FAST FACTS: Neuropathic Pain

Neuropathic pain arises from actual or threatened damage to tissues due to the activation or damage in the nervous system. This can be a disturbance in the function of one or more nerves and is often associated with end organ damage. The pain is often described as burning, numbness, tingling, electric shock-like and possibly deep aching.

• Diabetic Neuropathy
  • Injury to nerve fibers from high blood sugars, most often in hands and feet
  • Signs/Symptoms (S/S): numbness and tingling
  • Management: control blood sugar

• Post herpetic Neuralgia (Complication of Shingles)
  • Complication of Shingles that last longer than a few weeks, increased risk with age
  • S/S: burning at shingles site, sensitivity to touch, muscle weakness
  • Treatment: Lidocaine patches, Tricyclic anti-depressants, Anticonvulsants, Opioids, Capsaicin

• Multiple Sclerosis
  • Autoimmune disease destroys protective sheath on nerves, cause unknown
  • Woman between 20-40 at higher risk
  • S/S: painful muscle spasms, numbness, weakness of limb on one side, unsteady gait, blurriness, loss of vision, tingling/electric-shock sensations
  • Treatment: same as other conditions for pain, muscle relaxants for muscle spasms

• Spinal Cord Injuries, Hemiparesis
  • Causes: trauma, arthritis, cancer, inflammation/infection, degeneration, strokes
  • S/S: loss sensation/movement or bowel/bladder control, pain, exaggerated reflex
  • Treatment: same as post herpetic neuralgia; TENS units, massage

• Peripheral Neuropathy
  • Causes: trauma & infections; toxins such as alcohol or poisons; Diseases- lupus, Guillain-Barre, Lyme; vitamin B deficiency; hypothyroid or kidney disease
  • S/S: numbness & tingling in hands, feet, and many other sites
  • Treatment: same as post herpetic neuralgia; TENS units, massage

• What You Can Do
  • What else you can do to help with your Pain
  • Write down and share information about your pain with your provider.
  • Consider using a Pain Diary to note important information useful to the provider.
  • Try a non-drug treatment to decrease your pain, be sure to note on your Pain Diary the impact of the treatment on your pain.

Revised 3/2020