Start here
Start here
Neuropathy generates a lot of questions at once. This page sorts them, so you can go straight to the one you actually have — and know what matters most while you work the rest out.
If you read nothing else, read this. The nerve damage is usually managed slowly, by treating whatever is causing it. The thing that decides how this turns out is something else entirely: whether a foot that has lost its warning system gets injured without anyone noticing. That is preventable, it takes about a minute a day, and it is the single highest-value habit on this whole site. The daily check is here.
What brought you here?
I have just been diagnosed
Start with what the diagnosis actually means, which fibers are involved, and what happens next.
Neuropathy in the feet →My feet burn or tingle
The sensation matters less than the pattern — which foot, where it started, and what time of day it is worst.
Read the symptoms →My feet are numb
Numbness is the symptom to take most seriously, because it is the one that hides injury.
What the pattern means →I have diabetes
The four diabetic patterns, what glucose control does and does not change, and the complication that matters.
Diabetic neuropathy →I want to know what treatment does
What changes the disease, what changes the pain, and what changes neither.
Treatment, in full →I am about to buy something
Read the criteria before the reviews. Most of this category is sold on claims its own evidence does not support.
Product guides →The five things that matter most
Almost everything on this site reduces to these, roughly in order of how much difference they make.
Glucose, B12, thyroid, kidney function, alcohol, medicines and supplements — including high-dose vitamin B6, which causes neuropathy rather than treating it. Several of these are correctable, and correcting them is the only thing that changes the trajectory. If nobody has run those tests, that is the first gap to close. Questions to ask.
Look at both feet daily, never barefoot, check inside shoes with your hand, and never apply heat. The one-minute routine.
More harm reaches numb feet through footwear than through anything else. Depth, width, a smooth interior and a removable insole matter more than brand. The fit criteria.
A medicine that takes pain from an eight to a five is working. Expect weeks, not days, and expect to try more than one. What each family delivers.
Exercise is the intervention with the best evidence for symptoms, and balance work substitutes for the position sense your feet have lost. It is also what prevents the falls. What actually helps.
What to do this week
- Today. Look at both feet, soles included, using a mirror or your phone camera. Note anything you find.
- Today. Take every supplement bottle you own and check the label for vitamin B6. Here is why.
- This week. Put your shoes on a table and feel inside each one. Retire anything with a hard seam, a worn-through lining, or a toe box that is tighter than your foot.
- This week. Write down when the symptoms started, which foot came first, and what makes them worse. That history is worth more than any test.
- At your next appointment. Ask what is causing it, whether protective sensation is present, and how often you should be re-checked. Printable list.
Get help promptly for these
Any break in the skin on a numb foot, however small, or a wound that is not clearly better within a week. A foot that is newly red, hot or swollen — particularly with diabetes, where that needs same-day assessment. Weakness that is worsening over days rather than years, or numbness climbing quickly up both legs. New numbness around the groin or a change in bladder or bowel control. A cold, pale or painful leg. For anything urgent, call 911 or go to emergency care.
How this site is organised
Symptoms and causes
What each symptom means, the types of neuropathy, and how the pattern narrows the cause.
Browse symptoms →Treatment options
Medicines, what the guidelines actually say, and the claims that do not hold up.
Browse treatment →Daily foot care
The routine that prevents the serious outcomes, and the printable daily check.
Browse foot care →Product guides
Shoes, socks, creams, supplements and devices — criteria first, and the safety point each category leaves out.
Browse guides →Michigan care
If you are local, the examination described here is one you can book.
Michigan appointments →Who writes this
Credentials, how pages are researched and reviewed, and how the site makes money.
About →Common questions
Is neuropathy reversible?
Some causes are — a compressed nerve, a B12 deficiency, alcohol, a drug side effect. Established length-dependent nerve loss usually is not, and the realistic goal becomes stopping progression and preventing what it leads to. Why the cure claims persist.
Will it keep getting worse?
Not inevitably. Progression depends heavily on whether the cause is being addressed. What actually drives it, versus what only makes tonight louder.
Is it dangerous?
Not directly, for the common forms. The risk is indirect and specific, and every route to it is preventable. The honest answer.
Which doctor should I see?
It depends on the pattern. Who does what is set out here.
For our Michigan neighbors
Start with an examination, not a product.
Sensation testing, circulation, skin and footwear, plus a written risk category and re-check interval. Howell and Bloomfield Township.
Everywhere else, take this page to your own clinician.