If you’re dealing with shooting, burning, tingling and numbness in your hands and feet, you may have Neuropathy if you haven’t already been diagnosed. Neuropathy often occurs when there has been nerve damage or a malfunctioning nervous system. The cause of this can be due to many things but often it occurs from diabetes.
Additional Causes Include:
- Alcoholism
- Physical Injury
- Infections such as (Shingles, Lyme Disease, HIV)
- Chronic Liver Disease
- Thyroid Issues
- Multiple Sclerosis
- And more…
Oftentimes Neuropathy can go away on its own if it is minimal or in the early stages. In other instances it can be chronic. It can be severe and unrelenting pain. There are 4 stages of peripheral neuropathy and it can fluctuate depending on your severity. If you are dealing with it in the earlier stages, there are certainly many natural remedies that may be what you need to alleviate the pain.
Stop Smoking
Smoking affects blood circulation and if the blood vessels narrow near your legs or heart, it will struggle to receive oxygen causing increased numbness and tingling in your hands and/or feet. Smoking also poorly affects type 2 diabetes. It increases your blood sugar levels, therefore making diabetes worse. This is an issue because often times neuropathy is caused by diabetes.
Vitamins & Supplements
Some cases of neuropathy are due to a vitamin deficiency. Oftentimes, it is Vitamin B that is needed to supplement. For example, Vitamin B-12 and vitamin B-6 more directly impact neuropathy and can be added into your diet through supplementation. Vitamin D is also known to prevent nerve pain. If you don’t get enough sun, you may be vitamin D deficient and supplementation can help.
Other supplements that may help include:
- Alpha lipoic acid, a potent antioxidant
- Vitamin B complex, E, and C
- Selenium
- Pycnogenol, an antioxidant derived from pine bark
- Evening primrose oil and omega-3 fatty acid, both with anti-inflammatory properties, have been shown to decrease the numbness, burning and tingling of neuropathy
Exercise
Exercising regularly combats not only pain but improves your overall health. If you deal with diabetes, you can lower your blood sugar levels, therefore reducing the neuropathy pain. Exercise also increases blood flow to your arms and legs, giving them the much needed oxygen to prevent the pain.
Capsaicin or Cayenne Pepper
Surprisingly cayenne pepper is an effective treatment to target neuropathy. It works by decreasing the pain signals triggered by nerve damage. You can consume cayenne pepper or supplement it. If you don’t enjoy spicy foods, there are ways around it. For example, there are high dose capsaicin patches which will allow you to direct it at the site of the pain. Before trying capsaicin be sure to talk to your doctor if it is safe for you to use.
Sanexas Treatment
Sanexas is a treatment used to aid in the relief of symptoms of neuropathy. This treatment is a safe, effective, non-invasive, non-pharmaceutical treatment for pain, circulation and neuromuscular rehabilitation. If you’re interested in this technology, Select Health located in Edina, Minnesota utilizes this technology along with many other natural treatments to relieve neuropathy and lead a more fulfilling life with less pain. Contact Select Health here.
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Related: 4 Things You May Not Realize May Be Triggering your Neuropathy
