Today's post from glendaleneuropathydoctor.com (see link below) looks at the role inflammation plays with neuropathy. Although it uses the example of post-injury inflammation; inflammation affecting various organs of the body can cause or make your neuropathy worse. HIV patients may wonder how this is relevant to them but tests have shown that even if your immune system (T4-Cells) is healthy, HIV can bring about unseen inflammation in your major organs. See more information here. The point is that inflammation can be treated in various ways and by doing that may reduce the need for stronger pain killers, or other drugs used to treat neuropathy. Treating the cause rather than the symptoms (which most often happens with neuropathy) should always be the preferred way and inflammation can be treated once identified.
Inflammation: The Role Of Inflammation in Peripheral Neuropathy
February 12, 2013
February 12, 2013
An article published in 2011 in the prestigious Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine Journal points out an important, yet often overlooked, aspect of peripheral neuropathy.
In the article they follow the case of a young boy who develops neuropathy after undergoing hip surgery.
Usually neuropathy that develops after surgery is attributed to things like anesthesia toxicity, mechanical trauma, or ischemic nerve damage.
In this case study the doctors ruled out all of these causes but the boys neuropathy continued to progress.
Why Is This Important?
A thorough neurological evaluation was performed and he was diagnosed with post-surgical inflammatory neuropathy.
This is important because we know that inflammation is an important component of neuropathy. In fact there is usually an inflammation component in most of the cases of neuropathy we treat in our office.
The problem is most neuropathy patients have never had a doctor that has really investigated and treated the inflammation.
In the case study presented in the journal article the cause of the inflammation was apparent, it was caused by surgery.
But in other neuropathy patients the inflammation can be secondary to diabetes, chemotherapy, food sensitivities … and a number of other causes. In other words the source of the inflammation is not always obvious and is therefore commonly overlooked.
The important thing is to know that inflammation is an important component of neuropathy and make sure that the initial evaluation includes an investigation of various inflammation sources.
Once inflammation is ruled in as a contributing factor we must then provide treatments that can help lower the inflammation.
This type of approach deals with root causes and ensures that a long lasting reduction in symptoms can occur.
Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2011 Jul-Aug;36(4):403-5. doi: 10.1097/AAP.0b013e31821e6503