What is Neuropathy

Most people who have diabetes, HIV, and other auto-immune diseases develop neuropathic pain from the nerve damage brought about by the disease. Neuropathic pain is described as the sensation of numbness to sensation of being pricked to the feeling of being poked with an ice pick at the bone.

What makes it unbearable is that the pain is constant. Pain killers and prescribed drugs help but a growing number of patients are also including acupuncture sessions to complement the treatment for neuropathy.

Acupuncture is a traditional Chinese medicine that uses very thin stainless needles. They are put in specific areas in the body called acupoints. The Chinese believe that pain in the body is caused because of the obstruction in the flow of the body’s energy called qi. The needles are meant to free up the flow of the qi.

Many patients who have neuropathic pain especially the one that is caused by peripheral neuropathy report significant improvement after only their first acupuncture session. There are even some who stopped taking pain killers because they noticed that the neuropathic pain has subsided completely.

The most important thing for patients suffering from neuropathic pain is not to stop their medication and their consultation with their doctors. Acupuncture will help a lot in the management of the pain and in many cases the neuropathy itself but you should also continue of heeding the advise and prescription of your doctor.

According to the latest survey, more than 20 million Americans are suffering from diabetics and most of them will develop neuropathy in one form or another during their lifetime. One kind is autonomic neuropathy. It targets the nerves that made up our autonomic nervous system. The effect of this disease depends on the kind of autonomic nerves that are damaged.

When the damage happens in the cardiovascular system, the effect is a fluctuation of the blood pressure. The blood pressure shoots up when a person suddenly stand up from a sitting position causing the person to feel lightheaded. Blood pressure also tends to fluctuate even if the person is not doing any physical activity.

When the nerves in the gastrointestinal system are damaged, a person may show different problems their digestion such as constipation and diarrhea (alternating), gastropareis (a digestive problem where the stomach digests food very slowly), bloating, apetite loss and vomiting.

The organs of the excretory system of a body can have problems when a person develops autonomic neuropathy in the nerves of the said system. A person can develop urinary incontinence and infection in the bladder. Heavy sweating even while sitting or asleep is another effect of the disease.

When the nerves of the reproductive system are damaged, a person will experience problems in their sexual performance. The nerves that cause the erection of the penis don’t work and women experience dryness of vagina.

A diabetic person who doesn’t take care of their health may develop several effects of autonomic neuropathy. Some patients have problems with digestion, sexual performance and sweating at the same time. When a person has diabetes, they should never be negligent of their health because once diabetes is controlled then autonomic neuropathy is also controlled.

Autonomic neuropathy is a kind of peripheral neuropathy that targets the nerves of the autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system (ANS) is a series of nerves that has to do with the functioning of internal organs that we don’t control. They are digestion, cardiovascular, urinary, perspiration and reproductive organs. When a person has autonomic neuropathy, any of the nerves in the ANS is diagnosed to be damaged.

People with diabetes are the most common patients who develop autonomic neuropathy. It is not yet known how the disease damages the nerves but doctors believe that it has to do with the sugar glucose. There are other people who get the disease such as those who are alcoholic, those who are receiving treatment for cancers and those who have other diseases relating to the nerves.

Internal organs that can be affected because of the damage to the nerves are the eyes, heart, liver, intestines, kidney, urinary bladder, genitals and the glands that produce perspiration.

The symptoms depend on what area of ANS the disease targeted. For example, if the nerves to the digestive system are damaged, the symptom is decrease in the ability in the transportation of food in the digestive tract. When the nerves of the blood vessels are damaged, the symptom is sudden increase in blood pressure when a person suddenly stands up.

Although this disease is long-term, it is non-threatening. It is diagnosed by way of ruling out other causes of the symptoms. For example, if a person manifests decrease in motility (the transportation of food in the digestive system), the doctors will perform several tests to see if it is caused is by another thing. If that other thing is ruled out and they cannot find any other thing that might cause the symptom then they will diagnose it to be autonomic neuropathy.