Your Tingling Feet Could Be Neuropathy

Many people walk around confidently each day, even forgetting how important their feet are in their daily lives. Still, for adults experiencing uncomfortable sensations in their feet, they'll notice how quickly that tingling feet feeling can interrupt how they function.

That tingling or burning feeling in your feet may be caused by a condition called neuropathy. While there isn't a cure for neuropathy, there are ways to manage neuropathy symptoms and keep you moving confidently throughout the day. Cynthia Grundy, DPM, with Franciscan Physician Network Glendale Health Center, explains what you should know about neuropathy in the feet.

What Is Neuropathy?

Neuropathy is nerve damage that causes numbness, pain or tingling in feet and hands.

When talking about neuropathy with your provider, expect to hear a lot about nerves and symptoms.

"Neuropathy can be anything from numbness, tingling, burning, sometimes even people just feel their feet are just constantly cold," Dr. Grundy said. "Still, you have peripheral nerves, which send information from the spine and the brain down to the periphery. In this case, it would be the feet."

Dr. Grundy explained that they'll look at three types of nerves regarding your feet concerns.

"You have autonomic nerves, motor nerves and sensory nerves," Dr. Grundy said. "With autonomic nerves, in terms of what we worry about in the feet, it's what controls your blood vessels and sweat glands."

Dr. Grundy explained that sensory nerves help you feel things in your feet, so they would focus more on this nerve.

"And then, your motor nerves are a part of how your feet function," Dr. Grundy said. "So when you have neuropathy, it's a disruption or inappropriate or loss of signal going to the nerves."

Is Diabetes The Only Cause Of Neuropathy?

Around 38 million people in the US have diabetes and about half of that number have been diagnosed with diabetic neuropathy. Even so, diabetes isn't the only cause of neuropathy.

"There's quite a bit of things that can actually cause neuropathy," Dr. XX said. "Diabetes is the most common cause of peripheral neuropathy. There's anywhere from 20 to 30 million people diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy according to studies show in the United States alone."

Dr. Grundy explained that several factors also can cause peripheral neuropathy, including:

• Chemotherapy
• Cancers
• Alcoholism
• Liver disease
• Kidney disease
• Injury to the peripheral nerve

Idiopathic neuropathy is diagnosed when the cause of your nerve damage is unidentifiable.

"As for diabetes, most common cause of peripheral neuropathy, it's definitely a genetic thing," Dr. Grundy said. "If you get diagnosed with diabetes and get it under control, that's going to be your biggest route for preventing neuropathy."

Do I Need Special Shoes If I Have Neuropathy?

As there can be several neuropathy symptoms, finding a near-perfect shoe for your condition can be difficult.

"If it feels good, you should be able to wear it," Dr. Grundy said. "As far as shoe companies talking about cures for neuropathy, there's nothing really out there that's a true study on a shoe that really helps with it."

Dr. Grundy explained that people with numbness in their feet due to neuropathy should be cautious of shoes with memory foam.

"Memory foam, it feels great when you initially put it on," Dr. Grundy said. "But a lot of times, that memory foam takes a while to recover to its normal foam, and it doesn't provide that same offloading that you initially get when you first buy some."

How Can I Recognize Neuropathy Symptoms?

Neuropathy has a range of symptoms, so it's crucial to recognize when something is wrong and get it addressed by your provider.

"You can have cramps, sweating or even a light touch causing severe pain," Dr. Grundy said. "People often tell me that their sheets just touching their toes at night is just horrible and it just causes this severe pain, burning and tingling like pins and needles."

Dr. Grundy explained that some of his patients say the sensation of neuropathy can feel like they're walking on gelatin snacks or they have wraps or vise grips constantly wrapped around their feet. These symptoms can range from minor to severe.

"Generally most people can live their lives even with the pain associated with neuropathy," Dr. Grundy said. "Some people do fight through a little bit more pain than others. Still, our goal is to manage neuropathy symptoms enough so it's not debilitating and people can go out and exercise."

She explained that if people with neuropathy can get out and exercise, especially if they have diabetes, it's going to help their overall health, including their mental health.

"Our goal is to get the symptoms under control so that these people can still live a healthy and full life."

When Should I See A Doctor For Tingling In My Feet?

"If the symptoms are uncontrollable with over-the-counter medications like cooling relief creams or other over-the-counter pain medications, that's usually when we'll see them," Dr. Grundy said. "I have a lot of people that'll use anything from alcohol swabs or alcohol soaks to peroxide soaks."

If you start to feel neuropathy symptoms like burning or tingling in feet, it's crucial to schedule a visit as soon as possible.

"We can get your symptoms a little better under control before it gets to be a full-blown numbness or just sharp pain constantly," Dr. Grundy said.

Even though Dr. Grundy puts a focus on diabetic neuropathy due to its overabundance, she explained that it's still crucial to get examined if you have symptoms without a diabetes diagnosis.

"We may need to do a blood test," Dr. Grundy said. "You could have undiagnosed diabetes and we'll need to get it under control to avoid additional damage to the nerves."

How Are Neuropathy Symptoms Treated?

Neuropathy can be challenging to manage without proper treatment. Since neuropathy has many symptoms, providers have several ways to keep the condition manageable each day.

"We do have medical treatments for neuropathy," Dr. Grundy said. "There's also some over-the-counter treatments and supplements out there that people do really well with. They're not as studied as far as true studies on them, but I do have a lot of anecdotal evidence of patients doing well with some of them."

Dr. Grundy explained that while medications are available to help with neuropathy symptoms, these medications can have side effects.

"The most common medications that we'll see are gabapentin or Lyrica, which are two common medications used for neuropathy," she said. "Still, there are also some newer treatments out there that aren't medical, but they're topical creams or patches that are getting more use."

She explained that they can get additional help from pain management colleagues who have new routes in care.

"Pain management can do injections in the back or even some nerve stimulators that have been helping people as well," Dr. Grundy said.

Other prescription medications are available alongside gabapentin.

"Qutenza is capsaicin cream that has been put into a patch," Dr. Grundy said. "We'll leave the patch on for 30 minutes in the office once every three months to help decrease the symptoms of neuropathy."

She explained that Qutenza involves a lot of newer research, while capsaicin cream is an over-the-counter cream with a lower concentration. It can give your hands a tingling or burning sensation, so it needs to be applied with care.