Peripheral neuropathy is damage to or disease affecting nerves, which may impair sensation, movement, gland or organ function, or other aspects of health, depending on the type of nerve affected. Common causes include systemic diseases, vitamin deficiency, medication, traumatic injury, radiation therapy, excessive alcohol consumption, immune system disease or viral infection. It can also be genetic or idiopathic. In conventional medical usage, the word neuropathy without modifier usually means peripheral neuropathy.

1. What is Peripheral Neuropathy?
Classification, Symptoms & Treatment
Fast facts on neuropathy
Here are some key points about neuropathy. More detail and supporting information is in the
main article.
 Neuropathy is a common condition.
 Neuropathy is a complication of a number of different medical conditions.
 Three types of nerve can be involved; autonomic nerves, motor nerves and sensory
nerves.
 Sometimes single nerves, or nerve sets are affected. Bell's Palsy is a specific example of
a neuropathy of the facial nerve, affecting the muscles and skin of the face.
 Physical trauma, repetitive injury, infection, metabolic problems and exposure to toxins
and some drugs can all lead to neuropathy.
 Most cases of neuropathy are found in people who have diabetes. 2,3
 With neuropathy as a complication of diabetes, up to 50% of people affected may be
completely without symptoms. 4,5
 Testing for neuropathy is a routine part of diabetes care.
 While neuropathy can't really be treated, the underlying causes can be targeted. 2,6
 For toxic causes, removing exposure to a toxin, or stopping a culprit drug, can halt
further nerve damage.
Peripheral neuropathy is damage to or disease affecting nerves, which may impair sensation,
movement, gland or organ function, or other aspects of health, depending on the type of nerve
affected. Common causes include systemic diseases, vitamin deficiency, medication, traumatic
injury, radiation therapy, excessive alcohol consumption, immune system disease or viral
infection. It can also be genetic or idiopathic. In conventional medical usage, the word
neuropathy without modifier usually means peripheral neuropathy.
More at Wikipedia
Who is affected?
Peripheral neuropathy is a relatively common condition that affects around 1 in 50 people in
the UK. The condition becomes more common as you get older, and has been estimated to
affect almost 1 in every 10 people who are 55 or over to some degree.
More than 100 types of peripheral neuropathy have been identified, each with its own
symptoms and prognosis. In general, peripheral ...Learn about peripheral neuropathy causes

2. such as diabetes, alcohol, medication, shingles, vitamin deficiency, autoimmune diseases, and
inherited diseases.
Learn about ...Peripheral neuropathy occurs when nerves malfunction because they're
damaged or destroyed. You'll notice a tingling, numbness, or weakness.Neuropathy is the term
used to describe a problem with the nerves, usually the 'peripheral nerves' as opposed to the
'central nervous system' (the brain and spinal cord).
 More than 3 million US cases per year
 Can't be cured, but treatment may help
 Requires a medical diagnosis
 Lab tests or imaging often required
 Chronic: can last for years or be lifelong
A common cause of peripheral neuropathy is diabetes, but it can also result from injuries,
infections, and exposure to toxins.
Symptoms include pain, a pins-and-needles sensation, numbness, and weakness.
Treatments include antidepressants like amitriptyline, pain medications like oxycodone, anti-
seizure medications, and pain-relieving creams. It's also important to treat the underlying
condition.
Ages affected
0-2
Very rare
3-5
Very rare
6-13
Very rare
14-18
Rare
19-40
Common
41-60
Very common
60
Very common
Consult a doctor for medical advice
Sources: Mayo Clinic and others.

3. Signs and symptoms
Damage to the peripheral nerves can cause a wide range of symptoms depending on the
specific nerves affected.
In many cases, the condition first develops in the extremities of the body, such as the feet,
hands, legs and arms.
The main symptoms of peripheral neuropathy can include:
 numbness and tingling in the feet or hands
 burning, stabbing or shooting pain in affected areas
 loss of balance and co-ordination
 muscle weakness, especially in the feet
These symptoms are usually constant, but may fluctuate.
Generally, the sooner peripheral neuropathy is diagnosed, the better the chance of limiting the
damage and preventing further complications. It's therefore important to see a GP if you
experience symptoms of peripheral neuropathy.
What causes peripheral neuropathy?
There are many possible causes of peripheral neuropathy, including:
 Diabetes mellitus
 Shingles (post herpetic neuralgia)
 Vitamin deficiency, particularly B12 and folate
 Alcohol
 Autoimmune diseases, including lupus, rheumatoid arthritis or Guillain-Barre
syndrome
 AIDS, whether from the disease or its treatment, syphilis, and kidney failure
 Inherited disorders, such as amyloid polyneuropathy or Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease
 Exposure to toxins, such as heavy metals, gold compounds, lead, arsenic, mercury, and
organophosphate pesticides
 Cancer therapy drugs such as vincristine (Oncovin and Vincasar) and other medications,
such as antibiotics including metronidazole (Flagyl) and isoniazid
 Rarely, diseases such as neurofibromatosis can lead to peripheral neuropathy. Other
rare congenital neuropathies include Fabry disease, Tangier disease, hereditary sensory
autonomic neuropathy, and hereditary amyloidosis.
 Statin medications have been linked to peripheral neuropathy, although neuropathy
caused by statins only rarely causes symptoms.

4. While diabetes and postherpetic neuralgia are the most common causes of peripheral
neuropathy, often times no cause is found. In these situations, it is referred to as idiopathic
peripheral neuropathy.
Finally a Solution for Peripheral Neuropathy
FDA Cleared Neuropathy treatment using calmare device
Proud to introduce, the Calmare MC-5A device. After careful study and incredible success, this
medical device has been cleared by the FDA. The Calmare is different from other treatments in
that it doesn’t just mask neuropathic pain. Instead it delivers “non pain” information across the
pain dermatomes to effectively re-train the nervous system. Essentially this treatment
eliminates the phantom pain signals and replaces them with non-pain signals. Regardless of
pain intensity, a patient’s pain can be completely removed for immediate relief.
Calmare® Pain Therapy is a revolutionary, non-invasive, non-narcotic method for rapid
treatment of severe, chronic, high-intensity neuropathic pain
Calmare pain therapy treatment using the scrambler device is attracting attention from
people across the Intermountain West. Although it’s been used primarily to treat neuropathy,
Calmare has been used with some success to treat other chronic pain conditions such as
fibromyalgia, phantom limb pain, back pain, and Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome (also known
as RSD).
Alex suffered severe nerve damage as the lightning arced from Dane and struck him in the
chest. “I get pretty much every kind of pain imaginable. Sometimes it feels like I’m getting
stabbed. Other times, it feels just like someone is squeezing my arm really hard,” comments
Alex. He continues, “Usually five minutes after I get plugged into the Calmare, my pain is almost
completely gone.”
Scrambler Therapy is a method of pain relief given with common electrocardiography (ECG)
skin electrodes. The electrodes are placed on the body in pairs, and the Scrambler Therapy
machine directs electrical signals across the field to simulate non-pain information.
Based on other studies, we think that we relieve pain with the Scrambler therapy device, but it
has not been tested in a setting such as this one. This means that some of the pain relief could
be due to placebo effect, or the CIPN pain going away on its own. In this study we want to
compare the Scrambler Therapy with the sham therapy (the therapy that does not use the
electrical signals). We hope that this study will help us determine if the Scrambler device really
helps patients with CIPN.
Cancer patients with chronic, chemotherapy-related pain of 4 or more (on a 0-10 scale) for at
least 3 months may be eligible to join

5. Authors:
lissacoffey
Difficulty Level
Advanced
Grades
Higher-Ed
Date Created:
Today, 05:00pm
Last Modified:
Today, 05:02pm
Subjects:
NEUROLOGY
Tags:
neuropathy, peripheral, peripheral neuropathy, calmare, therapy, scrambler
Standards Correlations:
NGSS, AZ, CA, DC, FL, HI, IL, (15 more)
Concept Nodes:
SCI.BIO.923 (Peripheral Nervous System) SCI.LSC.923 (Peripheral Nervous System)
References:
1. Azhary H, Farooq MU, Bhanushali M, Majid A, Kassab MY. Peripheral neuropathy: differential
diagnosis and management. Am Fam Physician (2010) Apr 1;81(7):887-92
2. Rutchik, JS. (2011, Sept 26). Toxic Neuropathy. Medscape Reference. Retrieved 10/1/12 from

6. http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1175276-overview.
3. Kumar A, Felderhof C, Eljamel MS. Spinal cord stimulation for the treatment of refractory
unilateral limb pain syndromes. Stereotact Funct Neurosurg 81(1-4):70-74, 2003.
4. Vallejo R, Kramer J, Benyamin R. Neuromodulation of the cervical spinal cord in the
treatment of chronic intractable neck and upper extremity pain: A case series and review of the
literature. Pain Physician 10(2):305-311, 2007.
5.. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02111174
6. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/147963.php?page=3
7. http://www.webmd.com/brain/understanding-peripheral-neuropathy-basics
8. http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=77932