Neuropathy

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Risk Factors and Causes

Peripheral neuropathy can be caused by disease; nerve compression, entrapment, or laceration; exposure to toxins; or inflammation. In many cases, especially in people over the age of 60, no cause can be determined.

Conditions associated with peripheral nerve damage include the following:

• Alcoholism
• Amyloidosis (metabolic disorder)
• Autoimmune disorders (e.g., Guillain-Barre syndrome)
• Bell's palsy
• Cancer
• Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease
• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Chronic kidney failure
• Connective tissue disease (e.g., rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, sarcoidosis)
• Diabetes mellitus
• Infectious disease (e.g., Lyme disease, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B, leprosy)
• Liver failure
• Medications
• Radiculopathy
• Vitamin deficiencies (e.g., pernicious anemia)

Radiculopathy is the term for neuropathy that affects nerve roots. The nerve roots are extensions of spinal nerves. They exit the spinal canal through a space between vertebrae, called the neural foramen. Degeneration of vertebral bone, herniation of the pulpy disc between vertebrae, narrowing of the spinal column (spinal stenosis), or trauma can compress or cut nerve roots and cause neuropathy.

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