Lifestyle Changes Are a Good Step to Reduce the Pain and Discomfort of Peripheral Neuropathy

Lifestyle changes don’t just happen because we force them to, they occur naturally too. If there’s one thing in life that will happen, it’s change. It’s important to realise this fact when it comes to your personal health also.

Neuropathy is one change in health that will determine a forced lifestyle change. It is the one word we use for a collection of disorders that develop when damage to the nervous system occurs.

It is the nerves beyond the brain and spinal cord that determine peripheral neuropathy. It is painful. It is debilitating and it impacts on quality of life thanks in part to the pain you will endure.

The symptoms are found in the breakdown of communication between our brain and spine; nerve endings are receiving garbled messages as to what sensations we should be feeling or not feeling.

The brain tells the sensory nerves to feel pain when you run your finger slowly over a burning candle. But if that communique is broken, severed or jumbled somehow, injury can occur and the situation can become dangerous, even lethal.

Resolution

Neuropathy is painful and normal active life becomes a sedentary one. Put mildly, neuropathy needs to be addressed; failure to do so will result in a downward spiral to inactivity and poor health.

So what are the key changes to lifestyle we must make if we are that person who has been diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy?

• Make fruits and vegetables the main choice of food you eat
• Include foods which are high in antioxidants like blueberries
• Include foods rich in nutrients like spinach and broccoli
• Take supplements to support your nutrition
• Control your carbohydrate at each meal to maintain healthy glucose levels
• Quit smoking and drinking alcohol
• Stretch every morning to prevent muscular stiffness
• Exercise regularly, start slowly and add to difficulty bit by bit
• Avoid tight tights, ill-fitting shoes and socks to aid free movement

Think of the three main things that will improve lifestyle: diet, exercise and neuropathy treatment. Neuropathy patients do not have to sacrifice everything they yearn for just because they have been diagnosed with neuropathy disorders, just make the changes adding a new one bit by bit and return to enjoying life that is active and as free of pain and discomfort as possible.

An excellent source of information including products and services that can help reduce the pain and discomfort are located at “I Have PeripheralNeuropathy” (http://ihavepn.com/).

How The New FDA’s Decision To Ban Trans Fats Will Help People With Peripheral Neuropathy

It is about time!  On June 16, 2015 the FDA ruled to ban all trans fats, period.  They are to be phased in over a 3 year period.  At the present time only about 15% of industrial strength food preparers and processors still use trans fats or partially hydrogenated products.  Those remaining are large multinational food processors like Hostess brands which makes several baked goods including Twinkies, and then there are other big processors of donuts, breads, bagels, and snacks like potato chips and crackers.

The fact is that June 16, 2015 was a monumental day for all Americans as trans fats, AKA hydrogenated fats, are first and foremost rampant killers still on the loose. Study after study has shown that trans fats are a significant cause of heart disease.  Of course some companies and lobbyists would dispute that even to this day.

So how does this tie in to people with peripheral neuropathy?  Well first let me provide you some valuable information about peripheral neuropathy, a condition that most people have never heard of let, alone be able to pronounce.  This is a condition in which nerves are damaged in the far reaches of the body, that being the feet and hands, then it may spread over time, usually taking years, up the legs and arms and even into your torso.  In some cases it can be quite debilitating, at its worst to the degree that it impairs walking, driving and other normal daily functions.

Although peripheral neuropathy has over a dozen causes, the leading cause of peripheral neuropathy is high glucose (blood sugar) levels. High glucose causes damage to the blood vessels which feed essential oxygen and nutrients to nerve cells. As nerve cells no longer receive the nutrients and oxygen from proper blood flow which they require to thrive and survive,  the nerve cells slowly die off.  Usually the cell death occurs in staggered patches, and not all at once as one would think, from the restricted blood flow.  This causes a disrupted nerve sensation of numbness, burning and tingling all simultaneously in the feet and/or hands.  The problem is this sensation does not go away, you live with it 24/7 and it usually progresses over the years starting from your toes through the ball of your foot to your heel, then consuming your entire foot (feet). It does not stop there because more often than not, it appears in your hands and then also progresses up your legs from your feet over many years.

Peripheral Neuropathy typically starts in the feet

The amazing thing is that 42 million Americans suffer in silence with peripheral neuropathy, and about half of the 42 million have mild enough symptoms that they don’t even know what they have and what pain and discomfort lies ahead of them.

There are two main reasons why blood flow becomes restricted to the nerves: 1) high glucose levels damage blood vessels and they cause harm to the tiny capillaries first.  These are the vessels that provide a direct supply of blood to most nerve cells.  2) high cholesterol levels of LDL (bad cholesterol) exacerbate the damage to the blood vessels by further restricting blood flow from plaque that builds up in the blood vessels.  It is the one-two punch that causes irreparable nerve damage in most cases.

So the key to the trans fat ban logic as it relates to peripheral neuropathy is as follows.  Trans fats are known to boost bad cholesterol, LDL, significantly.  With trans fats finally banned from all foods, people will likely measure some degree of reduced cholesterol levels over time which will abate the blockage of blood vessels and ultimately slow down the rate at which peripheral neuropathy develops and progresses, particularly in people that don’t properly watch their diet.

Of course there is much more to the cholesterol story than trans fats.  Consider the damage that saturated fats cause, but at least the era of the most unnatural form of fat, trans fat, is finally coming to an end and will ultimately reduce the death and chronic disease rate to some degree that it is responsible for.

There is so much more to peripheral neuropathy that needs to be discovered and known, but an excellent source of information including products and services that can help reduce the pain and discomfort are located at “I Have PeripheralNeuropathy” (http://ihavepn.com/).