Neuropathy & Holiday Self Care

Don’t Take a Vacation from Holiday Self Care!

The holiday season can be a stressful time for anyone. It might be the positive stress of gathering with loved ones or a more negative experience due to personal hardships. Nonetheless, most of us have mixed experiences with both positive and negative stressors during the holidays.

When you are suffering from discomfort or pain, holiday stress can take a toll—not just emotional but physical. You’re likely to feel more fatigue or a chronic pain flare-up. It may seem that self-care is just another stressor during the holidays. Sticking to your at-home treatment protocol of a healthy diet, nutritional supplements, light exercise, and mindfulness practice may seem like an imposition or another addition to your rapidly growing to-do list!

But the truth is, the most positive step you can take to reduce neuropathy symptoms during the holidays is to prioritize your neuropathy self-care above all else.

If you’ve already fallen off the wagon in your neuropathy self-care plan, realize that you don’t have to wait for a New Year’s resolution to get back on. You can start right now. And if that feels too overwhelming, remember that healthy habits are added one step at a time.

Every improvement will have a cumulative effect on your well-being and help reduce neuropathy symptoms. Here are a few keys to your at-home care to reduce pain, discomfort, and often neuropathy symptoms and holiday stress:

• A diet focused on plants & vegetables, with fewer simple carbs, sugars, and healthy fats

• Good hydration with plenty of water

• Exercise as prescribed by your medical team, possibly including stretching, yoga, or other low-impact activities

• Relaxation exercises or meditation

Above all, maintain focus on the joys and pleasures of the holiday season and let go of any preconceptions about how things should go.

We encourage you to learn as much as you can, about your underlying condition and the treatment options available. Even if it’s not 100% clear what the underlying cause is, the good news is that proven strategies now exist for effectively treating many forms of pain and neuropathy.