NEUROPATHIC  PAIN

Treatment of Painful Peripheral Neuropathies
Thomas H Brannagan III, M.D.

Peripheral neuropathy is a common problem and for some patients, pain is a disabling component of the neuropathy. The first goal in evaluating patients with painful peripheral neuropathies is to identify the cause, with the hope of identifying treatment to reverse nerve damage. There are a large number of disorders that may be associated with a painful peripheral neuropathy. (Table 1) When neuropathic pain is present, it is appropriate to treat this concurrently, during the evaluation, as well as during the treatment of the neuropathy, if identified is in process. (Click here to download entire article)

Types of Neuropathic Pain
By Mark J. Lema, M.D., Ph.D.

The definition of neuropathic pain is fairly straightforward. As the name indicates, it is a ‘disease or disorder’ involving the nerve itself as the source of the pain. Neuropathic pain, however, is part of the larger syndrome of ‘neuropathy’ which is a disorder/dysfunction of peripheral or central nerves. Peripheral neuropathy includes motor, sensory and autonomic fiber derangements that feed into the central nervous system. Central neuropathies occur as a result of injury, stroke, disease or congenital conditions involving the brain and/or spinal cord.

Over 30% of all neuropathies are a result of diabetes in the U.S.¹ While all conditions classified as neuropathies do not always result in pain, they can be very debilitating in other ways such as muscle weakness/paralysis, sensory numbness/paresthesia, and gastric dysfunction. (Click here to read full article)

For more information about peripheral neuropathies including neuropathic pain or about The Association and Support Groups in your local area, please call us at 212-692-0662 or write to us at: info@neuropathy.org