The Link Between Hormonal Disorders and Neuropathy

When discussing hormonal imbalances, people tend to think of symptoms like hair loss, weight gain, and sexual dysfunction. Your nerves might not be the first thing that comes to mind.

But like many other aspects of your health, your hormones affect your nerves. To treat neuropathy, you need a specialist who can diagnose whatever’s to blame, including hormonal disorders. 

At Advantage Spinal Dynamics & Innovative Medicine in Meridian, Idaho, chiropractic specialists Jamie Ricks and John Trachsel can accurately diagnose the cause of your neuropathy and help address its root cause, even if it’s driven by a hormonal imbalance.

Hormones and neuropathy 

Your hormones play a part in many bodily functions, controlling things like growth, repair, and digestion. They also help maintain homeostasis, or internal balance. 

Naturally, when your hormones become imbalanced, things begin to go wrong. Hormonal disorders can lead to a number of health problems, including neuropathy. 

Perhaps the most common example is diabetes, a metabolic disease caused by the hormone insulin. When your body fails to produce or use insulin properly, you experience high blood sugar. Over time, high blood sugar damages your nerves, known as diabetic neuropathy. 

Other hormonal causes of neuropathy include hypothyroidism, which causes fluid retention and swelling that can lead to nerve damage. Excess growth hormones can lead to the development of acromegaly, which puts pressure on surrounding nerves. 

An imbalance of reproductive hormones like testosterone, estrogen, and progesterone can lead to neuropathy in the pelvic area. This type of neuropathy tends to worsen with age, so we urge prompt treatment to manage it and avoid additional issues as you get older. 

Striking a balance 

Neuropathy symptoms can be subtle at first, but you shouldn’t ignore them. Nerve damage can present itself in many ways, including: 

• Numbness
• Increased sensitivity 
• Muscle weakness and wasting
• Prickling, tingling, or pins and needles
• Urinary or sexual dysfunction 
• Burning sensations that can occur anywhere on your body

Damage to your peripheral nerves can’t be reversed, but discomfort and pain caused by neuropathy can be treated. At Advantage Spinal Dynamics & Innovative Medicine, we use laser therapy and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections to help patients manage their symptoms. 

To start, your practitioner performs various diagnostic tests to determine the core cause of your neuropathy. From there, we create a specialized treatment plan designed to help correct hormonal imbalances and improve your overall health and wellness. 

To learn more about hormones and neuropathy, call 208-213-7963 or request an appointment online today.