If you’re suffering chronic nerve pain in your hands, arms, legs or feet you know all too well the challenges to living a pain-free life. It seems that with each passing day the escalated pain can make the simple activities of cooking a meal for your family absolutely daunting.
So, what can you do to make the tingling, burning or numbness simply go away? Even if just for an hour?
It’s never easy to see our loved ones in pain. It brings with it many challenges and moments of helplessness as we are unable to relieve their pain or cure their illness. Though you may not always have the answers, you do have the ability to give your love and share your support (no matter how small it may seem).
Consider the following ways you can lend a hand. Remember to always ask questions and educate yourself as much as you can. Even something as simple as opening a jar of peanut butter can become the greatest blessing of all for someone living with chronic nerve pain.
What do all those big words have to do with nerve pain? Great question!
CIPN is the single greatest limiting factor that keeps cancer patients from receiving their entire medication regimen.
In other words, their nerve pain becomes so unbearable the medication regimen is stopped.
Does this sound familiar? If so, there may be hope.
Surprisingly, yes!
Our bodies are meant to feel some form of pain at one time or another. Whether we want to or not, that’s a different story. Pain can come from a sprained ankle after a run, a burned finger from the stove top or the nagging pain of a headache after a long day of work. Pain is pain and it is not fun.
But, what about nerve pain versus muscle pain? Are we able to tell the difference?
Do you suffer from nerve pain?
Well, it’s time to knock it out. Give your chronic nerve pain the one two punch with these simple-to-do exercises done at home, at work and with friends.
Why live with stabbing, tingling or numbing pain any longer? Nerve pain is caused by a lack of blood flowing to the heart creating discomfort and pain throughout the body. If you had the chance to relieve this pain and all it took was 30 minutes, would you do it?
I’m sure we’re all guilty of it (I know I am). Taking that last piece of bread at dinner or splurging on a few extra cookies. It’s okay, we’re all human.
But, for those of us living with chronic, stabbing pain in our arms, hands, legs or feet, making smarter eating habits is the difference to reducing nerve pain.
So, before you head out to the market and pick up food for the week, consider the following Do’s and Don’ts to healthier eating.
It’s all too familiar — that tingling, burning or stabbing sensation — in your legs and feet (maybe even your arms and hands) due to diabetic nerve pain.
Let’s not forget that nerve pain is caused by a lack of blood flow to the heart, essentially creating little to no circulation in targeted areas such as our hands and feet.
Where does it hurt?
Your arms, hands, legs or feet? Is your entire body suffering from a stabbing, throbbing or numbness that even the simple act of walking becomes like an everyday chore?
If so, this pain you are feeling is known as neuropathy pain, which is nerve pain as the result of a lack of blood flow to the heart. This can cause certain parts of the body to feel discomfort and pressure making every day activities such as standing, balancing or picking up a spoon near impossible.
But don’t worry, you’re not alone.
Mark Bussell, DPT, OCS
I grew up working with my dad who was a physical therapist in a small private practice clinic. After watching him care for patients, I fell in love with the idea of helping people through medicine and decided to follow in his footsteps. After graduating from Loma Linda in 1989, my special needs son was diagnosed with a seizure disorder.