Neuropathic pain is a chronic pain that may be caused by nerve damage. It usually affects the hands, feet, arms, or legs but it might not always be easy to pinpoint the cause of your neuropathic pain. However, You should know about how to treat and control Neuropathic pain.
Make sure you know the different types of treatments and find out what healing properties each type has before making your decision for relief to Neuropathic Pain. This article will discuss some of the types of neuropathic pain treatment available.
What Is Neuropathic Pain: Symptoms, Causes & Treatments
Types Of Neuropathic Pain Treatment
Following are some different types of neuropathic pain treatment:
1) Topical Painkillers (Neuropathic Pain Drugs)
One of the simplest ways to treat neuropathic pain is with topical painkillers. These are creams, gels, or ointments that you apply to the skin and they are available at local pharmacies or drugstores.
They work by blocking pain signals from the nerves. Some conditions that can lead to neuropathy include diabetes, HIV or AIDS, nerve tumors, and injuries or infections to the nerves.
For example, people who suffer from diabetes often have neuropathic pain in their feet. If this is you, you should buy foot cream for neuropathy to relieve the pain.
It’s important to mention that in these cases, neuropathic pain treatment with topicals will likely take a few weeks before seeing improvement.
2) Pain Killing Medication
Besides using topical painkillers to treat neuropathic pain, you can also use oral medication. Oral medications work to block or change the way your brain perceives pain signals from the nerves.
When a person has a condition, such as diabetic neuropathy and post-herpetic neuralgia (shingles), treating neuropathic pain with oral medication can help. You can ask your doctor which oral medications are right for you.
However, you shouldn’t take the medications on your own because they have side effects, including headaches, sleepiness, confusion, and nausea. Only your doctor should prescribe you these medications.
3) Pain Killing Shots
Another way to treat neuropathic pain is by getting painkilling shots, which are available at the doctor’s office or clinic. If you have a disease that causes nerve damage, such as HIV, cancer, or shingles, this may be very helpful for your symptoms.
If you have diabetic neuropathy and your doctor recommends you get pain-killing shots, you should only receive the shots from your doctor or clinic. You can ask for an injection of lidocaine, which is a painkiller that you’ll be able to feel but without any side effects.
4) Vitamins And Supplements
Vitamins and supplements can also help to relieve neuropathic pain. In some cases, your doctor may recommend that you take these in addition to the medications you’re already taking. Some vitamins and supplements that have been shown to be helpful for neuropathy include:
- Alpha-lipoic acid
- Coenzyme Q10
- Ginkgo biloba
- Omega-3 fatty acids
Talk to your doctor to see if any of these vitamins or supplements could help you.
5) Stimulation Therapies
Some people resort to using alternative therapies for relieving neuropathic pain. For example, TENS or transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation is a treatment that involves placing electrodes on the skin that emit small amounts of current to stimulate the nerves and reduce pain.
The electricity can stop or decrease the way your body perceives pain signals from the nerve.
Besides TENS, other stimulation therapies include:
Acupuncture and acupressure (using needles or pressure to stimulate the body’s natural painkillers). Using acupuncture, a traditional Chinese medicine that originated in 100 B.C., may also be helpful for neuropathic pain relief.
A person inserts extremely thin needles into targeted points on the skin and they stimulate nerves to help reduce the pain.
Spinal cord stimulation, which is a type of treatment that can block or change the way your brain perceives pain signals from the body’s nerves.
A small device sends electrical impulses to specific nerve pathways in the spinal cord and reduces a person’s perception of pain. Your doctor may recommend this if you have severe, chronic pain.
Massage therapy (the touch of a massage can decrease stress and release endorphins)
Biofeedback (in which you practice physical exercises while receiving information about bodily functions such as heart rate and muscle activity). The exercises can help you control and cope with pain in a different way than just medication.
6) Surgery
If your doctor recommends surgery for neuropathy pain , it may be because traditional treatments aren’t working to relieve your symptoms.
People try to use alternative therapies before resorting to surgery, but only the doctor knows what is best for your individual case. The surgery may be to fix the nerve damage that is causing the pain or to help manage the pain.
There are different types of surgeries available, so you’ll need to talk with your doctor about which one is right for you. Some of the more common surgeries include:
- Neurolysis, which is the destruction of nerve tissue that is causing pain.
- Neurostimulation, which is a procedure in which an implantable pulse generator (IPG) is placed under the skin to send electrical stimulations to specific nerves and manage pain.
- Rhizotomy, which is a surgery that destroys part of a nerve to stop the pain signals it’s sending to the brain.
- Spinal cord surgery, which is a surgery to remove or fix a damaged part of the spinal cord.
7) Natural Treatments
Some people find natural treatments to be helpful for neuropathic pain relief. These can include:
- Herbal remedies (such as ginger, turmeric, and willow bark)
- Exercise (which releases endorphins and helps improve your mood)
- Relaxation techniques (such as yoga, meditation, and deep breathing exercises)
- Massage therapy
- A healthy diet (eating foods such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains)
If you have neuropathic pain, there are ways to manage and relieve it. You can talk to your doctor about the different types of treatments that may work for you or use some of these simple methods at home.