Prevention of Peripheral Neuropathy Lifestyle Choices May Influence Prevention of Peripheral Neuropathy. You can lower your risk of many of these conditions by avoiding alcohol, correcting vitamin deficiencies, eating a healthy diet, losing weight, avoiding toxins, and exercising regularly. The best treatment is prevention, and strategies to reduce injuries are highly effective and well-proven. Since medical procedures ranging from cast fractures to needle injuries and surgery are another cause, unnecessary procedures should be avoided.
The new adjuvant shingles vaccine prevents more than 95 percent of cases and is widely recommended for people over age 50, including those who have previously had shingles or who have been vaccinated with the oldest and least effective vaccine. Diabetes and some other diseases are common preventable causes of neuropathy. People with neuropathy should ask their doctors to minimize the use of medications that are known to cause or worsen neuropathy when alternatives are available. Some families with very serious genetic neuropathies use in vitro fertilization to prevent transmission to future generations.
Some forms of peripheral neuropathy can be avoided by maintaining good health habits. Eating a nutritious diet, exercising regularly, and abstaining from excessive alcohol can help prevent nerve damage. Avoiding injury and toxic chemicals and carefully managing underlying disorders, such as diabetes, can also help prevent peripheral neuropathy. Coronavirus (COVID-19) information for Dana-Farber patients% 26% families More information Please note that some translations using Google Translate may not be accurately represented and that downloaded documents cannot be translated.
Dana-Farber assumes no responsibility for any inaccuracies that may result from the use of this third-party tool, which is for the translation of the website and not for clinical interactions. You can request a live medical interpreter to discuss your care. The risk of neuropathy does not depend on the diagnosis, but on the type of treatment used to treat cancer. Before treatment, it is important that all patients talk to their oncologists about any diseases or conditions they may have.
In addition to these therapies, low-impact exercises such as swimming and cycling, as well as acupuncture, relaxation techniques, meditation, and guided imaging exercises can help with the side effects of neuropathy. Remember, there are many more options than just taking a pain reliever. For neuropathy in the hands, patients may try finger tapping (tapping each finger with the thumb, one at a time) or turning fingers (bending fingers, one at a time, into a fist). Learn more about exercises to help neuropathy Learn more about healthy eating during cancer treatment B-complex vitamins, folic acid, vitamin E, D and some fish oils are the most common, but you shouldn't start any supplements without first consulting your cancer team, because many contraindicated during treatment.
Magnesium, potassium, and tonic water (with quinine) can also help specifically with cramps. Treatment directed to the underlying disease process depends on the underlying cause, for example, improving glucose control in a diabetic patient, administering vitamin B12 supplements in the case of vitamin B12 deficiency, or administering immunosuppressive drugs and intravenous immunoglobulin in neuropathies due to causes. NINDS-funded research ranges from clinical studies of the genetics and natural history of hereditary neuropathies to discoveries of new causes and treatments for neuropathy, to basic scientific research on the biological mechanisms responsible for chronic neuropathic pain. The Inherited Neuropathies Consortium (INC), a group of academic medical centers, patient support organizations, and clinical research resources dedicated to conducting clinical research on Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and improving care for people with the disease, seeks to better characterize the natural background of several different forms of neuropathy and identify genes that modify the clinical characteristics of these disorders.
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