3 Things To Avoid With Peripheral Neuropathy

When your peripheral nervous system isn’t communicating well with your brain, it can cause all sorts of problems.  You might receive signals of pain when there is nothing causing the pain.  Or you may not perceive the pain even when you have actually injured yourself.  That’s the life disrupting effect that peripheral neuropathy can have on the millions of people who deal with it everyday. If you’re dealing with peripheral neuropathy, there are many different treatments and medicines you can use to help you deal with the pain.  Arrowhead Health Centers offers specific treatments to help patients receive the best comprehensive and integrated treatment available. On the other hand, there are some things you can avoid when you have peripheral neuropathy that will make a difference in management of your condition.  When you have peripheral neuropathy to Avoid, try these 3 things: 1.  Eat Poorly It’s true that good nutrition is the first step in preventing most illnesses and diseases.  The same goes for peripheral neuropathy.  Eating unhealthy foods or foods that will negatively affect your blood sugar level is one of the worst things you can do.  Be sure to avoid the following:

• Gluten
• Refined Grains
• Added Sugars
• Saturated Fat

You definitely want to stick to healthy fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein when planning for meals and snacks. 2.  Ignore Your Feet Because of the nerve damage caused by peripheral neuropathy, you won’t be alerted when small injuries take place on your feet.  For example, you may develop a blister on the bottom of your foot, but not realize it’s there.  Should the blister burst and become infected, it could lead to more serious problems. By not paying close attention to your feet, you can easily overlook small problems.  It’s important to clean your feet regularly, keep your toenails trimmed and wear protective shoes and socks often.  It’s also a good idea to moisturize your feet often. 3.  Keep Smoking and Drinking Alcohol Both cigarettes and alcohol can have a toxic effect on nerve tissue.   Heavy drinking can actually make neuropathy worse.  It can alter the level of important minerals and vitamins that are needed for proper nerve function.  Additionally, there are studies now that show that smokers are twice as likely to develop neuropathy as non-smokers. When a person quits drinking or smoking as much as before, the symptoms of neuropathy can actually improve.  But there is some nerve damage caused by alcohol and smoking that is permanent.  We’re not necessarily suggesting that you abstain from alcohol altogether, but it may be a good idea to slow down if you’re a heavy drinker with neuropathy. As always, feel free to reach out to us at Arrowhead Health Centers at 623-334-4000, option 9 with any other questions or concerns you might have regarding peripheral neuropathy.  Our team of experts are ready to work with you on a plan that will help manage the pain.