Neuropathy Medication

Neuropathy is disease of the nervous system. One or more nerves of similar length could be damaged, thereby causing severe pain, numbness or tingling sensations.

Medications are available to cure neuropathy, but these take a long time; the time taken depends on the type and intensity of the disease. Taking too many drugs could also cause neuropathy.

Strong medications such as narcotics are mostly used to control severe neuropathy pains, which should be avoided for milder neuropathies. Non-narcotic pain killers are not effective against these neuropathy pains. But over-the-counter analgesics can be used for mild pain. Antidepressants and anticonvulsants can be administered for other type of nerve pains.

But although narcotic pain killers are initially effective, their effect wears off: as time goes by, the dosage of the drug needs to be increased to achieve the same measure of pain relief. Topical anesthetics are said to be effective against these resistant neuropathy pains.

Medications approved by FDA for diabetic neuropathy pain is Duloxetine or Cymbalta. It is a known fact that HIV patients are more at risk of neuropathy. Drugs like didanosine (ddI, Videx), zalcitabine (ddC, Hivid), and stavudine (d4T, Zerit) are prescribed for HIV patients. Taking all these drugs together could also cause neuropathy, so care should be taken to follow the doctor’s prescription strictly.

The effectiveness of neuropathy medication ranges from slight to complete. Strong medication should only be used for severe neuropathy, and taken in moderation to avoid resistance to the drugs. Care should also be taken not to cause neuropathy by overload of drugs.