Do you have neuropathy in feet, that pain or numbness inside your feet which doesn’t ever go away? Maybe you’ve been to your medical doctor and you understand why you have it; some common causes include adult onset diabetes, chemotherapy, or the consequence of a drug interaction. Now you have one easy query for doc: what’s my numerical measurement for Peripheral Neuropathy (PN), and can I take advantage of my score as a means to monitor how ill I am? Exactly how do you measure neuropathy in feet or PN anyway?
Figuring out the best way to measure their neuropathy is something that hardly ever crops up in most people’s chat with their healthcare professional, but there are several options to choose from. Each has it’s benefits and each has its drawbacks.
Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy is sometimes assessed using the Semmes Weinstein Monofilament Examination (SWME), an old standby in the medical profession. It includes applying monofilaments to the person’s feet. That is, they poke you in the feet with sticks while your eyes are closed. Depending on whether you are able to feel the pokes or not, they can determine just how much sensation you have. They count up how many pokes you could feel and that’s your score.
Studies have shown that as a measurement, something that can easily trace progress over time, the SWME is not perfect. But as an instrument for screening — to figure out whether or not you most likely are affected by PN — it is great. It is unable to measure or stage a level of neuropathy, and also doesn’t reveal to you anything about the muscle or reflexes aspect of the neuropathy you’ve got.
Reproducible, trustworthy, objective measurements continue to be a serious problem in the world of neuropathy. Things that have to do with pain and numbness are by nature subjective and difficult to measure. The Michigan Neuropathy Screening Instrument (MNSI) attempts to address this by crafting an assessment that covers items like medical background and has the patient self-assess their symptoms. It possesses a really good history as a screening tool for identifying whether or not to refer diabetic neuropathy clients to a neurologist along with other things, but it’s not perfect.
And don’t forget the clanging fork test (CFT). It also measures how well you can feel in the feet and toes using, well, a clanging fork. Working well for many kinds of PN, it’s also supposed to be better than the SWME.
So what’s the answer? There isn’t one. You’ll need to try out and combine multiple tests. This article is based on both personal experience and sources on the net. As always, check out a medical doctor about these situations and do not have confidence in stuff you read on the world wide web as medical advice. Something like this is going to be based on a conversation with your doctor. Additional tests are always coming out and being examined by the community. Yes, it is tough to monitor how your neuropathy in feet (PN) is coming along, but getting a grasp on the various tests accessible can provide a beginning to commence charting your journey.
Neuropathy isn’t much fun, and if you’d like to learn more about it, follow along on the author’s blog Neuropathy Sucks
