Experts estimate that some 20 million Americans have peripheral nerve damage, just one of the more than 100 different types of nerve damage. Your nerves can be damaged by disease, trauma, medications, and nutritional deficiencies, among other causes.
Dr. Neil Spiegel at the Osteopathic Center for Healing treats many patients with nerve damage. His treatment recommendations depend on the cause of your nerve damage and your medical history. One of the treatments he offers is perineural injection therapy.
Your nervous system controls everything from your breathing to your ability to feel sensation. There are two major parts of the nervous system: the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. Your brain and spinal cord make up your central nervous system and the rest comprises your peripheral nervous system.
Together, the two systems control three different types of nerves:
Peripheral nerve damage, also called peripheral neuropathy, is the most common type of nerve damage. Diabetes is the main cause of peripheral neuropathy, and as many as 70% of people with diabetes have some degree of nerve damage.
Burning. Tingling. Pins and needles. Weakness. Numbness. Sensitivity. Twitching. Prickling. There are plenty of ways to describe the sensations that you may feel when you have nerve damage, but they all come down to discomfort. Sometimes that discomfort disrupts your ability to do the things you need to do in the course of a normal day.
The sensations that accompany nerve damage often occur because the nerves that are just below your skin (called cutaneous nerves) are not functioning properly. That dysfunction may be thought of as a “misfire” -- your nerve sending pain signals to your brain, even when there’s no reason for it. Those signals, in turn, lead to inflammation, and inflammation causes increased discomfort.
When Dr. Spiegel performs perineural injection therapy, he injects a specialized mixture of dextrose, a type of sugar, and sterile water into the area where your nerves are misfiring. This solution disrupts the misfiring, allowing the nerves to settle down. Once the nerve stops misfiring, the inflammation begins to lessen and your symptoms clear.
When your nervous system is constantly signaling pain to your brain, your body has a stress reaction. Interrupting those pain signals allows everything to calm down, and the tissues around the misfiring nerve can finally begin to heal.
If you’d like to learn more about perineural injection therapy and whether or not you might be a good candidate for it, book an appointment at Osteopathic Center for Healing today. Dr. Spiegel evaluates you based on your current situation and makes recommendations designed to help you reach your optimal level of health.
You can request an appointment online, or call our office in Rockville, Maryland, at 301-245-1940, and we’ll be happy to get you scheduled. Relief for your nerve pain may be nearer than you imagined.
