Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy: How to Find Foot Pain Relief

Diabetes has multiple complications affecting your eyesight to nerve damage and other side effects. When a person doesn’t keep their blood glucose levels within the proper range, these and other complications can occur. One of these side effects is diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN). Let’s explore how you can find foot pain relief.

Symptoms of Peripheral Neuropathy

Peripheral neuropathy is the most common type of neuropathy from nerve damage, and it usually starts in the foot, leg, and arms. It will affect both feet at the same time.

It has many obvious symptoms including pins and needles, tingling, burning stabbing, or shooting pains in the feet, with many of these symptoms felt at night. It can also present itself as sensitivity or pain to the touch.

Other symptoms of DPN involve numbness and weakness like the following:

• No feeling in feet when walking
• Muscles in feet and legs are weak
• Feeling unsteady when walking or standing
• General weakness
• Feeling no pain even with an injury or blisters
• Trouble feeling heat or cold
• Sores or ulcers on feet or legs heal very slowly

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy is a serious side effect of diabetes and as many as 50% of diabetics suffer from it.

Treating Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy

It is important to begin your journey to reduce the symptoms of diabetic neuropathy by talking with Tennessee Valley Pain Consultants. Never take any medications without getting the OK from your physician.

If you are in the early stages, over-the-counter meds may help ease some of the symptoms. Try some topical creams like Capsaicin to reduce nerve pain.

Your physician may offer some prescription options. These medications treat severe nerve pain, and you might need more than one. The FDA-approved medications include: Cymbalta, Lyrica, and extended release Nucynta ER.

The following prescription medications are used for peripheral neuropathy off label:

• Antidepressants which block pain messages getting to the brain.
• Anti-seizure meds help to slow down pain messages going to the brain.
• Topical meds like a lidocaine patch can help reduce nerve pain especially on feet.

There are some additional treatments beyond medications to discuss with Tennessee Valley Pain Consultants. These include:

• Acupuncture
• Laser light therapy
• Magnetic therapy
• Nerve stimulation

Don’t wait to see Tennessee Valley Pain Consultants in Huntsville, AL if you are experiencing any symptoms of diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Contact us at (256) 265-7246 to schedule an evaluation and discuss a personalized treatment plan.

Categorised in: Chronic Pain, News

This post was written by Tennessee Valley Pain Consultants