I had a consult yesterday that I want to talk to you about. It was a husband and wife. The wife has been suffering from neuropathy for four to five years now. She was having tremendous pain in her legs and her feet. She couldn't sleep, she couldn't move around. She couldn't do the things normally anymore. Even simple things like cleaning the house and walking out to get the mail was impossible now.
One of the most common questions I get is " why doesn't my spouse understand what I'm going through?" I saw that very case with them. When I was doing the consultation, I saw a lot of frustration in him. As we started talking more and more, what we found out was it's very hard for your spouse to understand what you're feeling.
You see neuropathy is one of those conditions that you can't see it. It's not like a cut where you can actually see the wound. It's not like having a surgery where you actually see the scar. Neuropathy is one of those conditions that is just inside your body. You're dealing with nerves and you're dealing with nerves that are just damaged and no one can see or feel what you're going through. No one can see what you're neuropathy. That is the central problem why people do not understand people who have neuropathy.
When it comes to the people around you, it's very hard for them to understand. Especially as time goes by and your condition progresses, all they see is that they have to do the things you used to do. They do not know how depressed you are, how miserable you are, how you can't sleep. That's why neuropathy is such a dangerous thing. You know, one of the best things that we can do is to come together and figure out a solution. That's the most important thing because every single day you wake your problem will continue to get worse. Making it harder on you and your spouse to live normally.
So the couple I was talking about the husband finally started talking about how he was so frustrated because he wants to help her, but he doesn't understand her. Part of dealing with neuropathy is having an open dialogue, figuring out what's the best way to move forward. Really the best way is you got to fix the problem. Because no matter what you do, you can deal with the symptoms with medications. What is going to happen is going to happen when the medications can't work anymore because your body has built a tolerance to it. What happens when you can't take the medications because it makes you feel bad. What about the side effects of the medications that is destroying your liver and kidneys? These are the realities of having neuropathy.
Neuropathy is such a dangerous condition. It might not kill you today, but it will destroy you later on. So, if you have neuropathy and you're in that position. If you do not want to get worse to where now you are a burden on your spouse? You got to come in. There's no guarantee that we can help you, but at least let's start somewhere to hopefully get your relationship, your quality of life, where you want it to be again.
God Bless
Dr. Thai