What is peripheral nerve disorder?
Peripheral neuropathy is a term that describes damage to peripheral nerves. This damage can be caused by over 100 different known diseases. If only one nerve is involved, it is called mononeuropathy, an example of which is carpal tunnel syndrome. If two or more nerves are involved in different areas, it is called multiple mononeuropathy. This is usually the type of neuropathy, when people are said to be suffering from peripheral neuropathy. When spinal nerve roots are involved, it is called radiculopathy such as sciatica from intervertebral disc herniation. If there is diffuse involvement of the peripheral nerve, it is called polyneuropathy.
What is damaged in peripheral neuropathy?
Symptoms of peripheral neuropathy occur because nerves are damaged in some way. This can occur either in axons that are "wires" from neurons to the body, or axons that can occur in the myelin sheath itself. Myelin sheath is like an insulator around the axon which acts to speed up conduction of nerve signals. For example, axons with myelin can connect high-definition video, like a broadband internet connection, axel without myelin, like dial-up service, slow with frequent interruption. Myelin involvement often occurs in the setting up of demyelinating diseases or some infections.
In addition to damaging axons or myelin or both, peripheral neuropathy can also affect various neurological types. Small nerve fibers are often damaged in diseases such as diabetes that cause pain, temperature, and sensory change problems. Disease processes such as Guillain-Barre syndrome, which cause serious muscle weakness, injure large nerve fibers. Nerve fibers that come directly from the brain called cranial nerves are also hurt by processes of various diseases.
The type of symptoms from peripheral neuropathy depends on its cause and the type and location of the damaged nerve. For the cause of metabolic disorders such as diabetes, progress is usually slow and begins with the lower limbs. Sensory changes are often notifications of people with the first symptoms. It gets worse at night. It is accompanied by a decree of ability to sense temperature, vibration from there and progresses to complete sensory loss. Strangely, this is often accompanied by severe pain in the affected limb, which can be brought about by minimal stimulation. In the late phase, peripheral neuropathy can lead to skin failure, balance problems, and very substantial muscle weakness and waste.
What are some of the definitions of medical terms used to describe peripheral neuropathy?
The following is a list of common definitions:
- Paresthesia: This is often described as numbness or tingling, or sensation of pin and needle type.
- Anesthesia: This is all sensation, pain, temperature, loss of touch. If you have this you can not cut your fingers and feel it at all.
- Painkiller: Although this is a loss of all painful sensation, you can still feel tactile, body temperature and so on.
- Hypertension: This is an increase in susceptibility to all kinds of stimuli to the skin
- Desensitization: This decreases sensitivity
How is diagnosis of peripheral neuropathy?
Diagnosis of peripheral neuropathy includes evaluation by a doctor. This evaluation includes the history of symptoms, physical examinations, and in some cases the history of diagnostic tests.
The history of your symptoms often leads to diagnosis and can point out and identify causes. Important items include when symptoms begin. Did they start suddenly or gradually, or were they growing slowly over time? Is there only one episode, or will it go out? Other important factors include medical disorders such as cancer, diabetes, renal failure, eating habits, trauma, employment exposure, and family history of similar problems.
Physical examination helps to define the extent of neuropathy and usually includes assessment from head to toe, with particular attention to examination eyes and nerve parts. It is usually evident that you have mononeuropathy or polyneuropathy during this trial. After history and physical examinations, diagnostic tests are often carried out. There are three main classes of diagnostic tests used to aid diagnosis and treatment. These are laboratory studies, imaging studies, and neurological studies.
Laboratory studies often include a complete blood cell count looking for anemia, heavy metal poisoning, or signs of cancer. Electrolytes, kidney function tests, and specific vitamin levels are often checked against evaluated causes such as renal failure, diabetes and other endocrine disorders, and nutritional deficiencies. Screening tests for rare diseases such as porphyria and infectious diseases are also conducted and may include skin, nerve biopsy or lumbar puncture (spinal puncture).
Image inspection includes CT scan and affected area MRI, but it is not limited to this. In particular, MRI can often convey in appropriate circumstances whether your symptoms are nerve impairment or other structural obstacles.
Finally, nerve conduction studies and electromyography (EMG) are often performed. In nerve conduction studies, probes are used to stimulate nerves that produce electrical stimulation. The way this impulse is transmitted can often tell the doctor if it is a damaged axon or myelin. In electromyogram, electrical activity is measured with muscle active and dormant. This helps to distinguish nerve and muscle injuries.
What kind of treatment is available for peripheral neuropathy?
Approaches to treat peripheral neuropathy can be divided into three main areas.
- First of all, it is important to correct the root cause of the neurological disorder. Peripheral nerves can heal and regenerate to a certain extent, so if the cause is too early and treatment is started, the progress of the disease will be delayed, it may stop, sometimes reverse. For example, diabetes can cause peripheral nerve damage, but early diagnosis with strict control of blood sugar value can prevent the onset of this complication.
- Secondly, it is important to create in the optimum environment for healing in your body. This begins with adopting a healthy lifestyle. Sleep is essential to healing the body and trying to get 8 hours of sleep at night is very important. It is also necessary to maintain optimal weight by healthy diet and exercise. Focus on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, remove junk to eat, restrict processed food and high fat diet. This is usually sufficient to correct fundamental nutritional deficiencies, but consider taking multivitamins. Finally, restrict or eliminate the alcohol, and reliably stop the cigarette in either form.
- Third, it is important to control symptoms. Symptoms of peripheral neuropathy may be very difficult to control. Early pain control with analgesics such as ibuprofen and acetaminophen is sometimes useful, but rarely enough. If the pain is severe and chronic, you can try different medicines, but there is no clear guideline that there is lack of evidence that consistently positive treatments are lacking.
- Tricyclic antidepressant. These drugs are older antidepressants currently replaced by SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors). One example is amitriptyline, which has been shown to have several advantages and is believed to act by affecting the way nerves react to pain.
- Antiepileptic drugs. These are stroke drugs such as phenytoin, carbamazepine, oxcarbazepine, lamicar and topiramate. They show some advantages except topiramate. To some extent, it functions by rapidly inducing nerve function and blocking electrical response.
- Gabapentin This drug is also a seizure drug, but its mechanism of action is not clearly understood. It is believed to help peripheral neuropathy by modulating pain signals in the spinal cord.
- Tramadol: This is a pain medicine and has been found to have advantages over the ability to treat pain that helps symptoms of peripheral neuropathy.
- Lidocaine Patch: Also known as Lido Derm Patch. These are applied directly to the pain site and serve in selected cases.
- Capsaicin: a topical formulation shown to have several advantages.
- Surgical intervention: In extreme cases, sometimes the nerve itself is destroyed. Because it has a surprising ability to regenerate peripheral nerves, it often helps pain for a short time. Unfortunately, symptoms worsen before treatment.
What does the future hold?
Like all disease prevention is always better treatment. There are several ongoing investigations in various ways in which the nerve is damaged. As these processes are identified, additional treatment is found to be leased. Other areas of research include how the body responds to neuropathic pain and creates or finds a cure that prevents this process in either the brain or the spinal cord.
