Medical Questions » Nerves Questions » Question No. 732
| Question: | My father has recently been diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy. Is there any cure? |
| Answer: | Peripheral neuropathy is damage to a nerve that supplies the arms, legs or trunk of the body, as distinct from the nerves that supply the head, internal organs or occur in the spinal cord or brain.
Unfortunately, peripheral neuropathy is not a true diagnosis, as there are many different causes for this condition, and the exact cause must be determined before any treatment can be given or any idea of the likely outcome can be known. Sometimes only one nerve is involved, other times many, and sometimes only one sensation (eg. fine touch) fails to function.
The simplest form of peripheral neuropathy is the temporary injury to a nerve from a bruise or swelling. The mildest form of this would be the tingling sensation experienced down your arm when you knock the ' funny bone' (which is really a nerve) in your elbow.
Other causes of peripheral neuropathy vary from the innocuous to the very serious and include uraemia (kidney failure), autoimmune diseases (the body inappropriately rejects its own tissue), inherited disorders, poor blood supply to the nerve, alcoholism, severe diabetes, leprosy, serious infections, AIDS, poisons (eg. insecticides, solvents) and dozens of other conditions.
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