Useful Explanatory Video About Neuropathy Vid

Today's post and 15 minute video from askdrolsen.com (see link below) is a general explanatory post about neuropathy from the viewpoint of a chiropractor with special interest in neurology. It's a very useful video for people new to the disease or for family and friends of existing neuropathy patients. The information is accurate and simply explained and covers most of the questions people have. Worth a look for all people living with neuropathy.

Peripheral Neuropathy



Most people who suffer from peripheral neuropathy don’t have any idea what their full spectrum of treatment options are. Most believe that (a) they have to take medications that give some relief and have side effects or just don’t work or (b) that there isn’t anything else they can do. To start let’s get a big myth out-of-the-way – “only diabetics or multiple sclerosis sufferers get neuropathy”. There is a myriad of different causes of peripheral neuropathy.

Peripheral neuropathy is a problem with the nerves that carry information to and from the brain to the legs and feet. This produces pain, loss of feeling, and inability to control muscles. But already there’s a problem with this definition — just because you feel a symptom in your hands or feet doesn’t mean that’s where the problem is. This is a huge, gigantic misunderstanding and this is where diagnoses and treatment of most peripheral neuropathy goes wrong because peripheral neuropathy is in fact a complex web of neurological, hormonal, immune, and/or nutritional problems.
So with so many potential causes or combinations of causes of peripheral neuropathy it’s important that peripheral neuropathy sufferers explore them all as “one size diagnoses and treatment” does not fit them.

One of the most common causes of peripheral neuropathy is a functional disconnection syndrome affecting the parietal lobe of the brain. The right parietal lobe of the brain receives and processes all the signals that come from the nerves in your muscles and joints on both sides of your body. When the right parietal lobe is functioning properly you have normal sensation — no numbness, no tingling, no shooting pains. But if the parietal lobe starts to weaken or slow down then the signals don’t get processed correctly and you feel numbness, tingling and pain in both of your feet, and then months or years later in your hands. This is what happens when the functional disconnection syndrome occurs in the brain. Functional disconnection syndrome is an electrical imbalance in the frequency of firing between the two sides of the brain. The two parietal lobes should fire equally. When one starts to fire less frequently than the other (due to traumas, emotional stresses, inflammatory or toxic triggers) then neurons in the parietal lobe lose their firing “timing” and we get all sorts of symptoms like numbness, tingling, weakness, pins and needles, and pain — the symptoms of peripheral neuropathy.

Another major trigger of this condition is an autoimmune response against peripheral nerve tissue. Basically what happens is your immune system attacks and destroys nerve tissue. It can even attack brain tissue itself. These attacks can be triggered by food sensitivities, viruses, infections, high amounts of insulin (diabetics) and high amounts of inflammation. The immune system mistakenly destroys nerve tissue and causes all of the symptoms of peripheral neuropathy whether attacking brain or peripheral nerve tissue.

So to properly assess and treat peripheral neuropathy each system of the body must be reviewed and evaluated. Triggers must be eliminated and problems and imbalances in the hormonal, G.I. and immune systems must be corrected, also the various imbalances unique to the individual need to be addressed with a coordinated, non-drug approach all at the same time. If this is not done the sufferer often will spend months and years going from practitioner to practitioner evaluating the various above-mentioned “pieces of the puzzle” one at a time. Although the patient may occasionally “luck out” by accidentally addressing the correct cause this dis-organized approach to a problem as complex as peripheral neuropathy is usually doomed to fail and is the reason why medications and surgery yield poor long-term results when utilized as treatment options for the peripheral neuropathy patient.

http://www.askdrolsen.com/conditions-we-have-treated

Neuropathy Treatment Alternatives With Video Explanations Vid

Today's post from aboutperipheralneuropathy.blogspot.com (see link below) is useful for many neuropathy patients searching for alternative treatments after almost all else has failed. The difference with other similar posts here on the blog is that it uses videos to illustrate the information given and these automatically lead to a better understanding compared with a black and white text. That is not to say that everything you see here is 100 % true, or will certainly work. That depends on the user and it would be advisable to do much more research of your own into each of these treatments and maybe discuss it with your doctor before beginning. St. John's Wort for instance, is a definite no-no for people under treatment for HIV because it interferes with the workings of the HIV drugs. Therefore, doing your own background investigations is very important. However, the information you see here is extremely useful, if only to convince you that a particular treatment is not for you. Cost is also an issue for many people whose insurance doesn't cover such alternative therapies. Nevertheless, worth a read.

Alternative Treatments for Peripheral Neuropathy
Posted 1 week ago by Srikanth R  Jan 1 2017
 
Peripheral means beyond, here, beyond the brain and the spinal cord. Neuro means related to nerves. Pathy is a suffix derived from the Greek term pathos, which means suffering or disease.


Peripheral neuropathy is a disorder that occurs when the peripheral nerves do not function properly due to damage.

Here are some alternative treatments for peripheral neuropathy.

Yoga

Yogasanas like Pawanamukthasana and Adho Mukha Shwanasana are helping many peripheral neuropathy patients mamage the disease.



Herbs

St. John's Wort alleviates pain. Capsaicin is an anti-inflammatory substance found in chili peppers. Topical creams containing this substance reduce burning sensation.





L-Carnitine

Human body produces L-carnitine and stores it in organs like brain and liver. Diabetics who display neuropathy symptoms may regain regular sensation in their limbs by increasing L-carnitine levels in the body. This is as per experts at the University of Maryland Medical Center. 


 
Vitamins

Peripheral neuropathy may also be caused by deficiency in vitamins B1, B12 and E. In these cases consuming foods containing these vitamins may reduce symptoms.







Acids

Omega-3 fatty acids and essential fatty acids called gamma linolenic acid (GLA) and alpha-Lipoic acid (ALA) help diabetic peripheral neuropathy patients. This is as per Kathleen Head's statistics in the Alternative Medicine Review. These acids improve blood flow and reduce peripheral neuropathy symptoms. 


Acupuncture

Acupuncture, a key component of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), eases pain caused by nerve damage. 



Tai Chi

Li Li, a professor of kinesiology at LSU, uses Tai Chi to fight peripheral neuropathy.


Alternative treatments are benefitting many peripheral neuropathy patients worldwide.

http://aboutperipheralneuropathy.blogspot.com/2017/01/alternative-treatments-for-peripheral_1.html

Neuropathy On Video

Today's post consists of two short videos (from Drs. Marc Spitz and Jennifer Feeny respectively) and is really intended for those new to the disease. They give good descriptions of what's happening to you and what can generally be done about it. The information is by definition limited because of the length of the videos but it will give you a good idea of what you're dealing with. After that, you need to do your own research and most importantly, talk to your doctor or specialist. Making a list of questions you have will help you get as much as possible from a short appointment.

ARE CHILDREN WHO PLAY VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES AT GREATER RISK FOR DEPRESSION

While much attention has focused on the link between violent video game playing and aggression among youths, a new study finds significantly increased signs of depression among preteens with high daily exposure to violent video games. The details and implications of this important new study are described in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers

Susan R. Tortolero, PhD and coauthors from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health, RAND Corporation (Santa Monica, CA), The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta, GA), and Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School (Boston, MA) recorded significantly more depressive symptoms over the course of a year among fifth-graders from three U.S. cities who reported playing high-violence video games for 2 or more hours a day, compared to those who reported playing low-violence video games for less than 2 hours a day. This association was consistent across all racial/ethnic subgroups and among boys, according to the study results presented in the article "Daily Violent Video Game Playing and Depression in Preadolescent Youth."

"One of the strengths of this study is its large and ethnically diverse sample," says Editor-in-Chief Brenda K. Wiederhold, PhD, MBA, BCB, BCN, Interactive Media Institute, San Diego, California and Virtual Reality Medical Institute, Brussels, Belgium