Peripheral Neuropathy

 

Peripheral Neuropathy

 

Peripheral Neuropathy - What Is It?

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Neuropathy is defined as a disease (pathos) of the nerves (neuro). Many symptoms are grouped together in the catch-all diagnosis. Whether it is called idiopathic (which means we don’t know the cause), or diabetic peripheral neuropathy   (associated with diabetes), or poly neuropathy (which means “in more than one place”), they all have a common cause. The nerves have gone to sleep because they have been deprived of oxygen (anoxia).

Anoxia causes Neuropathy

When your peripheral nerves are deprived of oxygen (anoxia), whether it is because of too much sugar or insulin in your blood, chemotherapeutic drugs, or toxins like agent orange, these things can displace oxygen. Sometimes inflammation in the lower back or sciatic nerve area of the buttocks can restrict blood flow. Common drugs like statins (to reduce cholesterol) can eat away the myelin sheath of the nerves which is composed mostly of cholesterol. High blood pressure medicine can cause neuropathy by decreasing blood flow at the extremities, like the feet or hands. In order to survive in this oxygen depleted environment, the nerve cells can shrink (atrophy) in order to present a smaller surface to the world and stay alive. Inside your body, each nerve cell is separated from the adjacent cell by a synaptic junction and the shrinking of each cell because of lack of oxygen can increase this gap. A larger gap makes it harder for the electrical nerve impulse to get across. With peripheral neuropathy, once this gap inhibits peripheral nerve impulses, the minerals that are dissolved in the synaptic junction's fluid can leach out and this makes the fluid less effective and less conductive. Water alone does not conduct electricity very effectively... water needs minerals dissolved in it to make it conductive.

Actual shrinkage of Nerve Cells Resulting in Widened Synaptic Junction

What is needed is a larger signal that can cross this synaptic junction, minerals (electrolytes) to make the synaptic fluid more electrically conductive, stronger calf muscles to help local blood flow, and immediate pain relief from the release of endorphins from the brain.

This is precisely what The ReBuilder system’s electrical stimulation is designed to do! 

What causes lack of oxygen (anoxia)?

Temporary lack of oxygen to the nerves can be caused by many different things:

Dramatic changes in glucose and insulin in the blood (diabetes) that displace oxygen.
Side effects from drugs such as those for cholesterol, blood pressure and arthritis that change the metabolism of the nerves thus altering the way they use oxygen. (Pravachol, Amytriptyline, etc.)  When prescription pain killers such as Neurontin (Gabapentin), Cymbalta, Lyrica, amitriptyline, oxycodone, etc. are administered, they do nothing for the peripheral nerves in your legs and arms, but they do numb the nerve roots at the level of the spine. In this way, the dysfunctional peripheral nerve signals cannot reach the central nervous system (brain) thus these dysfunctional nerve signals are not perceived as pain. As with most medications, after a while the body accommodates to the current dosage, the dosage then is periodically increased. This can reach a level whereby numbness in the extremities is experienced as well as fuzzy thinking and loss of proprioception (knowing where your feet are in time and space). These symptoms can mimic Alzheimer's and compound your medical situation.
Toxins like cleaning solvents, PCBs, metals, and other environmental toxins that have a lot of free radicals that makes oxygen unusable.
Inflammation in the lower back which reduces blood flow to the nerves in the spinal column.
Chemotherapy that affects cancer and other fast growing or functioning cells like hair and nerves.
Sciatic nerve entrapment (piriformis entrapment) caused from aging, muscles losing tone (becoming ropy or sinewy), and sitting too long in one position putting pressure on the sciatic nerve or its blood supply.
Repeated trauma such as frostbite, standing on concrete, or accidents that impinge nerves and change blood supply to the nerves
Surgery complications and prolonged anesthesia exposure.
Food Allergies  Specifically, the sweetener Aspartame.  This is very toxic to the body, including nerves and brain. As it metabolizes in the body, it transforms into Wood alcohol.  (also leads to type 2 diabetes) 
Infections such as parasites, viruses, bacteria that
Nutritional deficiencies.  Long term poor diet may not provide the ingredients needed to maijtain healthy myelin, and some foods may even lead to premature degrdatio of the myelin.
A combination of any of the above.
All these triggers could result in a reduction in oxygen delivery, poor circulation, and trauma to the nerve cells.  If you sit too long in an awkward position, you will notice that your nerves "go to sleep".  Once you move your limb around and restore the blood flow, the pins and needles and numbness, even pain disappears.  If this temporary restriction of blood flow continues too long or too often, this sensation can turn into neuropathy.
Map of the lower back.

Sometimes this is because of a lower back or sciatic nerve problem, and temporary inflammation has pinched either the nerves, or the blood supply to the nerves.  To survive, these nerves begin to atrophy (like an unused muscle) causing them to shrink back a little.  Normal nerve cells do not actually touch each other, but just get close.  The gaps between them are called synaptic junctions.  The nerve impulses travel along the body of the nerve cells, and they then have to jump this synaptic junction to reach the next nerve.  Some nerves may be almost a meter in length.  There are two primary types of nerve cells: afferent (to carry sensations to your brain), and efferent (or motor neurons to direct the movement of your muscles).  Some of these nerves are covered by a fatty, myelin sheath and others are not.

Some people are told they have a problem with this myelin sheath. That diagnosis can only be done via a biopsy (cutting the nerve and removing a portion of it), which destroys the nerve. You have to be careful not to accept the common catch all explanation of the cause of your neuropathy being from damage to the myelin sheath.  If your physician did not surgically remove a section of your nerve and send it to a lab for analysis, then the actual condition of your myelin sheath is unknown and probably just a guess. 

Myelin and nerve structure.

In order to get a better idea of how your nerves function, imagine a line of rubber bands laying end to end on a table.  The gap between them is similar to the synaptic junctions.  When the rubber bands shrink, the gaps get bigger.  When nerve cells are damaged, perhaps by a temporary restriction in their access to oxygen, they too atrophy or shrink a little, thus the synaptic junctions widens.  Just like with a spark plug in your car or lawn mower, if this gap gets too wide, the spark cannot make the jump. A normal sized nerve signal cannot jump this enlarged gap either, so the signal either does not get through or it gets misdirected to another part of the body and is misinterpreted as pain.

With fewer and fewer signals getting through these sleeping, smaller nerves, the nerves atrophy even more. The brain learns to ignore the erratic, misdirected signals so you feel numbness, or pins and needles.  Every once in a while, the nerve signals "pile up," and finally send a very large signal across these gaps which the brain interprets as sharp, stabbing, shooting pains.  

Although powerful drugs are sometimes prescribed to control pain (they do not work for numbness), they have severe side effects and can cause neuropathy to worsen over time.  Imagine your nerves as a bundle of telephone wires.  The center one is the one causing problems.  Drugs can work by inhibiting those "wires" that encircle this bad nerve so you do not feel it.  For a while this seems OK, but then those inhibited nerves go bad and you need more of the drug.  Finally all the nerves have been inhibited, the drug no longer works, and your symptoms are worse.  Manufacturers of certain dugs like Neurontin (Pfizer) have been fined millions of dollars by the government and are the subject of class action law suits.  Even seemingly safe drugs like Vioxx and other cox 2 inhibitors have had bad press about side effects like heart attacks.  For a list and description of other drugs related to neuropathy, email us.  (The ReBuilder has no side effects and is safe and comfortable.)


Relief for Neuropathy pain is here.  Meet The ReBuilder™.

The ReBuilder system is a self administered treatment that can be done in the comfort of your home. It will stop the pain, numbness, burning sensation, and pins and needles sensations that are affecting the quality of your life.

Unlike common TENS devices that merely block pain signals, the ReBuilder helps to opens the nerve paths and re-educates them so that normal signals can get through.  The increase in blood flow from the ReBuilder causes muscle contractions, aiding in oxygen nutrient delivery.

The ReBuilder System’s electrical stimulation has been proven 95% effective in clinical studies in reducing painful and other symptoms of neuropathy.

Many of our ReBuilder users were told there was "nothing else to do," they were then given powerful pain prescriptions and told to go home.  In addition, they were told that their nerves were "just too far gone."  However, upon their first use of their ReBuilder, they not only felt the signals, but their muscles responded!  This proved that there was still some life left in their muscles. The result of using the ReBuilder is that you will feel total relief during the 30 minute treatment, then continued relief for several hours afterward.  The benefits accumulate with each treatment, so it lasts longer each time, and the initial level of symptoms begins at a lower level just prior to each treatment. Many patients report that their ReBuilder treatment helps them have a full night's sleep without the need for pain drugs.

 

 

 

 The ReBuilder