ANN ARBOR, Mich. – More than 20 million Americans have nerve damage known as neuropathy, which impacts their arms, legs, hands or feet.
A new study in Michigan suggests that the number could be significantly higher because so many patients are undiagnosed.
The study -- led by the University of Michigan and Hurley Medical Center -- found nearly 75% of patients at a primary care clinic in Flint had nerve damage.
Dr. Melissa Elafros, a University of Michigan Health Neurologist, said many are suffering in silence.
“We’ve learned that when patients come into primary care doctors, they often have multiple concerns, and neuropathy symptoms are not at the top of their list,” Elafros said. “So as a neurologist, we need to come up with a better way to help screen for this problem.
Telling your doctor about symptoms early on is important.
“Neuropathy is a neurologic condition. That’s basically nerve damage. So, nerves come out of your spine and go down your arm,” Elafros said. “Using your legs, and when they get damaged people have a lot of different symptoms, things like numbness, tingling, pain, pain that can be debilitating. Or maybe they have no symptoms at all and just realize their balance isn’t great.”
Neuropathy is most commonly caused by diabetes.
“A lot of people that know people that have neuropathy, have bad diabetes,” Elafros said. “Other things can be if you’re overweight, obesity will do it. So it could be a genetic condition, it could run in your family, or it could be a vitamin deficiency. So there’s lots of different causes.”
When left untreated, it can lead to multiple problems -- including foot injuries and even amputation.
The lead researchers said that while they knew neuropathy was common, they found significantly more than they expected in the study.
The team is now partnering with another outpatient clinic for further research.