Why Is My Peripheral Neuropathy Getting Worse
Lucia Hubbard | Answered September 15, 2021 Heres an example: Its not uncommon for people with peripheral neuropathy to have short-circuiting, backfiring neurons and axons that are ill and causing pain. Over time, those fibers may undergo degeneration and die, which means the neuropathy is worse because of the loss of more nerve fibers…….
How Pain Causes Fatigue And What You Can Do
Sheila, a 55-year-old woman with Type 2 diabetes and peripheral neuropathy in her feet, lived with chronic pain every day, and she was always tired. When she started eating better and took some effective medication, her pain got better and everything changed. I have so much more energy, she told me. I can do what I need to do! Pain was exhausting me, but I didnt realize it.
Sheilas experience has been shared by millions of people. The Arthritis Foundation says, The painfatigue connection can be a vicious circle. Dealing with pain for months at a time over many years can wear you down. It can affect your sleep habits, which adds to your exhaustion. Being fatigued, in turn, can worsen pain and make it more difficult to manage.
Diabetes adds another layer to the painfatigue circle, because pain and fatigue interfere with self-management. A study by Rebecca Sudore, MD, and others at University of California San Francisco reported, Patients with chronic pain had poorer diabetes self-management overall and more difficulty following a recommended exercise plan and eating plan. Some also reported greater difficulty with taking diabetes medications.
How Are The Peripheral Neuropathies Classified
More than 100 types of peripheral neuropathy have been identified, each with its own symptoms and prognosis. Symptoms vary depending on the type of nervesmotor, sensory, or autonomicthat are damaged.
- Motor nerves control the movement of all muscles under conscious control, such as those used for walking, grasping things, or talking.
- Sensory nerves transmit information such as the feeling of a light touch, temperature, or the pain from a cut.
- Autonomic nerves control organs to regulate activities that people do not control consciously, such as breathing, digesting food, and heart and gland functions.
Most neuropathies affect all three types of nerve fibers to varying degrees others primarily affect one or two types. Doctors use terms such as predominantly motor neuropathy, predominantly sensory neuropathy, sensory-motor neuropathy, or autonomic neuropathy to describe different conditions.
About three-fourths of polyneuropathies are length-dependent, meaning the farthest nerve endings in the feet are where symptoms develop first or are worse. In severe cases, such neuropathies can spread upwards toward the central parts of the body. In non-length dependent polyneuropathies, the symptoms can start more toward the torso, or are patchy.
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How Does This Condition Affect My Body
To understand how peripheral neuropathy affects your body, it helps to know a little about the structure of neurons, a key type of cell that makes up your nerves. Neurons send and relay signals through your nervous system using electrical and chemical signals. Each neuron consists of the following:
- Cell body: This is the main part of the cell.
- Axon: This is a long, arm-like part that extends outward from the cell body. At the end of the axon are several finger-like extensions where the electrical signal in the neuron becomes a chemical signal. These extensions, known as synapses, lead to nearby nerve cells.
- Dendrites: These are small branch-like extensions on the cell body. Dendrites are the receiving point for chemical signals from the synapses of other nearby neurons.
- Myelin: This is a thin layer composed of fatty chemical compounds. Myelin surrounds the axon of many neurons and acts as a protective covering.
Disease types
Peripheral neuropathy happens in two main ways:
How quickly does peripheral neuropathy develop?
How peripheral neuropathy develops, particularly the timeline of its progress, depends very much on what causes it. Injuries can cause it to develop instantaneously or within minutes or hours. Some toxic and inflammation-based forms of peripheral neuropathy may develop rapidly over days or weeks, while most other conditions take months, years or even decades to develop.
Neurological Fatigue And Exercise
Fortunately, regardless of the cause of your fatigue, theres a simple thing you can do to help exercise! Although at first it may seem counterintuitive, rather than making you feel more tired, exercise has been shown to boost physical and mental energy levels.
It may seem counterintuitive to exercise to manage fatigue, but it makes sense when you think about it. Imagine, for example, youve had a hard day at work, school or home and feel tired by the afternoon. You could go and lie down, or you could go for a short walk. Often, the short walk will refresh you and restore your energy, so you can keep going into the evening.
Research evidence also shows that physical activity is one of the best ways to combat fatigue. For example, a paper published in 2006 analysed results from 70 studies exploring the effects of exercise training on fatigue in 6,807 people. They found that exercise training increased feelings of energy and reduced feelings of fatigue compared with control conditions.
Furthermore, the effect of exercise training was larger than that of cognitive-behavioural therapy or drug treatments for improving feelings of energy and lessening feelings of fatigue.
In another study, researchers looked at six weeks of exercise training for 36 healthy young adults who reported persistent feelings of fatigue. They found beneficial effects on energy in groups performing both low- and moderate-intensity aerobic exercise.
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Whats The Best Medicine To Take For Neuropathy
Rose Ray | Answered October 14, 2021
The main medicines recommended for neuropathic pain include: amitriptyline also used for treatment of headaches and depression. duloxetine also used for treatment of bladder problems and depression. pregabalin and gabapentin also used to treat epilepsy, headaches or anxiety.
How To Support Someone With An Invisible Illness
Support can come in many forms, but its important to be understanding and patient. Here are a few things you can do to support someone with an invisible illness:
- Educate yourselfabout the condition. This will help you understand the symptoms and how they can affect your loved one.
- Be patient. Invisible illnesses can be unpredictable, so flare-ups and bad days are to be expected.
- Offer practical help. This could include things like cooking, cleaning, or running errands.
- Listen and offer emotional support. Just being there for someone to talk to can make a big difference.
People with invisible illnesses often suffer in silence because their conditions are not outwardly visible. Its important to educate yourself about these conditions and offer support to those who are struggling. With understanding and patience, we can create a more inclusive world for everyone.
WinSanTor is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of treatments for peripheral neuropathies. We believe in creating a solution that works and brings relief to millions that are struggling with this disease. Learn more about our company, our drug and subscribe to our newsletter.
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Why Do I Have Neuropathy But Not Diabetic
Darla Moss | Answered March 28, 2020 Health conditions that can cause peripheral neuropathy include: Autoimmune diseases. These include Sjogrens syndrome, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, Guillain-Barre syndrome, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy and vasculitis.Aug 11, 2022 Marie Chambers | Answered December 11, 2021 Diabetic neuropathy is a serious complication that occurs as a result of……
What Treatments Are Available
Treatments depend entirely on the type of nerve damage, symptoms, and location. Your doctor will explain how nerve damage is causing specific symptoms and how to minimize and manage them. With proper education, some people may be able to reduce their medication dose or manage their neuropathy without medications. Definitive treatment can permit functional recovery over time, as long as the nerve cell itself has not died.
Addressing neuropathys causes. Correcting underlying causes can result in the neuropathy resolving on its own as the nerves recover or regenerate. Nerve health and resistance can be improved by healthy lifestyle habits such as maintaining optimal weight, avoiding toxic exposures, eating a balanced diet, and correcting vitamin deficiencies. Smoking cessation is particularly important because smoking constricts the blood vessels that supply nutrients to the peripheral nerves and can worsen neuropathic symptoms. Exercise can deliver more blood, oxygen, and nutrients to far-off nerve endings, improve muscle strength, and limit muscle atrophy. Self-care skills in people with diabetes and others who have an impaired ability to feel pain can alleviate symptoms and often create conditions that encourage nerve regeneration. Strict control of blood glucose levels has been shown to reduce neuropathic symptoms and help people with diabetic neuropathy avoid further nerve damage.
Specific symptoms can usually be improved
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Different Types Of Peripheral Neuropathy
Peripheral neuropathy may affect:
- all the nerves in the body
Polyneuropathy is the most common type and starts by affecting the longest nerves first, so symptoms typically begin in the feet.
Over time it gradually starts to affect shorter nerves, so feels as if it’s spreading upwards, and later affects the hands.
Page last reviewed: 10 October 2022 Next review due: 10 October 2025
What Is An Invisible Illness
An invisible illness is any medical condition that isnt outwardly visible to others, even healthcare professionals, making it challenging for both patients and doctors to identify the root cause of the problem. In some cases, invisible illnesses are only diagnosed after ruling out other potential causes.
People with an invisible illness often look perfectly healthy on the outside, so it can be difficult for others to grasp the daily challenges and symptoms they go through. This can make it difficult for people with an invisible illness to get the understanding and support they need from family, friends and even doctors.
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Complications Of Peripheral Neuropathy
The outlook for peripheral neuropathy varies, depending on the underlying cause and which nerves have been damaged.
Some cases may improve with time if the underlying cause is treated, whereas in some people the damage may be permanent or may get gradually worse with time.
If the underlying cause of peripheral neuropathy isn’t treated, you may be at risk of developing potentially serious complications, such as a foot ulcer that becomes infected. This can lead to gangrene if untreated, and in severe cases may mean the affected foot has to be amputated.
Peripheral neuropathy may affect the nerves controlling the automatic functions of the heart and circulation system . You may need treatment to increase your blood pressure or, in rare cases, a pacemaker.
Symptoms vary according to the type of peripheral neuropathy and may develop quickly or slowly.
The main types of peripheral neuropathy include:
- sensory neuropathy damage to the nerves that carry messages of touch, temperature, pain and other sensations to the brain
- motor neuropathy damage to the nerves that control movement
- autonomic neuropathy damage to the nerves that control involuntary bodily processes, such as digestion, bladder function and control of blood pressure
- mononeuropathy damage to a single nerve outside of the central nervous system
In many cases, someone with peripheral neuropathy may have more than one of these types at the same time.
Vitamin E And Idiopathic Neuropathy
There has been a lot of research done on Vitamin E as one of the causes of peripheral neuropathy. It has been particularly well studied for its preventative role in Toxic Neuropathy from cancer treatments. If vitamin E was used during these harsh drug treatments, then study participants were protected from ever getting this toxic neuropathy. This was shown in many studies unfortunately it is still not being used in clinical practice at cancer centers.
There have also been many instances of neuropathy from Vitamin E deficiency and it certainly deserves a critical look as one of the possible causes in EVERYONE with idiopathic neuropathy. There have been many families studied with ‘familial’ neuropathy who actually have an inborn error of Vitamin E metabolism that can be easily corrected with supplementation.
Despite scientists being aware of this genetic ‘quirk’ that is one of the causes of peripheral neuropathy, doctors do not test for this genetic problem, nor do they check a simple vitamin E blood level- which is nearly always low in those with this Vitamin E processing problem. In other studies, the low vitamin E levels began BEFORE the nerve damage, so it’s clearly NOT the genetic quirk that causes the neuropathy, but the low vitamin E levels.
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What Causes Neurological Fatigue
The exact cause of neurological fatigue in many conditions isnt fully understood. Research has shown several factors may contribute to neurological fatigue:
Disorders that disrupt how signals cross the join between nerves and muscles and metabolic diseases can affect the ability of your muscles to sustain the effort of contracting.
Diseases affecting the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous systems can cause what is known as central fatigue. This can impact your perception of effort and limit how long you can sustain mental and physical activities.
This includes diseases that cause nervous system lesions, such as MS, and those involving disturbances in chemical signalling between brain areas.
Nervous system and systemic inflammation and over-activation of the immune system seem to play a part in causing neurological fatigue in some conditions.
Does Neuropathy Get Worse With Stress
For familial amyloid polyneuropathy patients, chronic stress may adversely affect peripheral nerves, potentially worsening the numbness, burning, and tingling sensations that the condition causes to the skin and peripheral joints. Research published in 2017 notes that chronic stress may worsen neuropathic pain.
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Supine Straight Leg Raise Triggered Cfs Symptoms
To further investigate their observations, the researchers conducted a clinical study involving 60 individuals with CFS and 20 without the condition.
Participants completed either a supine straight leg raise or a sham leg raise for 15 minutes. In the supine straight leg raise, a person lays on their back while raising and holding one leg the exercise is designed to strain the muscles and nerves.
Every 5 minutes during the 15-minute activity, subjects self-reported any body pain, lightheadedness, headaches, and problems with concentration. Participants were also required to report such symptoms 24 hours after the activity.
The team found that patients with CFS who completed the supine straight leg raise reported experiencing more body pain and concentration difficulties during the activity, compared with CFS patients who completed the sham leg raise.
What is more, 24 hours after, patients with CFS who completed the supine straight leg raise reported more intense lightheadedness and poorer symptoms overall, compared with CFS patients who did the sham exercise.
Among subjects who completed the supine straight leg raise, those with CFS reported experiencing more symptoms during the activity and 24 hours after, compared with individuals without CFS.
Based on their findings, the researchers suggest that even mild to moderate nerve and muscle strain could be enough to trigger symptoms of CFS.
Increased Sensitivity To Touch
Hyperesthesia describes when an individual experiences an increase in any one of their five senses, including touch. Tactile defensiveness is a specific increase in sensitivity to touch. Individuals affected by tactile defensiveness may experience pain when a simple and benign touch or other stimuli trigger certain nerves.
Many experts believe that peripheral neuropathy can cause increased sensitivity to touch due to ectopic discharges in sensory neurons and increased excitability when the nerves incur damage. This heightened sensitivity to touch in peripheral neuropathy patients is most often episodic. It tends to have certain triggers. Individuals affected by this increased touch sensitivity describe it as burning, electric shock, and shooting sensations.
A peripheral neuropathy patient may experience damage to the nerves that control the muscles in the feet and legs that allow them to stand and walk. When these nerves are damaged, they cannot effectively transmit impulses to the muscles to tell them to contract at the right time or at all. Damaged sensory nerves in the legs and feet can cause a patient to be unable to balance properly due to intermittent numbness and other abnormal sensations.
Get more information on the major warning signs of peripheral neuropathy now.
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Fatigue In Peripheral Neuropathy
Unfortunately fatigue is a central part of many neuropathies and especially the immune mediated neuropathies. It is central to many other chronic illnesses that affect the bodys immune system. The causes are often complex and many.
Dr. Scott Berman, in his book Coping with Chronic Neuropathy notes in chapter VIII Dealing with Fatigue and Insomnia that this symptom is one of the most difficult and challenging for the neuropathy patient. Dr. Berman is a Psychiatrist, a member of the Board of Directors of the NSN and a Medical Advisor. Scott lives with untreatable CIDP.
He notes:
that in one study looking at fatigue in autoimmune neuropathy 80% of 113 patients had severe fatigue. The fatigue was independent of motor or sensory symptoms and was rated as one of the top three most disabling symptoms. .
For decades in living with untreated Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy , Autonomic Neuropathy and Progressive Polyneuropathy due to exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam, I can attest to the facts noted above. While other major symptoms respond to treatment with Immune Globulin , the symptom of severe fatigue continues as one of the symptoms that responds only temporarily to the infusions followed by several days of total fatigue following infusion and then with some lessening until the next infusion.
Impact on family and friends:
Educating yourself about neuropathy:
Does Neuropathy Make You Tired
Madeline Mack | Answered January 5, 2021 Peripheral neuropathy is damage to the nerves outside the brain and spinal cord. Many people with peripheral neuropathy have feelings of severe tiredness that are not necessarily related to physical problems such as muscle weakness.Dec 18, 2014 Marsha West | Answered October 29, 2021 To……
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