ndgenkit6

The Worst #Neuropathy and #ChronicPain Treatment Plan

Posted by on

Just taking medications is Not a treatment strategy for #neuropathy

If you or someone you love suffers from peripheral neuropathy or any other form of chronic pain you personally know how difficult it can be getting answers and then secondly formulating a treatment plan that actually works.

Too often patients move about from office to office in search for a diagnosis while all the underlying things that could be acted upon and corrected immediately are ignored.

Unfortunately the most common things that contribute to neuropathy and many forms of chronic pain include lifestyle, cigarette smoking, and yes even some prescription and over-the-counter medications.

Sometimes patients go for years before any of these are addressed. All the while more damage to the body and interference to the healing process continues.

It is not unusual for us to find patients who have been taking 10 or more medications long-term.

This of course is not a treatment strategy.

It’s actually a form of blind archery meaning you’re trying to fire an arrow at a target that you cannot see.

Of course trials of various treatment programs need to be and should be attempted. But in order to be effective, they all must be coordinated and part of a bigger plan.

And that of course is the point of this article. When I started to work with patients suffering from peripheral neuropathy I realized there was no system in place to actually help them not only to control their pain but to sleep and give their body a fighting chance at recovery.

Everything we’ve designed at NeuropathyDR is specifically intended to address a key component of neuropathy and pain. The first tool is our NDGen neurostimulator.

Unlike simple TENS units the NDGen is designed to be profoundly stimulatory in addressing the first component of neuropathy and chronic pain and that is of course, pain control.

As the next several days go by we’ll talk much more about our systems in particular and why they’re so important.

But for now, start thinking about better ways to help yourself and most importantly what you can do personally with the help of our clinicians to formulate a better neuropathy and chronic pain treatment plan!

Join the conversation on Facebook!

Woman looking depressed

A Simpler Chronic Pain and Neuropathy Treatment Strategy.

Posted by on

Suffering from peripheral neuropathy or any other form of chronic pain can be difficult to manage on a day-to-day basis.

distressedlady 300x225 A Simpler Chronic Pain and Neuropathy Treatment Strategy.

If you suffer from peripheral neuropathy or really any other form of chronic pain than you understand how difficult it can be manage this on a day-to-day basis.

One of the reasons for this is that by its definition chronic pain is insidious, meaning it tends to creep up slowly.

So like most patients for quite a long period of time you may have already tried a dozen or more medications.

But yet this entire time no one has helped you focus on the simpler things that can have enormous and often extraordinary benefits to your overall health, no matter what stage you’re at.

Specifically we’re talking about diet, meditation, mindfulness, stress reduction, and as much physical activity in which your condition will allow.

For those patients who have been seriously ill or recovering from surgery this simply may be getting up and about out of bed more often with assistance and at home physical therapy.

In this category I would also add the appropriate use of non-drug treatment modalities, physical therapy modalities, massage, using your NDGen kit and laser therapy.

Some of these of course are available in the clinic as well as at home.

What DOES not work is continually plying your body with more painkilling medications without paying attention to everything else.

This is not to say of course that medications are not helpful. Often times these are extremely beneficial in helping to manage the pain and discomfort associated with neuropathy when it can be at its very worst.

But for too many, simply relying on these along while ignoring the simplest but so critical things is doing you a tremendous disservice.

Many patients find that learning more about how these different tools like the NDGen and then redesigning a simpler life, along with reducing medications and their associated side effects are more appropriate self-care strategies that go a long way towards helping them improve the quality of their life.

That’s why our clinicians are here! We stand by ready to help when you are.

Join the conversation on Facebook!

Person in pain

Got Neuropathy or Other Chronic Pain? Start here!

Posted by on

Neuropathy self-treatment often includes self prescribed medication.

pain 200x300 Got Neuropathy or Other Chronic Pain? Start here!

If you felt better, you would change your outlook on things pretty quickly.

While beginning to take a hard look at your own self-care, one of the most important things to do is some form of effective pain control that does not create potentially damaging side effects.

How, you might ask is this possible?

By applying some more simple solutions wherever possible.

The reason this is so important is that too many patients will blow off early warning signs in many illnesses and attempt to self-treat. Often times this self-treatment includes some form of self prescribed medication regimen.

Numerous over-the-counter products are tried often to little or no avail.

Yet silently they could be creating liver or kidney damage. Here’s the most common example.

Did you know that acetaminophen is the number one cause of liver failure?

This is one of the reasons that patients often times will consume multiple preparations and prescription that otherwise contain this compound. Sometimes patients fail to discuss with their physicians which over-the-counter medications they are taking, thinking they are insignificant.

Nothing could be further from the truth, as many professionals prescribe pain products that also contain acetaminophen. In the beginning they may help you feel better but the long-term side effects are devastating unless closely monitored.

So we suggest the very FIRST thing rather than last is the application of these critical pain control measures.

As simple as it sounds a tightly carbohydrate controlled (sugar, soda and sweets elimination) diet can really make an enormous difference. The reason for this is that even borderline elevations of blood sugar over time can make you stiff, sore and predisposed towards inflammation and the resulting internal pain.

Whenever necessary, professionally supervised oral and topical medications, which may be decreased or limited over time can be applied with, in clinic strategies and at home tools like Neurostim.

Although not an overnight cure, many patients who employ these NeuropathyDR strategies especially under supervision do incredibly well!

Remember it takes years to get ill, and a long time to turn things around or recover.

The sooner you begin a more diligent self-care program the sooner you will see the results no matter what caused your peripheral #neuropathy #fibromyalgia or other #chronicpain.

Remember, we are here to help, but YOU must reach out and grab it!

Join the conversation on Facebook!

Two people exercising at the beach

Why “Hydration” is So Crucial to Feeling Our Best.

Posted by on

Maintaining adequate hydration can help you suffer less chronic pain and yes less neuropathy pain too!

older couple running 300x203 Why Hydration is So Crucial to Feeling Our Best.

Almost invariably when we see a new chronic pain patients in our practice, we discuss health habits and we find more often than not, failure to drink adequate amount of water is almost universal.

So why is that? Why would not drinking enough water tend to cause more widespread pains? There are several reasons and the answers are not complicated.

You see the vast majority of our body is made of water. Blood and all the critical fluids keep us functioning like well-oiled machines.

Our kidneys, brain and all our other vital organs use these fluids to communicate and also perform daily purification’s.

But yet most of us don’t pay nearly enough attention to this key fact.

So rather than going through our days drinking fluids, most especially water that will keep our blood and fluid volumes high, we tend to over consume caffeine and worse yet soft drinks and perhaps even alcohol which depletes our water reserves even further.

If we don’t drink enough water we can suffer an impaired ability of our vital organs like kidneys and liver that help rid our bodies of toxic wastes.

Our toxic wastes can make us stiff sore and uncomfortable.

If you already suffer from neuropathy or chronic pain, becoming even slightly dehydrated will make you feel a whole lot worse.

So how much water do you need to drink? In the absence of kidney or heart disease the proverbial eight glasses a day is about right.

A more accurate consumption is approximately half your body weight in ounces in a 24-hour period. This is not 100 percent accurate but it’s a darn good approximation.

There are of course other factors which may require more or less water consumption.

This of course includes how much you perspire, the outside air temperature, and yes even the humidity.

So for example, if you weigh 200 pounds, you’d be consuming approximately 100 ounces of water during the course of the daily 24-hour period.

That may sound like a lot, but it’s under a gallon in 24 hours.

As always you need to work with your doctors on your own personal medical issues that you may have questions or concerns about.

You may want to ask for the simple blood tests which measure your electrolytes and relative hydration.

Working together maintaining adequate hydration can help you suffer less chronic pain and yes less neuropathy pain too!

Join the conversation on Facebook!

Reducing Chronic Pain and Neuropathy

Posted by on

Not taking care of acute painful episodes when they occur is one reason human beings go on to develop chronic pain.

mail.google.com 1 Reducing Chronic Pain and Neuropathy

It has been known for many years that not taking care of acute painful episodes when they occur is one of the reasons that human beings go on to develop chronic pain.

Of course this is not always possible. Accidents do happen. Surgical complications can and do occur.

But for lots of things we experience in daily life, jumping at the first sign of dysfunction can go along way towards preventing a more chronic and serious health problem.

When speaking about peripheral neuropathy in particular, we commonly find out the patients have had mild symptoms often for years. Sometimes their own physicians don’t take these early signs seriously.

As we speak about all the time there is no such thing as a little neuropathy, or your blood sugar being “slightly bad”.

It’s just like you really can’t be a little overweight. You’re either fit or you’re not. You’re either trim and have adequate muscle mass or you don’t.

Harsh statements?

Yes but you’ve got to understand this concept.

The more you read, the more you understand how imperative it is to take these early warning signs as serious signals. If we don’t do something different, a much more difficult problem could ultimately develop!

Here is what to do next:

If these concepts are new to you, we strongly recommend that you dive into our patient library, read all the articles, watch all the videos, and get all our books.

In essence, what we are suggesting is that you learn everything you can do to help yourself, no matter what your starting point is.

Let your poor old habits go!

This is the day you get to start over by doing more for yourself and applying all the good self-care tips and tools we make available for you!

Remember, we are always here to help.

But you must also do your own homework, reach out and grab all the help you can!

Join the conversation on Facebook!

pills

Your Best Chance of Beating a Serious Health Problem, Just Keep It Simple.

Posted by on

Far too often patients are chasing this doctor or that, this drug or that, in search of relief rather than getting to the bottom of what may be actually causing their #neuropathy.

586475 51841078 300x287 Your Best Chance of Beating a Serious Health Problem, Just Keep It Simple.

One of the things that is most serious but far too often ignored in cases of neuropathy, fibromyalgia, many forms of chronic pain and indeed many chronic illnesses is the impact that daily habits and of course our lifestyles have on both the prevention and progression of diseases and illnesses.

Too often, in our society there is a rush to take drugs to cover up symptoms rather than to find out what is really going on that could be perpetuating or in fact causing chronic health issues.

The most common of course in our society now is lack of fitness and excess and poor food consumption. Plain and simple, this causes more disease than any other single factor.

So you would think the smartest thing to do would be to start here when dealing with neuropathy or other health problem. Unfortunately, we find patients are conditioned far too often chasing this doctor or that, this drug or that, in search of relief rather than getting to the bottom of what may be actually causing their neuropathy.

Now this is not to say that bad things don’t happen to good people. Of course they do! This is where some of the most amazing drugs and surgery have a very wonderful place. But for the vast majority of what we see in private practice every day the solutions to so many health problems are right under our noses!

But what are you TO DO?

The first thing to understand is that “everything” doesn’t make you sick. Too often patients fall into this dismal pattern of thinking, based upon popular press and media. Nothing could be further from the truth. Everything doesn’t make you sick but many poor things in combination certainly do!

The most common of these is surrounding yourself with poor food choices, lack of regular daily fitness, and filling your home with possible environmental toxins. If this is the case, then the solution is obvious!

That’s why we do what we do here at Beating Neuropathy! Stick with us every day and we will help as much as we can!

Join the conversation on Facebook!

 

neurodrProfessionals-webready

Neuropathy? Why did I get it?

Posted by on

In fact, neuropathy is a group of disorders.

neurodrProfessionals webready 300x86 Neuropathy? Why did I get it?

A question we get all the time is, why did I get neuropathy?

If you read advertisements in the popular press then you would likely believe neuropathy is one condition. As we have discussed many times before and will discuss again today, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact neuropathy is actually a group of disorders.

Neuropathy is the term that simply refers to nerve function gone wrong. Of course this is a gross oversimplification but I’m sure you get the picture.

The known causes of neuropathy include diabetes, certain medications; including some chemotherapy, poisonings from things such as heavy metals and some insecticides.

There are also some devastating forms of neuropathy that are genetic. Most commonly this is the CMT family of neuropathies.

But perhaps the most common cause of neuropathy and the reason for many more cases of neuropathy now appearing each year is the general decline in fitness in our adult population resulting in metabolic syndrome or pre-diabetes.

As doctors we commonly assign half the cases of neuropathy we see to metabolic syndrome. As you probably have read about here before metabolic syndrome, pre-diabetes, or syndrome X, are all the same condition.

In a nutshell, this serious health problem occurs either in very tiny time increments or over a long period of time when body fat increases and with it brings elevations in blood fats and blood sugars.

But the sad part is we are seeing it in younger and younger ages. Unfortunately, now we are seeing patients in their 30’s developing peripheral neuropathy!

One other factor that is imperative to note: Most patients we see in the clinic have several different potential causes of peripheral neuropathy. For one example, district cigarette smoking. Example two is the consumption of statin or anti-hypertensive drugs. And three, excess body fat and decrease in lean muscle mass as a result of years of poor health habits.

And here is the answer to the title question:

You may never know completely with 100% accuracy what caused your neuropathy.

However, you now know about some of the critical factors that need to be addressed in order to boost your potential for healing and recovery.

Here at NeuropathyDR this our ongoing job for you!

Join the conversation on Facebook!

Doctor and Patient

Boron, Vanadium and Other Ultra Trace Elements.

Posted by on

This could possibly be the connection between vanadium #neuropathy #diabetes #fibromyalgia and other forms of chronic pain.

Fotolia 41734006 S 300x200 Boron, Vanadium and Other Ultra Trace Elements.

 

Last time, we spoke about the role of trace elements in health and nutrition.

By definition, trace elements are those necessary for life and growth however, only in the tiniest amounts.

Vanadium and Boron are two more ultra trace elements we should talk about.

In some studies the element Boron has been found to help reduce the loss of calcium in our bodies. Therefore, it may actually have a positive and protective role in bone density maintenance.

In most situations, boron is relatively nontoxic in the forms most consumed by people. Boric acid for example has long been used as a preparation in health care with very rare adverse incidents.

Vanadium, another ultra trace element seems to have a role in potentiating the activities of insulin and blood sugar control. This of course could possibly be the connection between vanadium, neuropathy, diabetes, fibromyalgia and other forms of chronic pain.

I will caution you however, never to self-treat with vanadium supplements alone. To do so could be very dangerous!

Like everything, however you will find individual supplements and claims made for so many individual nutrients. Boron and vanadium are no exception. Be very careful here.

If you consume a diet that is high in vegetables, seeds nuts and the lean proteins, a deficiency of trace elements is extremely rare. Although, not impossible, there are variations in the quality of food based upon such things as the soils in which they are grown and the regions they come from.

Also, if you are supplementing your diet as we recommend, trace elements in very tiny absorbable forms are included.

Rarely should they be prescribed alone and in our opinion, always under close medical supervision.

Because everybody is different, in rare situations deficiencies of these elements can cause significant health issues. There are different tests available.

This is another reason why it is difficult to diagnose conditions, trace element analysis by hair and urine are often very helpful.

Once again, you can see the need for working with a healthcare professional who is trained in managing your neuropathy and chronic pain. Look at all possible facets, dig deeper for answers whenever necessary.

That’s why NeuropathyDR Clinicians are here!

Join the conversation on Facebook!

Pills / vitamins woman

Chromium and Neuropathy-A Key Trace Element

Posted by on

As we wrap up our section on nutrition, I want to talk at some length about trace elements.

girl taking pil 200x300 Chromium and Neuropathy A Key Trace Element

 

By definition, trace elements are those essential nutrients, which are necessary for life and health but only in the tiniest amounts.

As with most nutrients, too much is not better. Neither is consuming large amounts of a single nutrient unless there is a genetic or other bona fide medical reason to do so.

So today let’s talk about the nutrient chromium. If you’ve ever seen stainless steel or shiny car parts, you probably know what chromium is. Just like copper and manganese, it is a metal. What you may not know is that most human beings in modern cultures probably get the majority of their chromium diet intake through cooking with stainless steel!

Part of this of course is because most people do not consume a diet that is naturally high in chromium.

The safest forms for human nutrition (trivalent) come from whole foods and are found in things such as broccoli (one of the highest sources) as well as coffee, potato and apple skins and nuts.

As we talk about all the time, having a large component of your diet from whole foods, which contain things like peels and skins provide some significant insurance against trace mineral deficiencies including chromium deficiency.

What you may not know however is, chromium appears to be essential for our bodies handling of blood sugar. In one particular form, that is GTF, which is short for glucose tolerance factor, this trace element may help to improve insulin (the hormone which lowers blood sugar) efficiency and potentiate insulin.

Now there is conflicting scientific evidence here, however enough research indicates that GTF is probably the safest supplement form and best included in supplementation in relatively low amounts on the order of not more than 100 µg per day.

In other words trivalent chromium helps us to process energy, particular carbohydrates and sugars from our food efficiently.

If you’ve read my other books you also understand that poor blood sugar control in the form of either diabetes or metabolic syndrome can cause peripheral neuropathy and a whole host of health disorders.

So by now the impact of chromium nutrition should be rather obvious. Without adequate amounts in our diet we are at risk for developing health risks related to blood sugar management yes and perhaps ultimately even peripheral neuropathy!

Join the conversation on Facebook!

Food

Help Your Body Detoxify Naturally

Posted by on

One of the things that is very popular after the first of the year in many people are weight loss and exercise programs.

healthymeal 300x200 Help Your Body Detoxify Naturally

 

New Year’s resolutions and intentions are made shortly after the holidays, and usually fizzle out by the middle of February.

This is just reality, it is human behavior. But there is part of this strategy you need to know that can be dangerous, especially if you have neuropathy, fibromyalgia or chronic pain.

In particular, don’t put yourself at risk by consuming dietary shakes, or pills of the compounds which contain multiple combinations of herbs.

The reality is the interaction of all these together your bodies is not well known at all.

In fact, some are downright toxic.

I actually have seen a 20 something year old patient develop peripheral neuropathy after consuming a “diet shake” just for a week.

Impossible? No in fact, more and more younger patients are showing up in emergency rooms after consuming energy and diet drinks, more than ever.

This is also one of the reasons that you will not find any herbal preparation in either the supplements or topical preparations we suggest and use in our clinic’s every day.

For most patients, following the NeuropathyDR diet, carbohydrate control, physical activity and exercise wherever possible can make an anonymous difference in weight control and yes even weight loss after the holidays.

One other thing, be honest with yourself! If you have diligently tried the suggestions we talked about above but still have difficulty with your weight then it’s possible there’s some hormonal factors at work. These need to be identified and worked out with your physicians.

Stay away from fasts, and other rapid weight-loss programs. Sometimes, these can really aggravate underlying neuropathy and chronic pain conditions such as fibromyalgia.

The reason is some of the the so-called “detox programs” may actually “pull” potential toxins in from your body faster, resulting in higher concentrations and ultimately aggravating your condition.

Finally, it is a really good idea to one of our children of the dangers of some “diet and energy” drinks.

join the conversation on Facebook!