Neuropathy Treatment Using Advanced Medical Care and Integrative Medicine

There are tons of new medical advances taking place every day. It is only this way that humans are able to fight diseases and extend the lifetime of humankind. Over the course of history and even recently, many diseases were misdiagnosed and a lot of people lost their lives or the lives of loved ones. On top of that, other people have had to tolerate their pain and adjust their lives accordingly. 

With the emergence of many medical care options, things changed for the better. Many people disregard symptoms and do not listen to their bodies, which leads to many complications that could have been avoided. The problem becomes more complicated when the symptoms can be easily looked over or lived with.

People pride themselves on their ability to tolerate a certain type of pain or not let the feeling of pain get in the way of living their daily lives normally. This, of course, leads to serious complications, and usually, patients discover much too late that they suffer from a certain disease because they acted as if everything was fine while it was not.

One of the diseases that might have been overlooked or not taken seriously before is neuropathy. Let us delve deeper to understand more about this disease and how it is being treated nowadays. 

What Exactly is Neuropathy? 

Identifying something and putting it under the spotlight is the first step of treatment, and if you know what you are dealing with and you understand it properly then you will be able to deal with the situation better. Simply put, neuropathy is nerve damage that gives the patient a sense of tingling, numbness and weakens the muscles in the affected area, causing pain.

This disease is a result of damage to one of the neurons. Although many patients start noticing the pain when it hits their hands and their feet, others get the same feelings in different parts of their bodies.

What Are Neurons? 

Your nervous system receives and sends messages to the brain on a constant basis. Neurons are basically the messengers responsible for delivering these messages to the brain. That is why when something is wrong with neurons and the messages do not get to the brain, that causes complications.

There are more than one type of neuron and each type serves a certain purpose. Symptoms that the patient gets or feels depend on which nerves get hit and are affected by the disease. 

What Are The Symptoms Of Neuropathy?

Since nerves do not all have the same function, symptoms will vary according to the nerve that gets affected. So for example, if the disease hits one of the motor nerves (these are responsible for muscle movements), the patient will suffer from a lack of coordination and noticeable muscle fatigue or even paralysis if the motor nerves are severely affected.

In cases where the disease hits a sensory nerve (these carry all the messages from your 5 senses and communicate them to your brain) then the patients lose their sense of temperature or they experience very high sensitivity in their skin. 

Like any other disease, whenever any symptom big or small starts manifesting itself in your body, you have to visit a doctor right away to get the proper diagnosis. One of the symptoms you should watch out for is an injury or a cut that does not get better no matter how much time passes.  

Can This Disease Be Treated? 

Like many diseases, if diagnosed early on, it can be treated. However, in the cases where neuropathy is not treated, medication is prescribed to decrease the level of pain and help the patient feel better and act normally. One of the methods of treatment of this disease is integrative medicine.

This treatment depends on the relation between the practitioner and the patient. Since a person’s lifestyle contributes to their health, a patient’s lifestyle and choices are carefully examined by the practitioner and moved in the right direction. The patient is asked to be a part of some practices like meditation or music therapy. 

With integrative medicine, the practitioner aims at reducing the pain and the fatigue that the patient is feeling. This type of treatment does not follow the footsteps of alternative medicine blindly and it uses conventional medical ideas to its benefit. It should not be instead of taking your medication or following up with your doctor.

Make sure you consult your doctor if you are going to get the help of a practitioner, as not all the practices promoted by integrative medicine are good for every patient. There are many studies currently taking place trying to find a cure for this illness, so let us be hopeful and wish for the best. 

What Causes This Disease? 

We can not pinpoint one factor that leads to neuropathy, there are many factors that contribute to getting this disease. The first and the most common cause is diabetes. A huge percentage of people who suffer from diabetes get nerve damage that occurs as a result of high blood sugar, this is more commonly known as Diabetic Neuropathy, and it’s important that you consult with specialists that focus on this area to help you learn more about what it is and what can be done.

If you happen to suffer from diabetes, make sure you control your glucose levels at all times and take your medication regularly. 

Bad injuries from sports and accidents are also sometimes the reason behind it. While these 2 reasons may not be caused by the patient or as a result of something they have done, yet another cause of neuropathy is alcoholism. Alcohol has a direct effect on nerves and it also deprives heavy drinkers of having a well-balanced diet. Not having enough vitamin levels in your body is not good at all for the nerves. 

Infections, whether they are viral or bacterial, can also cause this disease. Smoking also is something you should consider quitting if you do not want to be infected with this disease or many other diseases that this bad habit causes.

In case you are a cancer patient or have been suffering from any benign tumors, you are at risk of developing neuropathy. When there are tumors in the body they can press on the nerves in a way that can cause damage. Do not forget to tell your doctor if you have been a cancer patient before or if you had previously removed a benign tumor. 

Can We Prevent Neuropathy? 

Knowing the reasons behind a certain illness helps us prevent our bodies from getting it. The reasons we have mentioned above are part of the list of things that cause neuropathy. While managing your diabetes in one form of prevention, keeping a healthy lifestyle is another way. 

Exercising and nourishing your body with healthy food puts you on the right track and far away from health problems. Exercising regularly will help you strengthen your muscles and control weight gain. These are things that are of high importance and prevent many illnesses. Checking your feet every day is also something we recommend you do.

Since the symptoms usually start showing up in the feet and hands, make sure you examine these body parts for any blisters or cracked skin. 

To prevent getting this illness as a result of infection make sure you always use protection when having sex and go to hospitals or doctor offices in which equipment is always sterilized. Some patients get the disease through their parents or other family members, there are some disorders that are inherited and can cause neuropathy. That is why it is important for all of us to learn more about our families’ medical history to know what to look out for and what can be prevented. 

What If The Disease is Not Taken Seriously?

Unfortunately, many people tend to not take their illnesses seriously and no good can come out of that. In the case of diabetic neuropathy if the case worsens it might lead to amputation because the nerves that become numb prevent people from feeling any pain or burns, or even infections. That is why doctors highly stress that you keep your diabetes under control to prevent serious consequences. We recommend that you do not take any health issue you have lightly as the repercussions are usually very hard to deal with or recover from. 

Can We Reverse Neuropathy? 

As this disease can be the result of more than one cause, reversing it depends on whether or not we can work on the cause. In cases in which the disease is a result of vitamin deficiency, for example, getting vitamin levels on the right track can help us reverse the situation. Unfortunately, in many cases, the disease is diagnosed late and doctors are unable then to reverse or cure it. 

Will My Doctor Be Able To Say If I Have It From Just One Visit? 

The diagnosis of neuropathy is not something that can be done right away or by just answering a few questions that your doctor will need answers for. Although asking questions about your medical history and if you had an accident recently will be the first step of diagnosis, it won’t end there. 

The second step is for your doctor to take a physical exam. In this exam, the doctor will check how your coordination is and your reaction to touching and light. If they need more evidence to build on their final diagnosis, your doctor may ask for some blood work to know more about the vitamin levels in your body. 

Genetic tests may be required if you mention that any of your family members may have suffered from the same symptoms or related diseases. When doctors diagnose someone with neuropathy, they then send them to a nerve specialist so that the severeness of the disease can be identified.

Please note that no matter how much you read and learn about this illness and its symptoms, you should not be diagnosing yourself or taking any medication without consultation. As a matter of fact, some people do get this disease as a result of some medication, this is why it is crucial that you don’t prescribe yourself any form of treatment until you get professionally diagnosed by a doctor.

As symptoms of many illnesses do overlap and wasting your time treating an illness instead of the main cause will waste precious days in which you should have been following the appropriate course of action. 

Your health is your biggest asset and not taking good care of it is something you will definitely regret at some point. Leading a healthy lifestyle can, in general, help you stay away from many illnesses. Your immune system is your line of defense against viruses and bacteria, strengthening and making sure the level of the vitamin in your body is kept within the right ranges is a smart protective move. 

It is also highly recommended that you do not disregard any symptoms you feel and have regular checkups. With many diseases, if the patient discovers that they are sick early on, they can prevent any deterioration and increase their chances of getting cured. Our bodies give us many signals when things are not going the way they should, ignoring these signals will never amount to anything good. 

Getting over a disease or learning how to cope with it if it is chronic can be done in many ways. Taking your meds regularly is the most crucial step in any treatment but with the medical advances and research taking place, we can see that other ways can work too. Even when doctors are treating some mental illness, they stress the fact that pills are not the only answers and in many cases, they do not work on their own.

The same goes with physical illness as well, changes in your daily routines and integrating some practices in your daily life can do wonders. Needless to say, your psychological well-being matters a lot as well. If you convince yourself that your case is hopeless and that you will live in pain for the rest of your life then you are not going to get any better and you might even get worse. Hope for the best and follow up with experts and things will be better by time. We wish you a healthy body and a blissful life.

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