How Does A Spinal Cord Stimulator Treat Chronic Nerve Pain From Diabetic Neuropathy?
Diabetic neuropathy can cause you to feel constant burning and tingling sensations in your hands, legs, and feet. It's a common complication of diabetes that can greatly affect your quality of life. When you have diabetic neuropathy, you may have difficulty walking or getting a good night's sleep due to the pain.
As the disease progresses, it can cause you to lose feeling in your feet, which makes it more likely you won't notice an injury on your foot that can become infected and lead to a severe diabetic ulcer. These diabetic ulcers can become so severe that your foot will need to be amputated in order to prevent the infection from spreading throughout your body.
Diabetic neuropathy is commonly treated with pain medication. Unfortunately, these medications don't work for everyone, and they can cause unwanted side effects like fatigue. A new method of treating diabetic neuropathy that can allow you to avoid medication is an implantable spinal cord stimulator, which can block pain signals from reaching your brain. To learn how they work and how they can help treat diabetic neuropathy, read on.
What Is a Spinal Cord Stimulator?
A spinal cord stimulator is a tiny device that's implanted beneath your skin. It has electrodes attached to it that will be placed right next to your spinal cord. A battery in the device will send a small electric charge to the electrodes, causing them to generate an electric pulse that will be carried by the nerves in your spinal cord. This electric pulse suppresses the nerves, which blocks their ability to carry pain signals sent from your feet and hands up to your brain.
How Does a Spinal Cord Stimulator Treat Diabetic Neuropathy?
Diabetic neuropathy is caused when high blood glucose levels damage the nerves in your feet, legs, and hands. When your nerves become damaged and inflamed, they send phantom pain signals to your brain. This causes the burning and tingling sensations you feel when you have diabetic neuropathy.
A spinal cord stimulator blocks these phantom pain signals by suppressing the nerves in your spinal cord. By not allowing the pain signals sent from your hands, feet, and legs to reach your brain, a spinal cord stimulator will reduce the amount of pain you experience from diabetic neuropathy. When you have the device implanted, your doctor will use a program to adjust the timing and frequency of the electrical pulses until they're adequately suppressing the nerves in your spinal cord.
If you have painful diabetic neuropathy and medication isn't giving you adequate relief, look for a clinic in your area that can implant a spinal cord stimulator. Blocking the pain signals from your feet, legs, and hands helps reduce the amount of pain that you experience from diabetic neuropathy. You'll also be able to avoid side effects like lethargy that are commonly associated with medications for treating diabetic neuropathy.
