There isn’t a sure-fire way to prevent neuropathy because sometimes, doctors can’t even determine a cause for neuropathy in an individual.
Neuropathy commonly occurs as a symptom of diabetes, called diabetic neuropathy, but it can also be caused by metabolic issues, infections, or a traumatic injury that damages the nerves.
However, if you are diagnosed with neuropathy, there are things you can do to manage your symptoms of neuropathy and help you cope with your condition.
In the article below, we will discuss several ways you can manage neuropathy symptoms and how Ethos Health Group can treat neuropathy pain.
What is Neuropathy?
Neuropathy is the damage or dysfunction of one or more nerves.
It typically results in numbness, tingling, muscle weakness, and pain in the affected areas.
Neuropathy is most common in your hands and feet, but it can affect other parts of your body as well.
Peripheral neuropathy is an indicator of a problem with the peripheral nervous system.
Your peripheral nervous system is the network of nerves outside your brain and spinal cord.
Your brain and spinal cord are the two parts that make up your central nervous system.
These two systems work together, similar to the way trains run.
Your central nervous system is the train station, the hub from which all trains come and go.
Your peripheral nervous system is the train tracks that connect everything else to the central station. The tracks allow the trains, or information signals like pain, to travel to and from the central station.
Neuropathy occurs when nerve cells, called neurons, are damaged or destroyed, disrupting how the neurons communicate with each other and with the brain.
Neuropathy can affect one nerve or a combination of nerves in a limited area or many peripheral nerves throughout the body.
Let’s discuss how to manage neuropathy symptoms and the treatment options for it.
How To Manage Neuropathy
Start Moving
Exercise offers several benefits for people with neuropathy and is one of the foundations of a healthy life.
When you train your respiratory, cardiovascular, circulatory, and nervous systems all at once, it grants you benefits that extend throughout the body.
If you exercise just three times a week for 30-60 minutes and combine that with the dietary changes we’ll talk about below, it can benefit your health and act as a preventative measure for neuropathic pain.
Exercising will help you shed excess pounds that could be putting unnecessary pressure on your nerves, and it can elevate your mood and improve circulation.
Some exercise will also improve your balance, which is often an issue for people with neuropathy in their feet.
Quit Smoking
Quit smoking, no matter what your condition is. Smoking is one of the worse things you can do for your overall health and well-being.
By now, most people know that smoking is a significant cause of cancer, lung disease, and cardiovascular disease, but it can also harm your nerves?
Smoking interferes with your circulation and increases your risk of developing neuropathy.
And if you already have neuropathy, smoking can make your symptoms worse.
When you quit smoking, you will improve your circulation for better nerve health.
Stay Connected
If neuropathy isn’t treated, it can have many side effects, including anxiety and depression.
The best way to fight these problems is to get out of your house and keep up with your hobbies.
If you ever begin to feel depressed or isolated as a result of your symptoms of neuropathy, you can try reaching out to a support group.
The Foundation for Peripheral Neuropathy maintains a list of support groups, online and in-person, that can help you find the support you need.
Lifestyle Changes
Most people don’t realize that their daily routine could add additional damage and worsen the state of their neuropathy.
For example, repetitive and recurring movements and motions or sitting for extended periods with poor posture can lead to nerve damage.
When you correct these habits or eliminate them altogether, you can eliminate some of the risks of nerve damage.
Also, the excessive consumption of alcohol may worsen your condition.
If you cut back on alcohol, you give yourself the greatest chance to mitigate or reverse nerve damage.
Dietary Changes
Dietary changes, especially for people with diabetic neuropathy, can go a long way in reducing neuropathy pain.
You should speak with a doctor or nutritionist about a nutrition plan that can help with your condition.
And the nutrition plan will be more than weight loss, although that’s an important aspect of it.
It will also get you eating foods known to support the health of your nervous system and encourage healthy nerve function.
And for people with diabetes, your nutrition plan can lower your blood sugar level.
Many nutrition plans for neuropathy are high in vitamin B-12 and include a healthy variety of fruits, vegetables, and lean forms of omega-rich protein such as fish or eggs.
Manage An Underlying Disease
Peripheral neuropathy is often caused by an underlying medical condition that causes nerve damage.
One of the most common underlying conditions that cause neuropathy is diabetes.
The elevated blood sugar in someone with diabetes damages tiny nerves, resulting in pain, numbness, and a complete loss of sensation, typically in your feet.
The first step to treating neuropathy is to treat the underlying condition.
For example, if you have diabetes, you need to monitor your blood glucose levels.
Even if you haven’t been diagnosed with an underlying condition, a doctor can perform an exam and order tests to look for possible causes before deciding on your treatment plan.
Examine Your Medications
We are prescribed medications so we can feel better, but the medications we take often come with some adverse side effects.
A medication for one condition could make another condition worse or even cause a completely new condition.
Some medications, even antibiotics, heart medications, and blood pressure medicines, could make neuropathy symptoms a lot worse.
If you’re taking any prescription medications, check the label for their potential side effects or speak to a doctor about them so they can decide if you need to switch to an alternative option.
How To Cope With Peripheral Neuropathy
Apart from dealing with and managing the symptoms of the many types of neuropathy, it is also important to live with it emotionally.
Living with [peripheral neuropathy presents daily challenges that can be hard to overcome.
However, the following suggestions could make it easier for you to cope with your condition.
- Prioritize. At the start of every day, decide which tasks absolutely have to be completed. Things like paying bills or shopping for groceries might need to be done today, while other things could wait until another time. Do what you need to, but don’t try to overdo it.
- Accept and Acknowledge. The first but often hardest part of a neuropathy diagnosis is accepting and acknowledging the negative aspects of the illness. That will allow you to move forward and find what works best for you.
- Focus on the positive. This is easier said than done, and it can be hard to believe that there is anything positive about peripheral neuropathy. But maybe the condition can increase your empathy, encourage you to maintain a healthy diet, balanced schedule, and maintain a healthier lifestyle.
Receive The Care You Need
Neuropathy is often a progressive disease, so the longer you wait to receive treatment and ignore your symptoms, the worse they can become.
And the last thing you want is for nerve pain to get worse.
Fortunately, there is a treatment for neuropathy for everyone.
The treatment programs at Ethos Health Group consist of cutting-edge, non-invasive therapies that can stimulate new blood vessels’ growth to help reverse nerve damage in the feet or hands.
We also utilize our NeuroRegen-CT injections, which combine platelet-rich plasma (PRP) with platelet-derived growth factors from your own blood to help support blood vessels and nerve growth to reverse damage from peripheral neuropathy.
If you’re ready to better manage neuropathy and find relief from your symptoms, you should contact Ethos Health Group as soon as possible.
Click the button below to schedule your free consultation.
