Neuropathy Specialist

What is neuropathy?

Neuropathy refers to symptoms arising from peripheral nerve damage. The peripheral nerves spread across your entire body, carrying messages to and from your central nervous system (spinal cord and brain). 

Peripheral nerves tell your brain whether something is hot, cold, rough, smooth, safe, or dangerous. It warns your brain when you're at risk from physical harm (e.g., getting too close to a hot stove) or if you've suffered an injury that needs attention. These types of warning signals are what you feel as pain. Neuropathy can also cause symptoms like:

• Tingling
• Prickling
• Burning sensation
• Numbness
• Weakness
• Loss of function

Some forms of neuropathy affect a single nerve (mononeuropathy). That includes conditions like trigeminal neuralgia, occipital neuralgia, and carpal tunnel syndrome. Others affect multiple nerves (polyneuropathy), causing widespread pain and other nerve problems.

What causes neuropathy?

Neuropathy can result from an injury, surgery, infection, medication side effect, or complications of certain diseases. Some of the causes of neuropathy include:

• Diabetes (diabetic peripheral neuropathy)
• Shingles (postherpetic neuralgia)
• Nerve compression
• Tumors
• Hypothyroidism
• Liver and kidney disease
• Epstein-Barr virus
• Autoimmune diseases like lupus and Guillain-Barré syndrome
• Inherited disorders like Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease

Of all these conditions, the one Primary Care Doctors of Grand Prairie sees most often is diabetic peripheral neuropathy. A common complication for people with diabetes, diabetic peripheral neuropathy typically affects the feet.

The nerves in your feet can suffer damage due to high levels of glucose in your blood, causing typical neuropathy symptoms. Diabetes also harms the blood vessels, affecting blood flow in your lower limbs.

If your neuropathy is causing numbness, you could hurt your foot and not realize it. Because of the poor blood flow to your feet, injuries don't heal very well, allowing infection to set in. An infected injury could lead to a leg ulcer – an open sore that's hard to treat.

How is neuropathy diagnosed?

Your provider at Primary Care Doctors of Grand Prairie first carries out a physical exam, reviews your medical history, and asks about your symptoms. They can then order additional tests based on what they find.

Blood tests check for infection and problems like high blood glucose. You might need to undergo diagnostic imaging tests like a CT or MRI scan, or specialized nerve testing such as electromyography (EMG) and nerve conduction velocity (NCV) tests.

What treatments can help with neuropathy?

The treatment you require for your neuropathy depends on what's causing it and the symptoms you're experiencing. Potential treatments include:

• Chronic disease management
• Regular exercise
• Healthy eating
• Physical therapy
• Pain medicines
• Low-dose antidepressant medication
• Antiseizure drugs
• Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS)

If you have a severe or non-responsive form of neuropathy, your provider can refer you to a pain specialist.

To find out what's causing your neuropathy and get effective treatment, call Primary Care Doctors of Grand Prairie or book an appointment online today.