With an obesity rate of almost 33%, Georgia is one of the unhealthiest states in America. While obesity results in several different types of health issues, nerve damage is one of the major issues that can lead to the complete deterioration of one’s health.
If you live in Marietta, you must enjoy the amazing Southern flavors and some homecooked duck fat fried things. While thinking about these things makes your mouth water and leaves you craving for some more, there is always a bad side to being unhealthy.
Obesity can lead to a lot of health issues like diabetes, high cholesterol, blood pressure issues, nerve damage, etc. While most of these conditions can be controlled if you lose weight, nerve damage is something that does not get better on its own. Many people choose to visit a Marietta chiropractic clinic and seek other treatment plans if they are experiencing nerve damage.
Nerve Damage Due to Obesity
Nerve pain due to obesity can be a sign of diabetes. For some people, the pain can be challenging to deal with while for others, it can be a completely life-changing incident (in a bad way of course). To understand what it’s like to have nerve pain, you need to understand the symptoms that are associated with the pain.
Symptoms of Nerve Damage
Nerve pain has the image to distort you from your daily routine tasks. It is known to reduce a person’s ability to perform better. Over time, people experience severe symptoms if they don’t do anything about their condition. Some of the most common symptoms to note for nerve damage are:
- Burning
- Pinpricks through the skin
- Sensations of electric shock
- Anxiety
- Sleeping issues
- Problems balancing
- Numbness
- Tingling sensations
- Loss of reflexes
When you are young, the damage takes slowly and over time. This means that controlling your bad habits and getting a timely treatment can actually cure the problem. However, if you don’t control it, it is possible for you to suffer from permanent nerve damage as you age. In severe situations, nerve injuries and damage can cause paralysis and can impair basic body functions like breathing.
Causes of Nerve Pain/Damage due to Obesity
The basic purpose of our nerves is to send signals and messages across the body. However, in obese people, the nerves are strained under the pressure of the weight. The spine usually feels a lot of additional pressure and this compresses the central nervous system. This is why many obese people have issues performing the basic day to day tasks.
Diseases Cause by Nerve Damage in Obese People
As the health of your nervous system starts to deteriorate, you might feel the following issues:
- Degenerative disc disease
- Herniated discs
- HIV
- Diabetes
- Cancer
- Tumors
- Postherpetic Neuralgia
- Physical Injuries
- Sciatica
- Constant stress and anxiety
- Lack of vitamins
- Hormone imbalance
- Cardiac issues
- Sclerosis
- Lyme disease
- Slow metabolism
- Breathing issues
- Digestive distress
Diagnosis of Nerve Pain
If you suspect you may have nerve damage, you must see a good doctor at your earliest convenience. Often the cause can be reasonably obvious, particularly if you are already suffering from obesity.
But in some cases, it can be impossible to figure out the source of nerve pain. Since too many conditions may induce nerve pain, the doctor will need to conduct a variety of laboratory tests. You would also require a detailed neurological examination, and probably other tests — such as CT scans, MRIs, nerve conduction experiments, and electromyography. Sometimes a doctor may prescribe a biopsy of the skin or nerve to test the ends of the nerve. All of these tests play a major role in successfully diagnosing a problem and then recommending a suitable neuropathy treatment.
Treatment for nerve damage
As we know that most of the conditions that cause nerve damage are due to obesity. To start the treatment, your doctor will first off advise you to develop healthy habits and get in touch with a healthy lifestyle. If obesity has led to other issues like diabetes or HIV, you need to seek treatment for these diseases as well.
The most appropriate and effective therapy for nerve pain depends on the conditions because it relies on particular details such as the patient’s condition, the primary cause, the risk of developing possible complications, and the price. However, physicians typically are using the same series of medications for nerve pain regardless of the condition. They always recommend that you opt for treatment of the issue as well.
Common Treatment Options for Nerve Damage
Here are some of the most common treatment plans used by your doctors/alternate care specialists:
Lifestyle Changes
The first and foremost step to a successful neuropathy treatment is to develop healthy changes in your lifestyle. Start thinking about eating healthy and losing weight. Not only will you feel fitter, but you will also experience the nerves becoming more functional and healthier. Make these changes when you have the time to recover from the loss of nerve damage because, in old age, it is quite difficult to handle such pain. Here are a few lifestyle tips:
- Eat healthily
- Stop eating processed food
- Exercise daily
- Walk 10,000 steps a day
- Practice yoga
- Quit smoking
- Quit intoxicants like alcohol
Painkillers
As simple as it might sound, OTC medications do have a positive impact on normal nerve pain. Strong opioid painkillers could be the basic option for patients with extremely serious nerve pain or nerve pain due to obesity. However, for most forms of nerve discomfort, doctors typically try anti-inflammatory medications, anti-inflammatory drugs, opioids, and/or anticonvulsants first. Prescription drugs can have bad side effects and a real risk of dependency. Over-the-counter painkillers cannot function particularly well for mild to extreme nerve pain.
Antidepressants
Antidepressants when paired with anticonvulsant medicines can actually help you get more benefits than each of them alone. This combination may be helpful for people suffering from diabetes, but it seems a bit useless among people who suffer from cancer or HIV.
Anticonvulsant medicines
Originally developed to treat epilepsy, these medicines help to control nerve pain. However, they may not be the best and most effective choice.
Topical Treatment
This treatment plan is best if you have pain in one particular region of your body.
- Prescribing over-the-counter medicines
- Using Ice/heat or medicated patches
- Recommending particular lotions/gels
Alternative Treatment
Physical therapy and chiropractic care is the best way to naturally treat your nerves without the use of any drugs. Chiropractors specialize in dealing with the neuromusculoskeletal system which means that they are specialists in treating nerve damage. If you are suffering from any kind of nerve pain, you need to book an appointment with your nearest Marietta chiropractic clinic and see very positive benefits in a few days. However, if you are suffering from some severe health condition, you might want to seek treatment for that along the way for the best results.
Complimentary Care
Many people take complementary health care techniques to relieve them from nerve pain. This might involve losing weight with supplements, meditation, acupuncture, massage, etc. if you have underlying bone and joint conditions, you should ask for your doctors’ approval first.
Conclusion
Nerve pain and damage due to obesity are quite common. We need to make sure that we get a time treatment and develop healthy habits so this does not come to haunt us in our old days.