Your legs and feet are one of the most important parts of our body; they carry you everywhere you go. So, naturally, leg and feet issues can greatly disrupt your daily life. This is sadly the case for the many people who suffer from neuropathy– or nerve pain. Neuropathy is painful, frustrating, and debilitating, and with all the information out there it can be overwhelming finding good, accurate sources of information, but it doesn’t have to be.
First of all, you might have neuropathy and not even know it. Some symptoms to look for with neuropathy include muscle weakness, twitching, tingling, burning, loss of balance, numbness, prickling sensations, and/or nerve pain in your legs or feet. Neuropathy can be caused by diabetes, injury, infections, certain cancers, and alcohol, and it is progressive and will worsen over time.
To help you correctly live with and understand your neuropathy we have found three essential books to read:
- Sugar Crush: How to Reduce Inflammation, Reverse Nerve Damage, and Reclaim Good Health– by Richard Jacoby, DPM
Even though this book is not solely on neuropathy, it is still an excellent resource for those who suffer from it. Sugar Crush was written by a leading peripheral nerve surgeon. In it he explains why sugar and carbohydrates are harmful to the body’s nerves, and how eliminating them may help mitigate or even reverse nerve damage.
He goes on to describe how a diet high in sugar, processed carbohydrates, and wheat compresses and damages the peripheral nerves of the body. This leads to pain, numbness, and tinging in hands and feet. Sound familiar? These are the same symptoms as neuropathy, which is why this book is a great resource for you!
- Coping with Peripheral Neuropathy: How to handle stress, disability, anxiety, fatigue, depression, pain, and relationships– by Scott Berman, MD CIDP
Unfortunately, living with chronic pain and a debilitating disease affects much more than just your physical body. It affects your emotions, causes other problems such as anxiety and depression, and often affects those around you as well.
However, keep in mind that although this book may help you cope with the chronic pain you currently live with, you might not always have to. Just as Sugar Crush discusses, there are possible treatments that may reverse neuropathy symptoms and help stop chronic pain.
- Mindfulness Meditation for Pain Relief: Guided Practices for Reclaiming Your Body and Your Life– by Jon Kabat-Zinn
Those who suffer from neuropathy often complain of chronic pain as well. If you live a life shaped by pain, you understand the physical and emotional sufferings that usually accompany it. In this book you can learn how to rely on meditation, rather than solely medication, to ease your pain. Often neuropathy patients complain about all the medications they have to take that don’t always work, and almost always come with unwanted side effects. Here is a great alternative.
According to customer reviews, this book offers meditation techniques for beginners, so anyone can use it and find relief, while also discovering new freedom and improved quality of life. However, same with the above book mentioned, remember that there are treatments for neuropathy that have been able to reverse symptoms for many patients, enabling them to live pain free.
These books are very helpful for living with neuropathy, but they are not your only source of information. Speak to a podiatrist to learn all about your disease, and more importantly how you may be able to reverse your symptoms with promising treatment options.
