Traditional Treatments for Diabetic Patients
The traditional way that diabetes or pre-diabetes is detected and treated is all about insulin and blood sugar. A family doctor or internal medicine specialist will likely do a test for blood sugar and then either give you medication or insulin, depending on the results.
Even if you see an endocrinologist, you may only receive advice on controlling your condition with lifestyle changes, diet and exercise. While this information is important, you will benefit from other perspectives as well. In many cases, patients do not receive the kind of holistic assessment of your body that you really need to take care of your whole self.
If you do suffer from nerve damage or loss of feeling from neuropathy- a disease or dysfunction of nerves in your limbs, a traditional neurologist will likely prescribe medication that covers the symptoms (numbness, pain or burning) and without addressing the root causes. These drugs are typically anti-seizure medications that do not heal or reverse the damage caused by diabetic neuropathy. In some cases, traditional neurologists will resort to surgery to treat the disease.
Natural Treatments and Help from Functional Neurology
Here at NorCal Brain Center, we encourage you to maintain the treatment plan of medication and/or insulin that your doctor has recommended. We also, however, want you to be aware of other things that you should be doing to manage your diabetes and help fight nerve damage and heal from neuropathy, treating the symptoms and the cause all at once.
Unique Approaches
Functional Neurology offers unique approaches to treating the peripheral neuropathy that afflicts many diabetes sufferers. Unlike traditional neurology, which only treats symptoms of neuropathy, we will offer you ways of treating the causes.
Functional neurologists view the nervous system as a changeable construct that can be treated and healed through many different types of stimulation and non-pharmaceutical and non-surgical therapy. This is the idea of neuroplasticity- the concept that we can change the functioning of the whole nervous system without drugs or operations.
Unlike traditional physicians, we will look beyond your blood sugar for underlying causes of your neuropathy, including chronic inflammation, food sensitivities, back and spine issues or other factors that could be causing problems with your overall nerve and brain function. The symptoms that you are experiencing depend on which of your nerve fibers are affected. We will get to the bottom of this mystery and determine where the damage has occurred.
We will complete a series of tests that will allow us to get a complete picture of your health. These tests will include strength and reflex testing as well as clinical assessment of your balance. These tests will allow us to design a unique and personalized treatment plan for you.
Electrical Therapy
One therapy that you may be recommended is electric nerve stimulation. This type of therapy can block pain while improving blood flow. The increased blood flow then stimulates the nerve biochemically, increasing your metabolism and promoting faster healing of damaged areas.
Our different electric modalities allow for a range of current that will penetrate deeply into your system, healing your muscles and regenerating nerves. This treatment is pain-free, very effective, and may allow patients to avoid surgery altogether.
Low Level Laser Therapy
Low level laser therapy, sometimes called “cold laser therapy” is another potential treatment for patients with diabetic neuropathy. This therapy helps by stimulating circulation around your nerve fibers, increasing blood flow to the nerves, reducing pain and promoting healing.
Low level laser therapy is a low-risk, non-pharmaceutical and non-surgical treatment option that is clinically shown to regenerate small nerve fibers.
Many studies have shown that low level laser therapy is extremely effective in reducing the pain associated with diabetic neuropathy, and in promoting healing of the nerves which cause the condition.
At NorCal, we treat all of you- not just particular organs or systems. We will do a comprehensive neurological workup of your whole body, making sure that we understand all of the elements of your condition. Then, we will recommend customized therapies to treat your whole physiological self, from nutrition and lifestyle, to pain reduction and healing of your damaged tissues.
If you or a family member suffer from diabetes and diabetic neuropathy, we urge you to call us and schedule an assessment today!
