neuropathy. Diabetics suffer high levels of blood glucose they have to fight to control. High blood sugar can damage blood vessels that carry oxygen and nutrients to the nerves. This is like a time bomb. Once nerves are damaged, either incorrect signals are sent through the body, or signals stop altogether. That produces neuropathy symptoms. By the time these symptoms arise, the damage has already started. A popular theory for the cause of neuropathy is anoxia, lack of oxygen to nerve cells. This could be the result of poor circulation, impingement of a nerve or too many toxic chemicals creating excess free radicals that remove available oxygen. When a nerve cell is deprived of oxygen, it contracts, making itself smaller to conserve oxygen. This enlarges the synaptic junction, the gap between nerve cells, which do not come into contact with each other. Nerve impulses must jump across this gap. When the gap gets too big, the electrical impulse cannot make the transition across this gap, and nerve function is impaired. Prescription medications such as Neurontin (Gabapentin), Cymbalta, Lyrica, amitriptyline and oxycodone do nothing for the peripheral nerves in your legs and arms, but they do numb the nerve roots at the spine. Therefore, the dysfunctional peripheral nerve signals cannot reach the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord), so they’re not perceived as painful. As with most medications, after a while the body accommodates to the dosage, which must be periodically increased. This can reach a point when the patient feels numbness in the extremities, fuzzy thinking and loss of proprioception, the ability to tell how the body is positioned in space. These symptoms can mimic Alzheimer’s. More information can be found at www.stopneuropathynow.com. |