Peripheral Neuropathy

Are you noticing increasing numbness or tingling in your feet or hands?

Do you feel like you are constantly on pins and needles or experience burning, stabbing or shooting pain which limit your ability to exercise and do all the things that used to keep you active?

Perhaps you are also feeling muscle weakness and notice a gradual loss of balance and coordination?

These symptoms might be signs of peripheral neuropathy – defined as a “disease or abnormality of the nervous system,” which is not a very helpful definition.

We need to think of neuropathy as any actual damage that has been done to the nervous system – for example, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Herniated Discs and Strokes. Every single one of these conditions are insults to different areas of the nervous system, all with different symptoms.

Diabetes is a systemic disease that affects all nerves of the body from the brain and eyes, the small nerves of the heart and digestive system, to the nerves in the hands, feet and legs. Approximately 50% of diabetics will develop peripheral neuropathy. In fact, many people using statin pills or ‘cholesterol drugs’ will be affected by this mysterious and under-recognized malady.

The peripheral nervous system is made up of the nerves that branch out of the spinal cord to all parts of the body. Peripheral nerve cells have three main parts:

• Cell body
• Axons
• Dendrites (nerve/muscle junction)

Any part of the nerve can be affected – but damage to axons is most common. The axon transmits signals from nerve cell to nerve cell, and nerve cell to muscle. Most axons are surrounded by a substance called myelin, which facilitates signal transmission. When the myelin gets worn down (for example in multiple sclerosis), nerve cell signals get interrupted.

There are two types of symptoms with peripheral neuropathy – negative and positive:

Negative signs, which come first, are when damage to the nervous system brings about a loss of a particular function, for example loss of reflexes, loss of strength and loss of sensation such as numbness.

These negative signs are rarely detectable to the patient initially because the brain compensates for the difference in the losses as a form of protection.

Only after some time do sick and damaged nerves develop the positive signs of neuropathy; tingling, burning, biting, stabbing and shooting pains. This too is a brain-nervous system reaction, and unfortunately, this overreaction rips apart the fiber of the patients’ nerves doing further damage.

Each patient will describe their symptoms in their own individual language of “pain.” This can easily confuse a doctor not trained in the recognition and treatment of neuropathy patients. 

So the patient usually continues to suffer, going from doctor to doctor, to stronger and stronger doses of pills until they are either completely drugged up and “out of it” or lost in their own world of suffering.

Some neuropathies come on suddenly, others over many years. Many people are affected only by a weakness in the arms and legs that leads to difficulty standing, walking or getting out of a chair. 

The loss of sensation from the feet, ankles and toes contributes to patients not having a “good sense” of where their feet are in space (if they are touching the ground, for example) and this causes them to fall very easily.

These under-recognized sensory losses can only be detected with a proper clinical exam. Premier Health of Summit has the necessary tools to uncover the underlying cause of this “silent” nerve damage.

Some patients will eventually become unable to walk at all. Others start with a tingling, pin-pricking feeling that turns into deep sharp stabbing pains and burning electric shocks. These debilitating problems can also be at their worst at night while trying to sleep, because the pain never goes away.

In fact, once started… it only gets worse.

Currently, conventional medicine has no cure for peripheral neuropathy.

The extremely powerful drugs currently dispensed to suffering patients do not treat the nerve damage. They numb the brain and simply mask symptoms in an effort to numb the pain.

Most patients cannot tolerate a drugged existence, but feel they have no other option against this horrifying pain.

Sadly, the pain medications eventually stop working as the nerve damage continues to progress.

As a consequence, this leads to progression and more intensified symptoms, ultimately requiring more and more medications. Additionally, these medications can also have negative impacts on brain health and disrupt gut function along with many other side-effects.

While most doctors recognize the need for other treatments beyond palliative measures, they are frequently not trained in functional neurology to properly identify & diagnose the underlying drivers for not only peripheral neuropathy but also cardiometabolic, hormone and gut imbalances contributing to systemic inflammation.

They will often tell patients that they just “have to live with it” and “you have to stay on the meds” and accept the side-effects that come along with these mind-altering pain medications, surgery or injections.

Fortunately, there's a clear path toward resolving peripheral neuropathy naturally when you have the right guide by your side!

When it comes to peripheral neuropathy, it’s important to work with a qualified functional neurology practitioner who can help find the root causes of your neuropathy and help you map out an effective treatment strategy without mind-altering pain medications, surgery or injections.

When treating peripheral neuropathy, our goal is to reawaken the nerves, or remove any blockage so that the nerves once again function properly and send the appropriate signals to the brain.

In order to determine a diagnosis of peripheral neuropathy and properly treat each individual and specific case, Dr. Anderson conducts an in-depth evaluation in three ways: structurally, neurologically and metabolically. These three aspects of a patient’s body help determine exactly what is happening and provide necessary information to determine the proper treatment for each specific case.

All bodily functions are controlled by the nervous system:

• The brain and spine make up the central nervous system where information is sent and received. 
• The peripheral nervous system takes this information and sends it out to the rest of the body. 
• Any interference or stress within the nervous system can cause serious health issues. Understanding exactly where the message to the brain is malfunctioning helps determine how to correct it.

At Premier Health Of Summit, our team takes a holistic approach to any chronic disorder – including peripheral neuropathy so you can live a pain-free, confident life feeling and looking your best… especially if you feel unheard and literally don’t know what to do next. 

In fact, it’s less about managing symptoms and more about investigating the underlying “WHY”.

That’s why it is important to have a metabolic workup to check blood chemistry. This enables us to determine if you’re having an adverse reaction to certain foods which can cause inflammation. 

It will indicate if there are blood sugar problems, anemia, adrenal issues and many other metabolic imbalances. Knowing your blood chemistry helps facilitate effective nutritional changes that can be sustainable and encourage proper body functions. 

Once we do the correct testing, we craft a precise treatment plan unique to your needs that includes all the elements you need to finally leave your peripheral neuropathy behind and you may even experience a complete reversal.

So if you’re ready to explore how to approach peripheral neuropathy, then claim your free 10-minute phone consultation with Dr. Brian Anderson to help you map out an effective, technologically-advanced treatment strategy…

• without mind-altering pain medications
• without surgery
• without injections.

We’ll explore your desired treatment goals and go over what’s expected and whether our functional neurology approach to peripheral neuropathy is right for you.

We offer these short phone consults for FREE so you can get more clarity & confidence on how to reverse your peripheral neuropathy before it’s too late.

We believe you can't make new decisions without new information, so this phone consult is your chance for a personalized assessment.

Click here to claim your free phone consultation or call or text our office at 908.913.7508 to schedule.