Living With Neuropathy and What You Can Do About It

Living with neuropathic pain can take a huge toll on your quality of life. Even straight forward neuropathic disorders often require some trial and error to find the most effective treatment to manage your symptoms. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or have failed to achieve relief in the past, there are treatment options that can help you get your life back.

Visiting experts like the board-certified interventional pain management physicians at Pain Management Specialists is a wise first step. Our team will perform a comprehensive neuropathy evaluation and create an individualized treatment plan to ease your pain and best manage your neuropathy.

Living with neuropathy

Neuropathy is the result of damage to nerve cells that send messages from the brain and spinal cord to the rest of the body. People with neuropathy experience abnormal sensations, such as tingling, numbness, burning, and pain, usually in the legs, feet, and hands, although it can occur anywhere in the body.

Roughly 20 million Americans are living with neuropathy. Living with daily pain and discomfort can be challenging. People with neuropathy are at a higher risk for depression and anxiety than those without a neurological disorder. The good news is treatable, and a pain management specialist can help.

Achieving relief from neuropathy

Pain management physicians Stuart Hough, MD, and Ramani Peruvemba, MD have access to various tools to help you achieve relief and live well with neuropathy. Treatment depends on the type of nerve damage and symptoms.

Here are some of the ways we help patients get relief from neuropathic pain:

Medication

A class of medications called serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors to increase chemicals in the brain that reduce incoming pain signals. Another class of drugs called anticonvulsants tamp down nerve signals. These medications are commonly used to manage neuropathic pain. 

Spinal cord stimulation

Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) provides significant pain relief for those who respond to it. SCS involves placing a small device along the spine. The device sends electrical signals to your spinal cord, changing the way your brain perceives pain. It’s similar to a pacemaker and comes with a hand-held remote that enables you to adjust the settings.

People with neuropathy pain who respond successfully to SCS experience at least a 50% improvement in pain and quality of life. 

Dorsal root ganglion stimulation

Some areas of the body such as the hand, foot, knee, and chest are harder to manage with available treatment options such as SCS. If you have neuropathy in these areas your provider may recommend dorsal root ganglion stimulation (DRGS).

DRGS therapy involves placing a device that stimulates structures along the spinal column called the dorsal root ganglia that regulate pain signals. Each dorsal root ganglia along the spinal column are linked to different areas of the body. Stimulating a specific DRG offers the unique ability to target pain in specific areas of the body.

If neuropathic pain is impacting your quality of life, we can help. To get started give us a call to schedule a consultation or send your request online today. We have offices in Rockville, and Frederick, Maryland.