Treatment of Neuropathic Pain: A Radical Approach
Neuropathic pain causes misery to thousands of people annually. The term is often used almost casually and yet neuropathic pain really does wreak havoc for people and can actually prevent people from functioning in their everyday lives. The pain does not have an on/off switch and the pain can be constant; 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, causing sufferers to feel not just exhausted but drained and patients often describe themselves as feeling knocked about by the pain.
What Causes Neuropathic Pain?
Neuropathic pain is caused by the nerves in the body or in a specific a part of the body to be sending out the %u2018wrong%u2019 signals, so the actual cause of the problem lies in the nervous system itself.
However some medical conditions can also trigger neuropathic pain. These conditions include:
- Shingles (even after the shingles have gone, the sufferer can still experience neuropathic pain)
- Diabetics can sometimes experience diabetic neuropathy which affects the nervous system
- Multiple sclerosis
- Cancer
- Alcoholism
- HIV virus
- Other nerve disorders which are relatively rare can also cause neuropathic pain
Is Neuropathic Pain Related To Injury?
Neuropathic pain may simply start, it does not have to be caused by an injury or trauma. Nociceptive pain is caused by an injury or trauma to a specific part of the body, but the other type of pain, neuropathic pain, can simply start when the nerves are affected in some way.
What Does Neuropathic Pain Feel Like?
Neuropathic pain can feel like a stabbing pain, some patients describe it as an electric shock or a very sudden pain that charges through their body; an extremely intense sensation and extremely unpleasant as well as painful!
Hidden Side of Neuropathic Pain
One of the lesser-recognised effects of neuropathic pain is the sheer despair that it can evoke in patients. Not only are they in constant pain, they have sleep deprivation and a feeling of hopelessness about their condition. Once a patients starts to feel any combination of exhaustion, intolerable pain and hopelessness, then depression is an almost constant companion.
Drugs Are Not Always The Answer
Medication can be successful in treating neuropathic pain, but there are other ways of dealing with pain. Electrical stimulation of the nerves can help alleviate pain, without strong analgesics being required.
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