Neuropathy

Neuropathy is a nervous disorder, which effects the sensation in the hands and feet. There is always a feeling of numbness and pain that ails the patient of neuropathy. There are various types of Neuropathy, which are as follows:

• Diabetic Neuropathy
• Autonomic Neuropathy
• Polyneuropathy
• Mononeuropathy
• Peripheral Neuropathy

All these are nerve disorders but the one that is commonly known as neuropathy is Peripheral Neuropathy which effects the peripheral nerves both the sensory and motor nerves which act as the connecting link between the brain, the spinal cord and the other parts of the body, yet the common symptom that patients complain of are a burning sensation in their hands and feet. In most of the patients the cause of neuropathy is diabetes and it actually improves with time and medication.

Symptoms of Neuropathy

The symptoms that are common in case of Neuropathy are as follows:

• Numbness in the hands and feet
• Burning sensation
• Pains that are electric shocks
• Increase in the sensitivity to touch
• Want of coordination and control
• Weakness in the muscles

All these are associated with the disorder of the peripheral nervous system which includes the sensory nerves that are related with the reception of feelings like touch and pain; motor nerves that control the movement of the muscles and autonomic nerves which deal with involuntary functions like the blood pressure, digestion and the heart rate.

Causes of Neuropathy

There are several factors that can cause Neuropathy but it is believed that most of the times it is "idiopathic" which means that the cause is unknown and in the rest of the cases the majority of the cases are result of diabetes. Yet there are some other causes, which are as follows:

• Heredity – There are some patients who inherit neuropathy.
• AIDS and other diseases- People who are HIV infected also show symptoms of neuropathy. There are several other diseases, which can result in neuropathy like kidney and liver dysfunction and also hypothyroidism wherein the thyroid glands works lesser than it should.
• Consistent pressure on the nerve- If a person sits in one posture for long or does the same kind of work incessantly like writing or crouching and doing some manual work for a long time, it can effect the nerves of the person.
• Diabetes- This is one of the primary and common causes of neuropathy wherein patients regularly complain of burning sensation and numbness in the hands and feet.
• Alcoholism and Drug Addiction- These addictions can also lead to peripheral neuropathy as these people lose control on their nerves due to the consumption of these besides which they also don’t have proper diet, which leads to deficiencies, which again leads to neuropathy.
• There are several other causes like side effects of medicines, consumption of poison and vitamin deficiencies as well, which can cause neuropathy.

Treatment of Neuropathy

There are various ways of treating neuropathy, which include relieving the patient from the pain first, and to do that painkillers are given but along with this the treatment to cure the real problem also continues. In some cases where neuropathy is a result of herpes neuralgia, physicians recommend the anesthetic Locaine, which has to be applied externally and it has no side effects. Antidepressants are also given which helps us the patients to get rid of the pain.