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Neuropathy: 7 Pain Treatment and Management Options

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Stabbing, shooting, burning, and electric shock-like pain. Tingling and pins and needles sensations. 

Living with nerve pain and discomfort from neuropathy can be very, very hard. But pain management specialists know what to do. 

Once they have determined the underlying cause and the type of nerve damage, they can recommend effective treatment and management.

1. Diabetic Care

Diabetes is the most common cause of neuropathy (60-70 percent of people with diabetes suffer from some form of neuropathic pain). When diabetes is the cause, proper diabetic care can decrease and eliminate symptoms. 

2. Antidepressants 

Doctors often prescribe antidepressant drugs like tricyclic antidepressants and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors to treat neuropathy.

These drugs can reduce neuropathic pain by increasing chemicals in the brain that reduce incoming pain signals.

3. Anticonvulsants 

Pain specialists sometimes prescribe anticonvulsants to treat neuropathic pain because they may stop damaged nerves from transmitting faulty pain signals. 

4. Nerve Blocks

Nerve blocks can provide long-lasting relief from neuropathic pain.

A nerve block procedure involves injecting steroids, anesthetics, and other medications into the nerves producing faulty pain transmissions. The pain relief can last for days, weeks, or months. 

5. Electrical Impulse Stimulation

Typically, this treatment option is used only after other options have failed. 

Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS)

First, a surgeon performs a minimally invasive surgery to implant a spinal cord stimulator. A spinal cord stimulator is a device that generates electrical impulses on your spine.

The electrical impulses alter how your brain processes pain by sending electrical impulses to the nerves in the spinal cord. 

Dorsal Root Ganglion Stimulation (DRGS)

If you suffer from neuropathy of the feet, hands, knees, groin, and chest, dorsal root ganglion stimulation is likely a better treatment option than spinal cord stimulation.

Like SCS, DRGS treatment uses electrical impulses to stop nerve pain. However, unlike SCS, DRGS trains electrical impulses on nerves in certain body parts (hands, feet, chest, etc.). 

Like SCS, a DRGS device implant on the spine involves a short surgical procedure.

6. Multidisciplinary Approach 

Neuropathic pain often responds poorly to any single pain treatment or management method.

A multidisciplinary approach that combines one or more methods, such as medications, physical therapy, psychological treatment, and surgery, can be much more effective.

Pain specialists coordinate with other health professionals to provide patients with the best possible pain treatment and management. 

7. OTC painkillers

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs) can provide fast, convenient relief from neuropathic pain. However, they are often not effective when used without other treatments and therapies.

Neuropathy Treatment and Management in Texas

The pain and discomfort of neuropathy and the loss of sleep, anxiety, and depression that can accompany it, can be challenging to handle. 

At Texas Pain Physicians, our pain management specialists will work day and night to find the best course of treatment and management for you.

Please give us a call or book your appointment online today.

Is Therapeutic Nerve Block A Pain Treatment for You? 7 “Need to Knows”

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Maybe your pain medication isn’t working anymore. Maybe you got tired of the side effects and stopped taking it. Or maybe you don’t want to take pain meds at all.

Whatever the case, you need pain relief ASAP. A therapeutic nerve block may be the answer.

Here are 7 things to know about therapeutic nerve blocks:

1. What they are.

A pain-relief and healing therapy doctors employ as an alternative to pain medication. Therapeutic nerve blockers provide extended pain relief and assist the body’s healing process by reducing nerve irritation.

2. What areas of the body they can treat:

  • head: forehead, face, eyelids, scalp, upper jaw
  • neck (all of the neck)
  • back: middle back, lower back, upper back, pelvis
  • arms: shoulders, armpits, arms, elbows, wrists
  • hands (all of the hands)

3. What types of pain do therapeutic nerve blocks treat?

 

Arthritis pain or pain from injury:

Steroid injections with local anesthetic into the facet joints or vertebrae to help treat joint pain.

Childbirth, neck, back, or leg pain:

Steroid or other medication and local anesthetic injected into the epidural area are known as ‘epidurals.’ These injections are often used during labor to ease the pain of childbirth. They are also used to treat severe nerve pain in the neck, back, and legs.

For buttocks, lower back, and upper leg pain:

Steroid and local anesthetic injections into the sacroiliac joint, the area between the pelvic bones in the lower back.

For arthritis pain in the shoulder:

Steroid and anesthetic injections in the suprascapular area of the shoulder. They treat arthritis pain in the shoulder that isn’t treatable with direct, in-joint injections.

For chronic headaches:

Steroid and local anesthetic injections into the occipital nerves in the back of the head to relieve headaches and other types of nerve pain.

4. How long they relieve pain.

The pain relief from nerve block injections typically lasts from 1 to 2 weeks.

Doctors may recommend several or more injections when you face an extended recovery time from injury or need to buy time while looking for a permanent pain management solution.

5. What the procedure is like.

Nerve block procedures are performed on an outpatient basis and should take less than 30 minutes.

An anesthetic and anti-inflammatory or steroid are injected near the nerves sending pain signals to the brain.

Pain Management in Texas

At Texas Pain Physicians, our board-certified pain management doctors will address your pain at the source. They will map out a unique pain treatment strategy for you.

Please call us today at (972) 636-5727 or click here to schedule an appointment.