Let’s talk about nerves. We all know that our nerves function as a receiver and sender of messages between parts of our body to and from the brain.
Eventhough it’s inside our body and cannot be seen by the naked eye, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it cannot be damaged. It is possible. To others it can be genetic in origin, it could also be idiopathic(unknown cause). To other cases, nerve damage can occur on people suffering from diseases such as follows:
- Kidney disorders
- Inceased amount of toxins in the body
- Vitamin and nutritional deficiency
- Drug-induced
- Excessive consumption or alcohol abuse
- Traumatic injury
- Immune system diseases
- Viral infection
- Hypothyroidism
These causes can directly affect and damage our peripheral nervous system, which is responsible for us to react to stimuli in our environment. When it is damaged, it leads to a clinical condition called Peripheral Neuropathy.
What are the symptoms of Peripheral Neuropathy?
- Prickling
- Tingling
- Numbness
- Sharp, stabbing pain
- Reduced ability to feel pain or changes in temperature
- Weak, heavy feeling in the arms and legs
- Burning pain
- Allodynia(a pain response from stimuli which do not normally provoke pain)
TREATMENT for Peripheral Neuropathy
Unfortunately, nerve damage is irreversible and treatment is just for management of the symptoms and condition causing neuropathy. Treatment includes:
- Medications: Pain Relievers, Anti-seizure medications, anti-depressants, topical medications
- Therapies: Plasma exchange and intravenous immune globulin, Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), Physical therapy
- Surgery
Since medication was mentioned. I recently attended a health symposium by Merck, which talked about NENOIN(Neurobion Non-interventional), a clinical study for the treatment of Peripheral Neuropathy using a fixed-dose combination of three neurotropic B vitamins(marketed as Neurobion® Forte in Indonesia):
- Vitamin B1( Thiamine Mononitrate)100 mg
- Vitamin B6(Pyridoxol Hydrochloride) 100 mg
- Vitamin B12(Cyanocobalamin) 5000 mcg
NENOIN study was done for 90 days on 411 patients(297 females and 114 males) in 8 centers in Indonesia. Each patient was given a fixed dose of Vitamin B (as mentioned above, taken once a day after meal. The NENOIN study’s limitation is the non-interventional, one arm study design, not blinded or controlled by placebo(source: Asian Journal of Medical Sciences).
As a result of NENOIN study, with three months of taking Neurobion, there were significant reduction on the symptoms reported during the study. The study concludes that fixed dose combination of vitamin B1, B6 and B12 (Neurobion) was effective and well tolerated in subjects with mild to moderate peripheral neuropathy, of various etiologies.
Neurobion, the nerve care expert from Merck Consumer Health was first launched in the Philippines in July 1972 and is now the world’s no. 1 in neurotropic B vitamins combination products. “ICMA MDAS sales for MAT 09/2016 te MAT 06/2017
Neurobion Tablet and Neurobion Forte Tablet is available over the counter while Neurobion Forte Solution for Injection is available by prescription.
