According to the National Institutes for Health, Peripheral Neuropathy affects over 20 million people in the United States. Unfortunately, there aren’t many effective treatment options for those suffering with peripheral neuropathy. Most of the treatment options focus on reducing symptoms, as opposed to addressing the root cause of the neuropathy. At Thrive! Wellness Center in St. Petersburg, Florida, we carefully assess your peripheral neuropathy to come up with the most appropriate treatment strategy.
Stop suffering! We provide natural treatment options for peripheral neuropathy!
What is Peripheral Neuropathy?
Neuropathy refers to a “diseased condition of the nervous system.” The term peripheral references the outer part of something. In this case, peripheral is used to discriminate between the central nervous system (spinal cord and brain) and the nerves that carry messages to and from the rest of your body. Therefore, a peripheral neuropathy is a diseased condition of the outer part of the nervous system, such as the nerves located in the hands and feet.
In general, something damages the peripheral nerves, causing them to malfunction. For example, conditions that reduce blood flow and/or oxygenation to the peripheral nerves cause the nerves to degenerate and even die.
Common Symptoms of Peripheral Neuropathy Include:
- Paresthesias (forms of altered sensation), such as the “pins and needles” feeling that is common in those with Peripheral Neuropathy.
- Hypoesthesia – reduced sensation
- Numbness
- Burning, stabbing, or shock-like pain
- As the muscles receive less nerve information, they may have trouble contracting. This can cause you to drop things more frequently in the early stages (clumsiness). In later stages, the muscles can atrophy, or shrink, from lack of use.
- Other muscle issues, such as cramping, or loss of fine motor skills.
- Since falls are one of the most common causes of injury in adults over the age of 65, loss of balance due to peripheral neuropathy is a huge concern.
- If there is an injury to the foot that the person can’t feel due to their peripheral neuropathy, it can lead to a delay in treatment, infection, abscess, or even amputation.
What Causes Peripheral Neuropathy?
- The leading cause of Peripheral Neuropathy in the United States is Diabetes. Roughly 60-70% of diabetics have some form of peripheral neuropathy.
- Physical injury or trauma such as a car crash, sports injury, and even medical procedures can cause neuropathies. Inflammation from trauma can increase the pressure on a nerve and result in neuropathy.
- Infections, such as Herpes Simples viruses, varicella-zoster, cytomegalovirus, and HIV, as well as bacterial infections such as Lyme disease can cause peripheral neuropathy.
- Auto-immune disorders, hormonal imbalances, nutritional deficiencies, toxic exposures, and anything that reduces circulation to the peripheral nerves can result in peripheral neuropathy.
- Certain chemotherapy agents and radiation treatments can cause peripheral neuropathy in patients. Vincristine, taxol, and taxotere are chemotherapy agents for breast and other cancers that are known to cause peripheral neuropathy.
Regardless of the cause of your peripheral neuropathy, we’ll conduct a thorough history and exam to assess how far it’s advanced. From there, we’ll select a treatment to provide you with optimal relief of peripheral neuropathy.
How is Peripheral Neuropathy Treated?
Mainstream medicine often seeks to mask the symptoms of peripheral neuropathy. As such, treatment may focus on medication for pain reduction, physical therapy to maintain muscle tone, balance programs to reduce falls, etc.
Our Medical Team focuses on peripheral neuropathy relief by helping your body heal from the inside, out. Instead of putting a band-aid on the symptoms, we use natural options that may repair vascular and nerve injury, promote circulation, and increase the formation of new blood vessels. By addressing the underlying causes of peripheral neuropathy, we may be able to help you reverse it! Some of the peripheral neuropathy treatment options in our St. Petersburg office include:
Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP): Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) therapy involves drawing 1-2 tubes of blood from your body. This is then spun in a centrifuge so the iron-rich (and heavy) red blood cells fall to the bottom of the tube. The remaining plasma contains platelets, white blood cells, hormones, growth factors, cytokines, and more. It is powerfully anti-inflammatory and has abundant healing properties. This concentrated fluid can then be injected back into your body, to reduce inflammation, promote healing, and reduce symptoms.
Regenerative Cellular Therapy: Regenerative Cellular therapies, such as those using Stem Cells, can have a profound healing effect on the body. Stem cells can be thought of as blank cells, meaning that they can turn into other cell types. In addition, each Mesenchymal Stem Cell (MSC) is like a tiny factory, churning out hundreds of types of bio-active substances to promote healing and repair. When we’re born, we all have some number of these MSCs, but we use them up as we grow, heal, recover from illnesses, etc. By injecting young, vibrant MSCs directly into a compromised area, we can exponentially increase the ability of your body to heal…repair…and even regenerate tissue. This is why the field of stem cell therapy is often now called Regenerative Medicine!
Nutritional IVs and Counseling
If the cause of your peripheral neuropathy is linked to diet, weight, inflammation, or toxicity, we must also address these areas. Otherwise, treatment results may only be temporary. If your peripheral neuropathy is related to diabetes, we help coach you on ways to lower your blood sugar. If you have key nutritional deficiencies, these can be easily and effectively addressed using IV nutrition as opposed to having to remember to take a handful of supplements. Identifying and removing foods that contribute to inflammation and nerve degeneration is an integral part of the recovery process, and we can help you with this, too!
Spinal Health for Peripheral Neuropathy Relief
For some patients, misalignments in the bones of the spine (vertebrae) can irritate the delicate spinal nerves.
This can be aggravated by bulging or herniated discs. Since the central nervous system controls everything your body does (movement, communication, digestion, healing, breathing, circulation, etc.) it’s extremely important to keep it healthy!
For these patients, gentle chiropractic adjustments to re-align the vertebrae, combined with gentle traction to reduce the discogenic irritation, may be all that is needed.
Our mission is to help as many people as possible live longer, happier, and healthier lives without pain, drugs, or surgery. Call us for a free consultation with our St. Petersburg chiropractor. We’ve helped many patients in the Greater St. Petersburg Florida area, and we hope you’ll give us a chance to help you.