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Most people who develop neuropathy have been suffering from diabetes for a long time.<\/p>\nMost people who develop neuropathy have been suffering from diabetes for a long time.<\/p>\n
So it\u2019s tempting to blame diabetes for neuropathy.<\/p>\n
But a new study in the journal Neuropathy<\/em> reveals several lifestyle factors that contribute to neuropathy, and most of them are much easier to address than diabetes. <\/p>\n If you eliminate these factors, your neuropathy may leave with them.<\/p>\n The researchers focused on small fiber neuropathy. But we can assume that these results mostly apply to any type of neuropathy. <\/p>\n With small fiber neuropathy, only the small nerves in your skin are affected. <\/p>\n Common symptoms are pins-and-needles, electric shock sensations, tingling, and numbness. Although it is not seriously disabling, it is annoying and can interfere slightly with the ease of daily tasks.<\/p>\n The authors of this study searched for people who had been medically tested and diagnosed with this condition in Olmsted County in Minnesota, along with adjacent counties. <\/p>\n They found 94 patients and recruited 282 healthy people with whom to compare them.<\/p>\n These two groups were compared from 1998 to 2017. The first interesting discovery was that the occurrence of this type of neuropathy was increasing, with a current prevalence of 13.3 per 100,000 people. Although this might not sound like much, it means that more than 42,000 Americans have small fiber neuropathy.<\/p>\n Here are some other discoveries:<\/p>\n 1.\tThis is a condition of the middle aged and elderly, with the average onset age being 54. These are not necessarily causes of small fiber neuropathy; some of them may be consequences of it. But most of them are certainly indicators of poor health and can be changed, especially in the cases of obesity, diabetes, and blood fat levels.<\/p>\n The researchers also discovered that 36% of those with small fiber neuropathy went on to develop large fiber neuropathy, which can be much more disabling.<\/p>\n\n
\n2.\tIt is more common among women than men, with 67% of sufferers being women.
\n3.\tIt is more common among obese people: those with small fiber neuropathy had an average BMI score of 30.4, versus 28.5 among those without the condition.
\n4.\tIt is more common in insomniacs, with 86% in the neuropathy group versus 54% in the control group reporting poor sleep. Whether this is a cause or consequence of neuropathy was not investigated, but it is not unreasonable to suspect that the condition might interfere with sleep.
\n5.\tAnalgesic opioid prescriptions were more common in the neuropathy group than among the healthy controls (72% versus 46%).
\n6.\tAt 51% versus 22%, the neuropathy sufferers were more likely to have diabetes.
\n7.\tWith an average triglyceridemia score of 180 mg\/dl versus 147 mg\/dl, they were more likely to have high levels of fat in their blood.
\n8.\tThey had more co-occurring health conditions than the controls did, at six versus three.
\n9.\t46% of neuropathy sufferers versus 27% of controls suffered a heart attack.<\/p>\n<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n